Chuck Edwards quit his re-election campaign at 5 a.m. Wednesday, 24 hours after we said resign. And Tuesday night, Julian Beaudion, the Democratic nominee for Senate in South Dakota, suspended his campaign, months after American Muckrakers publicly called on him to withdraw.
Our reasoning then was simple math, and we published it. South Dakota was never going to elect two challengers over Mike Rounds. Beaudion, the Democratic nominee, had $3,078 in the bank as of this week. Independent Brian Bengs, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, had the resources, the profile, and the only realistic path. A split field was a gift to Rounds. We said consolidate. It took months, but the field just consolidated.
South Dakota now joins Nebraska and Idaho, where Democrats also stepped aside for independents, in the one-on-one model that gives red-state challengers an actual chance. Rounds against Bengs, head to head. That is a race.
Click here to listen to the 2 interviews we’ve had with Brian Bengs …
