Trygve Hammer speaks to delegates of the Democratic-NPL state convention March 7, 2026, in Bismarck. (Photo by Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)
By: Michael Achterling
BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota Democrats endorsed Trygve Hammer Saturday to represent the party after a fiery convention speech critical of Republican incumbent Rep. Julie Fedorchak.
Hammer overwhelmingly defeated Democratic-NPL candidates Vern Thompson and Helene Neville to secure the party’s nomination. Hammer, a former Marine and graduate of the Naval Academy, invoked a famous Navy phrase while pledging to stand by North Dakotans.
“I will not give up the ship and I believe that we will win,” Hammer said during his convention speech.
Hammer criticized Fedorchak repeatedly over what he sees as failures to stand up to President Donald Trump and Republican policies, such as tariffs and health care cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
He was also critical of Fedorchak’s vote against an Iran war powers resolution that failed to pass the U.S. House this week, and said he worries that his children and their spouses serving in the military are not being represented.
Hammer said the Trump-era phrase of “peace through strength” is not correct because “strength isn’t violence.”
“Our strength has always been in our alliances,” he said.
Thompson, an independent trucker and former state lawmaker, decided to run for the U.S. House because he does not want farmers to struggle like he did during the farm crisis of the 1980s. Thompson operated a family farm in the Minnewaukan area and sees the tariff policy of President Donald Trump as a detriment to farmer success.
Thompson represented the Minnewaukan area in the North Dakota House from 1989-1990 and served from 1997-2000 in the Senate.
“The NPL is about the people versus the powerful,” Thompson said during his convention speech. “We need more people taking on the powerful.”
Neville, a cancer survivor and former travel nurse, criticized the health care system in America, where cancer patients set up GoFundMe pages to pay for care while other developed countries make health care available to citizens.
“Health care reform must lower costs but it must not restrict access,” Neville said.
Former Dem-NPL U.S. Senate candidate Katrina Christiansen nominated Hammer for the endorsement and said he’s become an honorary part of her family in recent years. She was also critical of Fedorchak for not holding public town halls for North Dakotans to voice their concerns in person.
“We need a leader who doesn’t keep themselves at a safe distance,” Christiansen said.
She said Fedorchak should hear footsteps of Hammer and other Democrats, which caused delegates in the auditorium at the Bismarck State College Advanced Technology Center to stomp their feet on the ground.
Former U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, the last Democrat to win statewide election in North Dakota, closed Saturday’s convention by challenging attendees to hold state elected officials accountable. Heitkamp said she hopes that history will “record and condemn the cowardice” of U.S. Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer and Fedorchak.
“They will never change unless the political consequences from North Dakota voters are greater than the petty consequences of Donald Trump,” Heitkamp said.
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