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Politics and Culture in Plain Talk.
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When I ran for Congress last year, my only prior experience with federal campaigns was driving around North Dakota in 2022 with my friend, Katrina Christiansen, who was then running for Senate. I didn’t know where to begin looking for a campaign manager. I didn’t know that I needed a compliance team or a dedicated finance person.
Fortunately, Katrina’s team knew a guy from that other Dakota. He had built a campaign infrastructure while running for Senate against John Thune. He was a fellow veteran and was ready to share what he had learned, what he had built, and the people who had helped him. He quite nearly handed me a campaign in a box. He even came up to the 2024 Dem-NPL state convention in Fargo. His name is Brian Bengs.
Brian and I both grew up in working class families and joined the Navy after graduating from high school. I went on to become a Marine Corps officer, and Brian got degrees in history and law after his enlistment and became an Air Force JAG officer. We both take our oaths to the Constitution seriously and understand the importance of selflessness, moral courage, and integrity in leadership.
The picture below was taken in Fargo. You may notice that Brian is somewhere between six and eleven feet tall. Next to him, I look like I might be his house elf—”Master has given a sock!” (Harry Potter fans will understand)—and my campaign manager, Sydnee, looks like Harry Potter and Smurfette had a child. Brian’s a big guy who was a big help to me in the last cycle and now I want to return the favor. Running an independent campaign against an incumbent Republican in a red state is a tall order, but with our help, I’m sure Brian is up to the challenge.
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Because Brian was equally generous to Katrina Christiansen’s campaign, she has also asked her subscribers to help Brian if they can. Not that it’s a competition, but it sure would be cool if my readers were just a little more helpful than Katrina’s. (Katrina is a competitive person and a Cornhuskers fan, which means she is used to disappointment.) If my link brings in fewer donations than Katrina’s link, she will not let me forget it, and my wife will not let Katrina forget to not let me forget it.
Tomorrow is the last day of the quarter and of the reporting period for federal campaigns. Big numbers make a difference. They bring what campaigns refer to as “earned media,” they boost campaign morale, and they make other donors and aligned groups more interested in weighing in to help.
We all want to protect democracy. We all want to bring back decency. Here in the Dakotas, farmers want their markets back. They want someone who will stand up for the people instead of bending to every whim of the man in the White House. Brian Bengs is just the man for the job.
(Psst, Max, Katrina doesn’t need to know that you donated through my link.)
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