Bent-Joacim Bentzen
Bent-Joacim Bentzen is a Norwegian politician who has served as a member of the Storting for Nordland since 2025. A member of the Centre Party, he previously served as a deputy member of the Storting from 2021 to 2025. Concurrently, he also served as a state secretary, first at the Ministry of Defence until 2023 and then at the Ministry of Transport until 2025.
Political career
Local politics
Bentzen was appointed Nordland county commissioner for transport in Tomas Norvoll's county cabinet following the 2019 local elections, succeeding fellow party member Svein Eggesvik, who had become commissioner for economy. He resigned in October 2021 upon being appointed state secretary in Jonas Gahr Støre's government. Eggesvik succeeded him in an acting capacity until Monika Sande was appointed his permanent successor on 6 December.State Secretary
Bentzen was appointed state secretary at the Ministry of Defence on 22 October 2021. He was retained by Bjørn Arild Gram upon him taking over as minister of defence from Odd Roger Enoksen in 2022. In January 2023, he was moved to the Ministry of Transport. He left his position upon his party withdrawing from government in January 2025, during which he was highly critical of the Labour Party, accusing them of putting EU interests over Norwegian interests and labelling them as "arrogant".Parliament
Bentzen was first elected to the Storting at the 2021 election as a deputy member for Nordland, a seat he held until 2025. He was elected as a regular member from the same constituency at the 2025 election.Following the 2025 election, Bentzen became the Centre Party's spokesperson on justice.