Independent candidate for U.S. Senate Brian Bengs holds a press conference on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026, at the Old Courthouse Museum in Sioux Falls. Bengs used the press event to launch criticisms at his opponent, incumbent U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., while decrying the influx of political money tied to AI, data centers and Big Tech companies in South Dakota elections. (Photos by Dominik Dausch / The Dakota Scout)
Corporate political action committees standing in for artificial intelligence companies, out-of-state data center interest groups, Big Tech billionaires — Brian Bengs wants all of their money out of South Dakota elections.
That was the gist of a Sept. 3 press conference hosted by Bengs, a former Democrat now running as an independent for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Mike Rounds, who Bengs said has accepted hundreds of thousands in such donations.
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