WASHINGTON (North Dakota Monitor) – U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak pushed back against recent actions by the North Dakota Republican Party and signaled her support for the Iran war Thursday as she submitted signatures to compete in the June primary.
Fedorchak, a Republican, did not seek the party’s endorsement last weekend, skipping the NDGOP convention along with every other statewide office incumbent.
Delegates at the NDGOP state convention voted to remove the party’s brand from candidates who skipped the endorsing convention, but the action does not change state law, which allows candidates who submit signatures to access the primary ballot and identify their political party.
Fedorchak, a former Public Service Commissioner who worked in the administrations of former Gov. Ed Schafer and Sen. John Hoeven, said she’s spent most of the last 30 years of her professional life trying to build the Republican Party.
“I think our Republican brand has actually never been stronger, and I think you are going to see that reflected in the results of this election again,” Fedorchak said before submitting petition signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office. “We deliver the kind of government, the kind of policies, that North Dakotans want.”
She said President Donald Trump is the leader of the national Republican Party, and he endorsed her reelection campaign in August.
“I like my chances in the primary,” Fedorchak said. “And I’m super excited to get started on this just to continue reaching out to North Dakotans and spread the message of success this term and all I want to accomplish in the next term.”
Fedorchak, during a brief news conference Thursday, also talked about her support for the Iran war. She said the goals of the war have “largely been accomplished,” through the destruction of more than 9,000 targets, the country’s leadership and Iran’s ballistic missile capability.
“I hope that it winds down sooner versus later,” she said. “I think that we are already much safer as a nation and as a world with the basic decapitation of Iran’s abilities to host and advocate terror all over the world.”
Fedorchak added that Trump receives intelligence briefings on the conflict and she will support him to decide when he thinks the “time is optimal” to conclude hostilities between the two countries.
During the convention, NDGOP delegates endorsed Alex Balazs for North Dakota’s lone U.S. House seat. Balazs pledged to hold regular, in-person town halls, which contrasted with Fedorchak’s online events. Fedorchak defended her virtual forums, which she said allow her to reach a greater number of North Dakotans.
“We get thousands of people on those calls at one time and much more than you’d be able to connect with in an in-person town hall,” she said.
Fedorchak defeated Balazs during a five-way Republican primary in 2024 with 46% voter support.
Fedorchak said she’s held more than 1,100 meetings with North Dakotans during her first term between events in North Dakota and Washington, D.C., including many with agriculture and energy producers as well as chambers of commerce across the state. Some have criticized Fedorchak and other members of the delegation for holding events that are open to invited guests but not the general public.
The next Fedorchak virtual forum will take place on April 17, she said.
Matt Simon, chair of the North Dakota Republican Party, said in a Thursday interview with KFGO’s Joel Heitkamp, that the state party will not support candidates who did not seek the NDGOP endorsement, including races that did not have candidates.
The Democratic-NPL Party endorsed Trygve Hammer during its state convention in March. Fedorchak defeated Hammer with 69% voter support during the 2024 general election.
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