Congresswoman-elect Julie Fedorchak speaks during a farewell event in Memorial Hall at the Capitol in Bismarck on Dec. 19, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
By: Michael Achterling
BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota’s new representative in Congress is poised to serve on the Energy and Commerce Committee, the first freshman member to receive that appointment in 14 years.
Julie Fedorchak, who takes office Friday as North Dakota’s sole member of the House, has spent the last 12 years as a utility regulator on the Public Service Commission.
“I’m very excited for this next adventure. There’s a lot of work to get done,” Fedorchak said during a farewell event last month at the Capitol. “And I feel like this job has kind of prepared me in an important way to be as effective as anyone can be out in D.C.”
Gov. Kelly Armstrong, Fedorchak’s predecessor in the House, said Fedorchak will immediately be the foremost subject matter expert on energy transmission in the U.S. House. As a member of the PSC, Fedorchak also was president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
“She is going to be immediately the person that they call on,” said Armstrong, who was elected governor in November after deciding to not seek reelection to Congress.
Randy Christmann, chair of the PSC, came into his seat on the commission at the same time as Fedorchak in 2012 and highlighted her accomplishments before warning U.S. House members that North Dakota is sending a figurative tornado to the legislative body.
“This is a difficult time for me. I’m torn emotionally,” Christmann said. “I’m telling you, if in Washington, D.C., if the establishment thinks that President (Donald) Trump and Elon Musk are going to be the big disrupters, wait until they learn about Julie Fedorchak.”
It will be up to Armstrong to appoint a new member to the Public Service Commission to fill Fedorchak’s seat. Fedorchak has four years left on her six-year term. The appointee will serve two years, and voters will elect someone in 2026 to serve the remaining two years.
Armstrong said last month he would make an appointment to fill Fedorchak’s seat on the commission “sometime after Jan. 3.”
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