… American governance. And one of them admits on video they've been "coordinating."
According to the polls, "independent" Dan Osborn is in a toss-up race with Ricketts in Nebraska.
Emerson has South Dakota "independent" Brian Bengs within single digits of Mike Rounds.
The strategy is to elect enough independents to deny either party a governing majority—and use their votes as leverage for structural reforms.
Osborn's 2024 field director, Austen Campbell, laid out the plan:
"We have a goal for 2026 to run a slate of independents and deny both political parties the majority in the House of Representatives in hopes of getting an independent speaker."
Bengs said echoed that on a September 2026 Renew to Thrive call:
"We don't need to get 50 or 51 to change things. We just need a handful."
In their words, this handful is to do "arm-twisting" to get the structural reforms they want.
➡️ Paul Zeitz's May 2026 Concept Note: open primaries, ranked-choice voting, and "independent" redistricting.
➡️ RAD's Constitution Emergency Response draft: an Article V convention with amendments on "campaign finance and voting rights restoration, healthcare, education, and economic security, and ecological rights and climate accountability."
The draft calls that the MODERATE strategy.
And the political objective extends beyond reforming elections.
In 2023, Walt Roberts told the man who now runs the Independent National Convention that stopping the MAGA GOP was "job one."
As for ending the two-party duopoly?
"That's very secondary right now."
Put those statements together.
A plan to deny both parties a majority. Candidates running as independents. A small voting bloc positioned to extract concessions. A documented list of proposed constitutional and electoral changes. And a stated priority of stopping the MAGA GOP.
The question for Nebraska and South Dakota voters is whether they know what these candidates' political allies have been planning… and whether Osborn and Bengs share those objectives.
