Brewery Owner Who Offered Free Beer on Trump's Death Announces Wisconsin Gubernatorial Bid

Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad announced his candidacy for Wisconsin governor on Sunday.

He made the announcement in a Substack post. "I’m running for Governor because I believe Wisconsin needs a battle-hardened fighter to join the rest of America to save our Democracy from Trump’s regime, and that person doesn’t exist in the crowded field of Democrats currently running in Wisconsin’s Gubernatorial primary," Bangstad wrote.

The announcement came a little over a week after his brewery advertised free beer in the event of President Donald Trump's death. The Facebook post followed news of shots fired at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, which Trump and several Cabinet members attended.

"Well, we almost got #freebeerday. 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," the post said. "We’ll never know. Regardless, we stand at the ready to pour free beer the day it happens."

The post prompted an FBI and Secret Service investigation of Bangstad and his company. Members of the Wisconsin Democratic Party disavowed him, according to Bangstad.

"The messaging mistake [State Rep. Francesca] Hong made, as well as [gubernatorial candidate Mandela] Barnes and the rest of the Corporate Democrats, spilled progressive blood into the water that created a feeding frenzy against me, my fiancé, and my company," Bangstad wrote. "Trump’s propaganda machine and the corporate media that continuously fails America with its cancerous 'bothside-ism,' came after me with full force; and that led to me being interrogated and intimidated by the FBI and the Secret Service."

He continued, "After those two agents left my taproom on Thursday night, I told my lawyer Fred that I was going to run for Governor. Since I couldn’t trust the Democratic Party to have my back nor the current slate of gubernatorial candidates—and because I have a social media reach that dwarfs them all—I might as well stand up for myself and the rest of the working class, who I’ve been standing up for with my loud voice for the last 6 years."

Bangstad needs 2,000 signatures by June 1 to qualify for the November election. Fox News Digital reached out to him for comment.

He previously ran for Congress in 2015 and for the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2020. Since then, he formed the Minocqua Brewing Company SuperPAC, which aims to remove Republican federal and state elected officials who perpetuated election lies that caused the January 6, 2021, insurrection and downplayed COVID-19's seriousness, causing unnecessary deaths, according to the company website.

The brewery sells specialty beers tied to political trends and figures, such as "Resistance Pilsner" and "Tammy Shandy," named after Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin.