Dean received a medical retirement in 2013, according to the Air Force.

The candidate told The Billings Gazette he changed his name for religious reasons, but he was cut off by Sarah Dean, who grabbed his arm.

“I just didn’t like it, I didn’t like his name because they called him Dan and I just didn’t see him as a Dan," Sarah Dean said. "And he thought that it was because I prayed about it and I got an answer, but no, I honestly wanted him to be a William. And I told him, you have to be a William. I didn’t like his name and all these complications that went with me thinking of him being a Dan and I’m just like, ‘I’m over this.’”

Finding a platform

Democrats and Republicans, at least the ones who have visited with the Deans, question the couple’s backstories, but not their motive for running for Senate. The Deans have an economic theory for retooling banks, insurance companies and even how the dollar is valued. Advancing that agenda is the couple’s stated priority, and partisans don’t doubt it.

“Initially, I thought it was a scam, never a doubt, but I don’t believe that after meeting him face to face,” Brekke said.