A Wisconsin brewery posted that the gunman at the White House Correspondents Dinner needed to work on his "marksmanship."
The FBI showed up four days later.
What the owner did the moment those agents walked out the door is something Wisconsin Democrats are not going to be able to ignore.
Kirk Bangstad and Minocqua Brewing Company Are Now Running for Wisconsin Governor
Kirk Bangstad announced his Wisconsin gubernatorial bid on Sunday – days after FBI and Secret Service agents sat down with him at his Minocqua taproom over the post his brewery published celebrating the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting.
The social media post went up after Cole Tomas Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, was charged with attempting to assassinate the president at the WHCA dinner on April 25.
Minocqua Brewing's response: "Well, we almost got #freebeerday."
The post continued: "Either a brother or sister in the Resistance needs to work on their marksmanship or he faked another assassination to get a positive news cycle."
FBI Special Agent Caroline Clancy confirmed to The Federalist that the investigation is ongoing.
The FBI and Secret Service "followed up on information received and conducted further investigative steps, which included a voluntary interview with the individual," Clancy wrote.
Bangstad told his lawyer the moment the agents left his taproom.
"After those two agents left my taproom on Thursday night, I told my lawyer Fred that I was going to run for Governor," Bangstad wrote on Substack Sunday.
He livestreamed the federal interview from the taproom.
And he posted the Secret Service agent's phone number afterward and encouraged followers to call.
Wisconsin Governor Race 2026 Just Got Its Most Radical Democrat Candidate
Wisconsin's Democrat primary for governor was already chaotic before Bangstad entered it.
Seven Democrats – including former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, State Rep. Francesca Hong, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley – are competing in a race where 65 percent of likely primary voters are still undecided in polling.
Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany has the clearest path in a general election the party sees as genuinely winnable – Wisconsin went for Trump in 2024 by less than a point, Democrat Governor Tony Evers is retiring, and the Democrat Party's unfavorable rating sits at 54 percent.
Bangstad joined that field calling himself a "battle-hardened fighter" who believes no current Democrat is willing to treat the political situation like a "five-alarm fire."
His version of five-alarm is cheering for a gunman to improve his aim and then announcing a gubernatorial campaign when federal agents come asking questions.
The Wisconsin Democrat Party released a statement calling Bangstad's post "completely unacceptable." State Rep. Francesca Hong – the furthest-left candidate in the primary field – refused to name Bangstad directly while calling Wisconsin's ICE enforcement "political violence."
That's where the Wisconsin Democrat Party is right now.
Tom Tiffany Just Got the Wisconsin Governor Opponent He Wanted
The left-wing violence pattern is no longer fringe.
Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on a Utah campus last September by a man who said Kirk "spreads too much hate."
Cole Allen ranked his WHCA targets from highest to lowest – Trump first – and called himself "The Friendly Federal Assassin."
A brewery owner in northern Wisconsin publicly celebrated that attempt, sat down with federal agents, and three days later announced he was running for governor.
Bangstad said Democrats who condemned his post abandoned him – called their criticism "spilling progressive blood into the water" – and concluded nobody in the current field had the guts to say what he was already saying.
He's right about one thing: the rest of the Democrat field won't say what he said.
They'll just think it.
Sources:
- M.D. Kittle, "WI Brewpub Owner Pledging Free Beer If Trump Dies Now Running For Governor," The Federalist, May 4, 2026.
- Lindsay Kornick, "Wisconsin brewery owner Kirk Bangstad runs for governor after FBI probe," Fox News, May 5, 2026.
- "Kirk Bangstad announces run for governor," WSAW, May 2, 2026.
- "Minocqua Brewing Company owner announces run for governor," WKOW, May 3, 2026.
