“Independent” hopeful Brian Bengs compared himself to President Theodore Roosevelt in an exclusive interview with The Gateway Pundit. Bengs called himself a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican.”
Bengs is running in deep red South Dakota against incumbent GOP Senator Mike Rounds, who is running for a third term.
He is part of a recurring theme of independent candidates running to flip Congressional seats in states Democrats have zero chance in. States like Montana, Nebraska, Idaho, and, of course, South Dakota come to mind.
The interview started with Bengs expressing confidence that he can defeat Rounds in November.
“He is historically unpopular. We’ve done multiple polls, better part of 10 polls since July of last year, and his highest polling job approval number was forty percent,” Bengs told TGP.
His lowest was thirty-two. He’s falling in between there. So over the last year, heavily Republican polls show that his job approval is underwater dramatically.”
Bengs then lays out some of his priorities for South Dakota if he were to be elected as its next U.S. Senator:
“I’ve called myself a ‘Teddy Roosevelt Republican’ because I am saying the same things that Teddy Roosevelt was saying over a century ago. The single biggest problem we need to address, and I’ve talked to thousands of South Dakotans about it, is that big money controls our elected officials in the sense that they’re doing what people who write the large campaign checks want instead of what voters want.”
Bengs then shifted into a more common Democrat talking point, which is to raise taxes and “have billionaires pay a higher tax rate than the people who work for a living.”
He believes that he can implement “the old Teddy Roosevelt mantra of being a trustbuster” and bust the “Meat Packing Monopoly” in South Dakota.
South Dakota currently ranks 7th in cattle production and 5th in Beef Cow production in the country. Will “busting the Meat Packing Monopoly” help or hurt the state’s cattle industry?
Independent U.S. candidate, @BrianBengs calls himself a “Teddy Roosevelt Republican.”
Thoughts?
@gatewaypundit https://t.co/VzCzjHyo2u
— Myles Morell (@MorellMedia) October 3, 2026
This is not the first time he has said or done something interesting.
In late September, Bengs melted down at a press conference he attended with Nebraska “Independent” Dan Osborn and Alaska “Independent” Bill Hill in Washington, DC.
As Bengs was speaking, an individual verbally confronted Osborn over a leaked recording of him privately trashing Trump voters. Bengs then walked over to the individual and raised his voice at him.
“This is the problem. This is it. The civility of politics is not here because there’s name-calling,” Bengs yelled.
His unhinged response to someone exercising their First Amendment rights gets even funnier when you account for the fact that the individual wasn’t even speaking to Bengs.
While these candidates present themselves as alternative choices outside of the two-party system that the American People are growing frustrated with, one major issue remains. Many argue that these so-called “independents” are just Democrats in disguise.
What’s even more telling is that Democratic nominees even bowed out of the Senate races in Nebraska, Idaho, and South Dakota in order to clear the way for these independent candidates. Why would they do that?
Will the American People fall for Bengs comparing himself to President Roosevelt? Only time will tell come November.
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