Christine Todd Whitman, former Republican governor of New Jersey and EPA administrator under President George W. Bush, participated in an Oct. 25, 2026, forum in Sioux Falls with Brian Bengs, independent U.S. Senate candidate in South Dakota. Whitman is the co-founder of the Forward Party, which endorsed Bengs.
Bengs appeared alongside the Forward Party’s CEO and one of those co-founders at a forum attended by around 60 people at Monick Yards, just east of downtown Sioux Falls. Bengs faces Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds in a race with no Democrat on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Whitman told the crowd she helped launch the party in 2022 because she feels the current two-party system is broken. After leaving the Bush administration, Whitman wrote the 2005 book “It’s My Party Too,” which criticized Republican moves toward social issues for boxing too many people out of the party. That “was dangerous for the country,” Whitman said on Sunday.
She eventually became a registered independent. She came to believe, she said, that major parties have no incentive to turn their focus away from party loyalty and back toward working together to address the country’s problems. At this point, Whitman said, “I think our democracy is holding on by a thread, and I’m not about to see it go without putting up a fight.”
She co-founded the Forward Party with Andrew Yang, a former Democrat who ran to be that party’s presidential nominee in 2020 with a campaign that trumpeted his proposal for a “universal basic income” of $1,000 a month for every U.S. adult. The following year, he ran unsuccessfully to be mayor of New York City.
Yang was supposed to be at the forum, but his flight was delayed. Bengs and Whitman invited attendees to a social gathering with them and Yang at Monks Ale House, about a block from Monick Yards.
Bengs told the audience that the first time he ran for Senate in South Dakota, four years ago against Republican Sen. John Thune, Bengs switched his registration from independent to Democrat so he could get the party’s support. Parties have built-in communications networks, donor lists and a host of other advantages for candidates.
Bengs said he switched so he could access those advantages, but never felt comfortable being on a party’s “team.” “Once you’re an agent for the team, you’re called upon to answer for the team, even if you disagree with it,” Bengs said.
The Forward Party asks candidates to sign a pledge to support democracy, the constitution and the rule of law, and to support policies to “make elections secure and easy to vote in for all eligible voters, all while striving to represent all of my constituents.” The pledge says candidates may demonstrate those values by supporting policies that lower barriers for new parties and independents, such as non-partisan primaries and ranked-choice voting, the latter of which allows voters to rank their preferred candidates in order.
Bengs said he supports all of that and signed the pledge prior to earning the Forward Party’s endorsement. “In all seriousness, I would probably not be here in a competitive position today without the support of the Forward Party,” Bengs said.
