Why Turn South Dakota Purple Endorsed Brian Bengs

A look at the conversations, campaign realities, and coalition strategy behind our endorsement of Brian Bengs for U.S. Senate.

We have received numerous requests -- some personable and curious, and some not so much -- to explain why, after championing Julian Beaudion’s campaign for the entire existence of the platform, we ultimately decided to endorse one of his competitors. To do so, we need to start at the beginning. 

Turn South Dakota Purple was created to help South Dakotans see our politics clearly, especially when the stakes require a choice.  Our goal is to provide an information source that covers things mainstream media might not, provide access to experts the general public might not have a chance to hear from, and last but not least, help give a voice to political candidates providing an alternative to the deep red South Dakota status quo. 

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, with the goal of both encouraging people to engage with the candidates and to have a basis for looking deeper into the race itself. 

The Bengs/Beaudion matchup presented a particularly difficult set of circumstances.  Julian ran a race based on his personability and his willingness to engage with voters and really listen to what mattered to them, with little regard to the traditional operations side of running for office.  This endeared him to us and many others.  However, it also left him at the 90 day mark with no cash on hand, mounting campaign debt, and no functional fundraising arm with which to remedy any of it. 

Simply put, you can’t win a race by talking to people you’ve already convinced to vote for you… and talking to people outside that bubble takes organization, staff, volunteers, and money. 

While campaigns give a great opportunity to hear candidates’ thoughts on the issues, ultimately campaigns are about getting yourself elected to the office.  Three strategists who have collectively helped to get George McGovern, Jim Abourezk, Tom Daschle, Tim Johnson and Barack Obama elected said on the record why winning was no longer possible for Julian.  And there lies the reason for our decision.

If Julian couldn’t be elected, we needed to endorse the guy who could still put up a fight. 

The odds are long for the Bengs campaign, too.  But over the last year, he’s earned support from South Dakotans from across the political spectrum.  Time to grow that coalition, and help usher in a retirement party for Mike Rounds, and a victory party for all the Democrats down-ballot!