Turn South Dakota Purple Endorses Brian Bengs for U.S. Senate

Turn South Dakota Purple is endorsing Brian Bengs for U.S. Senate and calling on Democrats, independents and Republicans to build one coalition capable of defeating Mike Rounds.

After months of listening to both challengers, we believe South Dakota’s best chance to defeat Mike Rounds is to build one broad coalition behind Brian Bengs.

When Randy started Turn South Dakota Purple on November 6, 2024—the morning after Donald Trump was elected to a second term and as South Dakota's Freedom Caucus was preparing to expand its influence in Pierre—it wasn't to become another political organization telling people who to vote for.

It was created to help South Dakotans see our politics clearly, especially when the stakes require a choice.

Over the past 18 months, we've worked hard to live up to that. We've spoken extensively with Brian Bengs and Julian Beaudion. We've hosted a debate between them. We've invited supporters of both campaigns to write for us. We've asked veteran campaign strategists to analyze the race. We've tried to give South Dakotans as much information and as many perspectives as we could before reaching our own conclusions.

Today, we're ready to share one.

Turn South Dakota Purple is endorsing Brian Bengs for U.S. Senate.

This wasn't an easy decision, and it wasn't one we expected to make when this race began.

Julian Beaudion brought urgency to this race and gave Democratic voters a candidate willing to confront Mike Rounds directly. He earned real support, and that should not be minimized. But admiration for a candidate is not the same as believing that two challengers should continue dividing the voters, volunteers and money required to defeat an entrenched incumbent..

The question became larger than which campaign we liked more. It became which campaign could bring together enough South Dakotans to make this race competitive and begin building a coalition that lasts beyond November.

Our decision ultimately comes back to Mike Rounds. South Dakota cannot afford six more years of rubber-stamping policies that hurt the very people he was elected to represent. He has failed to stand up for our farmers when they needed an independent voice. He supported deficit-exploding tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthiest Americans. And he has backed efforts to dismantle the Department of Education and severely weaken other federal agencies that support our schools, veterans, public health, and rural communities. We believe South Dakotans deserve better.

We no longer believe that challenge comes from two campaigns competing for the same voters. It comes from building one coalition. But we also believe there comes a point when continuing a campaign can make the larger goal harder to achieve.

We believe we've reached that point.

Brian Bengs has spent years building relationships with Democrats, independents, and Republicans who simply want better representation. He understands coalition politics in a way that this moment demands.

That's why we're endorsing him.

More importantly, it's why we'll continue spending the weeks ahead talking about what comes next, not just for this Senate race, but for the future of competitive politics in South Dakota.

What could this race become if Democrats, independents and Republicans who are ready for better representation stopped organizing around party labels and began organizing around the opportunity in front of us?

We intend to find out. We hope you will help us build it.

— The Turn South Dakota Purple Team