Jennifer Bengs shares her unique journey as the wife of Brian Bengs, who is running for the U.S. Senate as an independent candidate from South Dakota. Throughout the conversation, she recounts their adventurous life, including her unexpected experiences living in various places due to Brian's military career, and the lessons learned along the way. She highlights the importance of community engagement and the challenge of navigating the political landscape, revealing the dedication required to support a campaign and the personal growth that comes with it. Jennifer also reflects on her daughters' paths, showcasing their accomplishments and how they've followed in Brian's footsteps. The episode is filled with anecdotes that blend humor and insight, revealing the couple's dynamic and the support that drives their family forward in the political arena.

Takeaways:

• Jennifer discusses the unexpected adventures of living in South Dakota, including a jackknifed truck blocking their driveway.
• She reflects on her journey from being a non-political person to actively supporting her husband's campaign for the Senate.
• The couple shares stories of their daughters following in Brian's footsteps, with one joining the Air Force and another working at a national park.
• Jennifer's humorous take on Brian's unique car features provides a glimpse into their fun family dynamic and relationship.
• The couple emphasizes the importance of community engagement and getting to know the issues directly from people's experiences.
• They highlight the challenges of political campaigns, revealing the need for genuine candidates in government.

Links referenced in this episode:

• voteroi.com
• bengsforsouthdakota.com

Mentioned in this episode:

• Brian Bengs

In this engaging episode, Jennifer Bengs discusses her life with Brian Bengs, who is running for the U.S. Senate. Through lively banter with David Wheeler, Jennifer reflects on their humble beginnings at Iowa State, the adventures of military life, and the evolution of their family. She humorously recounts their early courtship, particularly Brian’s unique approach to sports, and their shared experiences navigating life together. Jennifer's narrative is filled with warmth as she shares the ups and downs of their journey, including their time living in various locations due to Brian's military commitments. The couple’s dedication to community and family shines through as they discuss their daughters’ paths into service and academia, and their newfound dog, illustrating their commitment to nurturing family bonds and contributing to society. The episode is a blend of personal anecdotes and political insights, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of both the Bengs family's story and the challenges of running a political campaign.

Folks, this is David Wheeler. Welcome to MUCK YOU!. We have a very special guest today in our week long, Brian Bengs for u. S. Senate week.

I want to introduce you to his very intelligent, lovely wife, Jennifer. Welcome to this. Welcome to the show, Jennifer.

Hi. Thank you so much.

Well, where, where are you today? Are you down in South Dakota?

Yeah, in South Dakota. And the day has already started off with an adventure.

Before I left work, my husband called and said, hey, you want to park at the bottom of the driveway? There's a large truck jackknifed in our driveway. So it's always an adventure.

I encourage people to follow my husband, you know, not just his campaign, but his daily kind of posts about the campaign and living in a camper while building a house here in the black hills. So this is another day of that adventure.

All right, and what is, what are the key socials that folks should follow?

Oh, that's the one thing I didn't write down.

Oh. Oh, all right, well, we'll, we'll figure that out.

Look at, look for Brian Bengs for senate. I think it's that easy.

Yeah, I think it is. B R I A n B E N G S. Right?

Yeah. Yep.

Okay, cool. Well, I had, I had the pleasure of talking to Brian a couple times.

And part of the reason that we're spending some time, hopefully to give folks a little more information about Brian is I, I think he could win if we can get, get more folks involved in his campaign and help raise some money.

So along those lines, tell us a little bit about yourself, a little bit about Brian, and then I'm going to ask some hopefully embarrassing and probing questions.

Okay. So we met at Iowa State University. He moved into the apartment upstairs. It was my senior year. His senior year, roughly.

We overlapped and he moved in, made a bunch of noise. I didn't know what was going on. Come to find out he was custom building his bed because he's 6 foot 8. So a regular twin just doesn't cut it.

So after I found out, I'm like, okay, well, that makes sense. But yeah, just kind of met. I asked him to play racquetball. Was our first, you know, I got up the courage, said, hey, would you like to play?

And he said, no, I don't do racquetball. And I went, okay. Next day he comes back, well, I play tennis. And that's what started it all.

What's the difference? I mean, come on, Brian, if you play tennis, you can play racquetball.

I don't know. And I Kind of imagined that his roommates probably said, dude, shit, she was asking you, like, out. And he went, oh,.

And did you grow up in South Dakota or Iowa or where'd you grow up?

No, I'm from Iowa also. So about 20 minutes west of Ames, in Ogden. I assumed that everyone in the world knew where my hometown was of 2,600 people.

I told everyone at, you know, campus, I'm from Ogden. They went, Utah. No, no, Ogden, Iowa.

Well, that's interesting. That's really interesting. So. So you're Cyclones. I try not to hold that against you. I'm a Hawkeye.

We're also Hawkeyes.

Yeah, yeah. And I grew up in. Oh, you are. You went grad school there?

Brian did. That's where. Yeah. So we both graduated and then he started law school. We got married when he was a second year.

So I'm like, I. I didn't attend University of Iowa, but I was there for some significant life changing events.

So, yeah, it's a much better place to grow up, don't you think?

It was. They are both very nice towns. I gotta be fair. I straddle the fence there.

All right. All right. Cool. That's cool. Well, you know, I think when I was in high school in Norwalk, I think we played Ogden in the.

At the women's finals maybe my senior year, and I think we won. But anyway, we. We don't need to go down that path. So you and Brian met at university. Obviously there was a spark there.

What happened after, let's say after Iowa City? Where. Where did you guys journey to and tell us some good stories?

Yeah. So he was in law school and he said, well, I really don't want to go to a big city, a big city firm. I want to do something different.

And at the time I was like, great. What does that mean? And so he said, well, you know, I did two years in the Navy, the Air Force, the armed services looked pretty good.

So he'd already had that experience. I had nothing to go on. I said cautiously, okay.

So he started talking to the Air Force and Yeah, I mean, of all the branches, of course, you know, we're like, air Force is pretty awesome. And when he had it as a backdrop, you know, with the Navy. Yes.

Going in as a officer versus, you know, a 17 year old in the Navy was a much better experience. So, yeah, he started exploring that and went to officer training. And our first base was in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Wow. So Air Force rats, I guess they call them.

Yeah. So.

What about you and your career along the way you've tagged along with Brian and obviously been his partner in this, but tell us a little bit more about yourself and what gets you up out of bed every day.

Yeah, so, I mean, it was the adventure I didn't see coming. I really didn't. You know, I'm from Iowa. We don't have a strong military presence, but our guard units are amazing.

So my dad did guard, his dad did guard. But I didn't know as much as I know now, obviously, but I didn't envision this, you know. So we went off to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

It was all kind of a new adventure. I assumed, you know, I'd be working forever and so I started working at a bank and then worked at an old west museum in Cheyenne.

It was fabulous and just wasn't the career path I thought. But also moving every two to three years a career was going to be tough to have. So I worked.

And then he said, well, did you want to go to grad school? And I'm, I think that's amazing. You know, when your spouse says, well, did you want to do this? And I said, well, yeah, that'd be wonderful.

So I went back and got my master's in English and then we went overseas to Japan. And then I said, okay, if we're going to do this family thing, we should probably get this to go in. And so from there I was a stay at home mom.

I taught English as a second language on the base in Japan until baby came along. And then things got busy and then had another baby a couple moves later and got to be a stay at home mom. And that was pretty magical.

I didn't see that in my future, but wow, full time mom was quite a job. So did that until we moved back to the states when he retired and we moved to Aberdeen. And then I got my.

What I didn't know was going to be my dream job, that I was an academic advisor at Northern State University for eight years and loved every minute of that. My girls were old enough, you know, they were a little more autonomous and did that.

So, yeah, it was not the life I saw coming, but it has been amazing.

Well, and you got a, an adventure out of it.

Oh, so many.

All these terrific places. Gee, Cheyenne. And then where in, where in Japan were you?

Misawa.

So it's on the northern part of the Big island, so if we, you know, we had snow and all the seasons, so it felt like Iowa, except there were rice fields and there was an Ocean about 20 minutes away. So just a little different.

And, and everybody spoke Japanese.

Well, yeah, that too.

Cool. I. Big fan of Japan. I've been there a couple times and I, I just, I love it.

I, I am dying to go back again and spend some time there, but you're a lucky woman to have done that. And you know, being a mom is, oh, my God, it's, it's more than a full time gig.

And so I, I have deep respect for, for mothers that raise kids, especially if, if you're on the go all the time and your husband's on the go. So, yeah, kudos to you. So you guys ended up back in South Dakota and where, where are you guys located now?

And tell us a little about the community you're in.

And sure, we picked Hot Springs.

So it's in the southern edge of the Black Hills and it's referred to as the banana belt of the Black Hills because Custer is only about, maybe 30 miles away. But they're at a higher elevation, so they get snow and the wind. Hot Springs is nestled in a little valley.

We've got, you know, warm mineral springs, of course, hence the name. And we just get better weather. So it's known as the veterans town. So There's a beautiful VA building here. Oh my gosh.

Built in the 20s or 30s, red sandstone. So the community is very strong with veterans and veteran support.

So there's locals here, but there's a lot of transplants, you know, that they've come for treatment or come to settle here. Yeah, just a gorgeous place to settle in. And this is where we picked after the girls graduated high school from Aberdeen.

We wanted some new adventure and yeah, this is where we pick to have those hiking, biking, fishing, camping adventures.

Oh, that's awesome. Well, and it's.

I live up in the mountains of North Carolina and similar deal here where it's, it's a lovely community and it's pretty low key and a great place to raise kids.

Yeah.

So when Brian comes to you and says, listen, I'm thinking about running for the United States Senate, what does an Iowa girl, that obviously is probably not very political, how does she respond?

Well, I've learned a lot. I mean, I've become a better citizen. Like that sounds cheesy, but it's true because I remember going to my first caucus.

Whenever, you know, you learned about it in high school, you talk about the Iowa caucus. We're really proud. It's a wonderful thing. So the caucus and you know, the first time I voted, but that's all I really paid attention to.

So now you Know, when he first said, I want to run for office, I'm like, okay. And, you know, it just sounded interesting, but the more we looked into it, I'm like, he's an awesome candidate.

I just didn't realize how hard it was to get great people into those places. So that's been the challenge I've been surprised about. But, you know, if you can get them to the finish line, yes, he'd be amazing.

There's so many amazing candidates out there, but it's just, it's more of a game than I realized, which is also disheartening.

Yeah, yeah, there's. The politics of politics are disgusting, actually. There's disgusting sometimes, but. But there's also a lot of good people in politics.

And some of my greatest memories in Iowa, actually being out on the campaign trail with a guy named Phil Davitt. My father ran his campaigns and Mark, his son, is a good friend of mine now.

And so we spent a lot of time on the campaign trail and you get to meet a lot of really great people, don't you?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's been amazing. You know, just. Yeah. Getting out there and talking to people. Oh, it's been the best.

And there's no better way to learn your state. I mean, and. Oh, yeah, what's going on in people's lives. You don't, you don't need to take a poll.

You just talk to 100 people and you know what's on their mind.

Yeah, no, that's been amazing too.

You know, the first time around we did a lot of the parades and talking to people there and events and same with this one, getting the petitions signed. Yeah, just those face to face interactions are just so worth it.

Yeah, I hear you loud and clear. So Brian's running. Just to remind folks, for the Brian Bengs B E N G s, we're here with his lovely wife Jennifer.

Brian's running for the North Carolina or the United States Senate from South Dakota.

He's running as an independent, unaffiliated candidate, and he'll be on the ballot in November against the incumbent and the Democrat, unless the Democrat comes to the realization he has zero chance to win, which is true. Brian's polling, I've seen the latest polling, is not bad. If this Democrat would get out of the race and.

And we're not going to talk about that, Jennifer, because I don't know if it shows on the spot. But I'm just trying to put this race into context. Is it a long shot?

Yeah, but it's not a Long shot if we can get this Democrat to stand down like Dan Osborne was able to do in Nebraska. So I'm, I'm hoping we can do that. And, and we're working on that here at American Muckrakers. But back to you, Jennifer and, and the family.

Tell us a little bit about your daughters and your dogs. I heard, yes, we've heard from Professor Gearnard that, uh, Monahan Gearnard, that you guys adopted a dog. Tell us about that.

Oh, yeah, we'd lost our German shepherd, Bruce. We adopted him when we were in Germany. He came from a rescue in Spain.

We watched like a three second video of him and adopted him sight unseen, drove up, picked him up. I'm in a foreign country, here's my dog.

And I brought him home and Bruce was the best boy ever, but he got cancer and we put him down about two weeks before. I went to a football game at Northern with Pam and she said, well, I've got a dog. And I said, what do you mean?

She had this beautiful, you know, yellow lab puppy. He was, Perry was probably one a little bit by then.

She goes, yeah, you know, my friend, I got him for my friend, but my friend can't take care of him. You know, I just wondered if you're interested. I said, yes. This was about 10 o' clock at night. I said, yes, take me to your house right now.

And the friend was really nervous that I would say no and ran Prairie down the road and back. So she would be kind of tired and wouldn't jump all over me. I'm like, I don't care. Does this dog need a home? Put her in my car.

And then that was like, are you sure? I mean, she was beautiful, happiest, goofiest bundle of, you know, energy.

And I brought her home and I sent my husband a picture and said I did a thing.

You are brave.

I didn't think you would be too upset, but, you know, usually we talk things out, you know, and come to consensus, but I just went, nope, this is happening. So, yeah, I brought.

I think that says two things in my, in my book. Number one, says a lot about your relationship with your husband, which is obviously very trusting.

And, and secondly, I think it says a lot about Brian that he's open to, you know, new things in the household and he doesn't have to be the center of attention all the damn time.

Well, worked great for the campaign. I think his post with her got the most likes of any of at the time.

Oh, that's great. Well, gang, if you're listening again. We've got Jennifer Bengs on. This is Muck you with David Wheeler here in North Carolina.

But, you know, we've got a candidate who's a dog person and not. And that's all some people need to know that you guys are a dog family and a lab family and a rescue family.

So if that's all you need, folks, please go to vote roi.com bb vote roi.com bb and make a donation to Brian's campaign. We set up a special page there. The donations will flow to his campaign and it's cheaper than Act Blue, so. So do that. All right, so we.

We cover the dog. Tell us a little bit about your family and. And the girls.

Okay. Yeah, this is one of those. You might have to cut me off because, yes, they're my girls.

I'm immensely proud, but there's so much to be immensely proud of. The one thing I noticed about a month ago, I'm like, oh, my gosh. My girls love me, but they are following in Brian's footsteps. It's just crazy.

Sadie joined the Air Force. She did ROTC while she was at University of Georgia. So she'll, you know, be commissioned after she finishes grad school.

My youngest is doing a history major with a double major in public administration, and she's working at Wind Cave national park this summer. I'm like, this is pretty awesome, but, yeah, I mean, they're still my girls, but it's just funny how much they've echoed his.

His example, you know, things he's done and. Yeah, so I, I find that pretty awesome that they are willing to follow. You know, it's not just. It's dad. They're like, okay, he's kind of cool.

Well, that's cool. Well, they sound like they're brave women, too, going into the military and. Or at least one of them. And then working in caves all summer.

Yeah, exactly.

I don't. I. I couldn't do that because of the bats. That would scare the crap out of me. But. All right, so let's go ahead.

Oh, I was gonna say, surprisingly, it's a. Mostly a dry cave, so. And there's not a lot of entry points, so just trivia for your listeners to go to Win Cave national park and look it up.

All right, cool. So we covered dogs, We've covered the girls, we cover Brian, we cover careers.

Why don't we wrap up with a couple fun stories if you got them about Brian, you know, something not too embarrassing, but we're trying to give folks a feel for who this. Who these candidates are and who Brian is. So do me a favor and just give us a story about Brian that says a lot about him.

Okay. So my dad is a pretty incredible craftsman. You know, built a couple houses, builds furniture, so he set the bar pretty high.

And, you know, Brian's like, well, I can do some stuff. I've got, you know, construction background and my summer jobs. And I'm like, okay.

But I. I was a little skeptical the first couple years of marriage, but the first time that we changed out a toilet and he set that wax seal and put the toilet. I was sold. It's the small things. I know the small things that you're like, okay, wow. This guy has it together, but he's still learning too.

You know, got the interior, you know, new upholstery, fixed it up f. And we took it out on the highway. We're in Cheyenne. And he's like, well, okay. Well, it has what they call, like, all weather air conditioning or something. I'm like, what's that mean?

He's like, well, just open that vent down there by your leg. So we're on the interstate. I open this vent and what, 40, 50 years of debris blows out in my face at like 65 miles per hour.

If we were just like, just breathless, you know, of dust, bugs, leaves, everything. So I'm like, okay. So again, he. He knows a little bit, but not. Not everything to maybe have checked those vents or maybe done it at a slower speed or.

That's awesome. That's a great story. Everybody needs a rambler. So cute.

It was so cute.

All right, well, terrific. This has been great. All right, I. I gotta go back to one thing, though. It's this jackknifed semi in your driveway. What the. What's that all about?

Yeah, so, you know, we're in the Black Hills, so there's a lot of hills. And we're on a beautiful little peak overlooking the canyon. It's. We live on Hot Brook Canyon Road, so we hear the water, so it's a long drive.

But there's also a sand and gravel pit just down the road. And apparently the driver had been up there once this morning but was coming back from a delivery, so Solo didn't really.

You know, basically he's about half a mile away from where he needs to be, but he comes up our driveway past the, you know, private drive in the mailbox in the trash can. So he comes up the drive, realizes about halfway that, oops, this is not it. And he got stuck trying to back down.

So the trailer back axle is hanging off the driveway just a little bit and then the front trailer or the front tractor tires hanging off. So he was waiting for some help to get straightened out and get back down. So, yeah,.

More stressful for him than probably the rest of us, but I can only imagine. All right. Well, gang, we've been with Brian Bengs's intelligent, lovely wife, Jennifer Bengs from South Dakota today.

Thank you so much, Jennifer, for taking some time to talk to us. And I want to remind folks, please go to voteroi.com bb which is Brian's landing page, make a donation to his campaign.

And in honor of Jennifer and the girls or the lovely dogs as well. So again, Jennifer, thank you for joining us.

Yeah. Thank you all. Thank you so much for this.

Okay, this has been David Wheeler with muck you. Thank you for joining us. And until next time, muck you.