Matthew Simon, center-right, chair of the North Dakota Republican Party, speaks during an event at NDGOP headquarters in Bismarck on March 10, 2026. Others pictured, from left, are Andrea Toman, Delvin Boehm, Lori Hinz, Greg Demme and DeAnn Reed. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
By: Michael Achterling
BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – The North Dakota Republican Party leadership pushed back against its own statewide incumbents during a Tuesday press conference promoting the party’s state convention.
All of North Dakota’s Republican statewide office holders confirmed this week they plan to skip seeking the NDGOP endorsement at the state convention in Minot on March 28-29.
“Unfortunately, some of our elected officials have chosen to disregard the roughly 1,000 delegates who were looking forward to hearing from them at the convention,” said Matthew Simon, chair of the North Dakota Republican Party. “The Republican voters deserve better than that.”
Two candidates seeking the party’s endorsement for statewide office met the Sunday filing deadline, U.S. House candidate Alex Balazs and Deven Styczynski, who is running for a six-year term on the Public Service Commission. That leaves several statewide races, including attorney general, agriculture commissioner and secretary of state, without candidates for Republicans to consider endorsing.
“It’s very unfortunate and I would say shameful that that decision was made because of personality conflicts or whatever the case may be not to attend,” Simon said. “But there is an obligation and a duty that I think is inherent with serving in public life and part of that is to be accessible to your constituents.”
Floor nominations for elected office at the state convention are not allowed under party rules, but the party could suspend the rules. It’s one of the topics the NDGOP Rules Committee plans to debate Saturday, Simon said.
The news conference at NDGOP headquarters had no statewide officials in attendance, but did attract a handful of more conservative lawmakers and political candidates. Rick Becker, a former state lawmaker who’s running for the Legislature, said the party has long had a split between more ideologically conservative members and more moderate or pragmatic members.
“Instead of recognizing the value of these two factions continuing to have an impact on the party in our state, the moderates have just taken the ball and gone home,” Becker said.
Sen. Jeff Magrum, R-Hazelton, and a member of the NDGOP Rules Committee, said he would like to see the state convention suspend the rules to allow nominations from the floor.
“Anybody that wants to step up and take those endorsements, go for it,” Magrum said. “If these other people (Republican statewide incumbents) don’t want our endorsement, they don’t think it’s worthy, or we’re not worthy of endorsing them … if someone else wants to step up and the field is open, I’d say more power to them.”
Gov. Kelly Armstrong will not attend the NDGOP state convention and will instead participate in a friend’s wedding, according to a governor’s office spokesperson. The party did not consult Armstrong when setting dates for the event, the spokesperson said.
Simon said planning for the 2026 state convention began in spring 2025. He added that several state officials including the governor are members of the party’s executive committee and had opportunities to make scheduling conflicts known.
Some Republican incumbents have cited frustrations over the 2024 state convention process as reasons they are instead gathering signatures to appear on the June primary election ballot.
Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said there was “too much back-biting and infighting” within the party.
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