Brian Bengs
I · U.S. Senate, South Dakota · Tier 3
Tier 3, “Pro-Israel, critical”
Retired Air Force JAG lieutenant colonel and former law professor, the 2022 Democratic nominee against John Thune, now Mike Rounds's only major challenger as an independent after Democrat Julian Beaudion withdrew in August 2026. In a September 2025 campaign essay he found “ample evidence of Israel violating numerous LOAC obligations while the United States has remained essentially silent, continuing to supply weapons,” wrote that “It is immoral and illegal to treat all Palestinians as terrorists,” and said the U.S. “must enforce accountability by imposing consequences for Israel's disregard of LOAC.” The same essay affirms Israel's legal entitlement to self-defense after October 7 and leaves the genocide question to readers. In October 2026 South Dakota Searchlight reported that he says Israel has gone too far in its Gaza war and that U.S. military assistance should be conditioned on compliance with international law; “There are limits,” he said. “If you’re going to commit war crimes, if you’re going to commit genocide, you do not have our support and you will not receive any additional support until you get on the right side of international law and human rights.” The outlet also reports that he has pledged to refuse AIPAC contributions.
A 3, not 3/4. He criticizes Israel's conduct in Gaza in detail and in his own voice — famine and civilian deaths as the Israeli government's failure, continued U.S. weapons supply amid the violations, and a call for consequences and for restraining Israel's “military adventurism” — which is the critical-but-still-supportive profile. But he affirms Israel's legal entitlement to self-defense after October 7 and declines to call it genocide himself. In October 2026 he made the conditioning explicit, telling South Dakota Searchlight, of a government that commits war crimes or genocide, “you do not have our support and you will not receive any additional support until you get on the right side of international law and human rights”: support tied to Israel’s conduct rather than ended, with genocide raised as a hypothetical. Counter-case: 3/4, reading that pledge as a cutoff of all further support until Israel complies.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).