Minocqua Brewing Owner Kirk Bangstad Says He’s Running for Governor
Liberal activist says no other Democrat strong enough to stand up to Trump.
Minocqua Brewery owner and liberal activist Kirk Bangstad addresses reporters after filing a lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court seeking to block former President Donald Trump from Wisconsin ballots, on Jan. 5, 2024 in Madison, Wis. Anya van Wagtendonk/WPR
Kirk Bangstad, the controversial liberal activist and owner of Minocqua Brewing Company, has joined the crowded race for governor of Wisconsin, he announced on social media over the weekend.
The livestreamed announcement came days after Bangstad was interviewed by the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI for comments he made on Facebook following an alleged assassination attempt on President Donald Trump.
Bangstad described that encounter with law enforcement to a group of supporters who gathered at his bar on Saturday, over the course of a nearly hour-long live Facebook video during which he poured a range of his politically inspired and cheekily named beers, and criticized fellow Democrats and the news media.
About 45 minutes in, he said that that experience, and the broader state of American democracy, had inspired him to run for governor.
“I don’t like elections. I love speaking, you know, I love doing this, but I hate the process,” he said. “But it changed me when … I felt like the Democratic Party abandoned me, and I felt that I was actually scared for my safety, and scared from my own federal government.”
Bangstad, who ran for state Assembly in 2020, said that he felt nobody else in the Democratic Party was strong enough to stand up to Trump.
“I’ve been called the Trump of the left in every way. Arguably, I am, I’m just a million times smarter, but I have this showmanship aspect,” he said. “What we haven’t heard so far is that five alarm fire from any of the candidates running … on the Democratic side.”
Bangstad has been an outspoken critic of Trump since 2020, when he said Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic harmed his business. Since then, he has bedecked his business in anti-Trump signs, and he filed a lawsuit to kick Trump off the ballot in 2024, citing the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
He has repeatedly said that he will pour free beer on the day that Trump dies, and sells t-shirts advertising “Free Beer Day.”
The comments that got him in trouble last week were tied to that gimmick. He wrote that an incident in which a man with weapons charged the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, at which Trump was present, was a sign that someone “in the Resistance needs to work on their marksmanship,” or it was a hoax.
“Regardless, we stand at the ready to pour free beer the day it happens,” Bangstad wrote.
And Bangstad is a controversial figure in his community. He’s been embroiled in zoning disputes in Oneida County, and spent years in a legal battle over comments he made about the publisher of a Minocqua-based newspaper that were found to be defamatory, ultimately settling the civil case for $580,000.
These controversies are part of Bangstad’s schtick — and his fundraising appeal to supporters. Over the course of his newspaper lawsuit, for example, he raised thousands for his political action committee. He livestreamed the moment that federal agents arrived to question him, and his return home.
On Saturday, he exhorted his followers to help him collect 2,000 signatures to get into the Democratic primary, which has more than half a dozen candidates already.
“I never wanted to do this, but I feel like, at least — even if I lose — at least I’m part of the conversation that I feel like everybody needs to be hearing,” he said.
Minocqua Brewing Company owner and liberal activist Kirk Bangstad says he’s running for governor was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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