FARGO, ND - OCTOBER 02, 2024: ND House District 10 legislative candidate Jared Hendrix participating in the Red River Valley League of Women Voters Candidate Forum held at Fargo City Hall on October 02, 2024.
By: Jeff Beach
FARGO (North Dakota Monitor) – Republicans seem to be in no danger of losing their majority status in the North Dakota Legislature — Democrats hold just 16 of the 141 seats.
But here are districts with some interesting circumstances this election cycle.
District 10
District 10 is the unusual case of some Republicans supporting a Democrat over a candidate from their own party.
The Fargo district has three House candidates – two Republicans and one Democrat – for the two seats.
But Republican incumbent Steve Swiontek is not working with fellow Republican Jared Hendrix to try to unseat Democrat Hamida Dakane.
Hendrix is being shunned by some moderate Republicans for his attempts to promote a more conservative agenda and elect more conservative candidates.
Hendrix also led the ballot measures that added age limits to North Dakota members of Congress and term limits for state legislators. Hendrix said he believes there is some animosity toward him because of the term limits effort.
Dakane has endorsed Swiontek after the two worked together in the 2023 session.
Swiontek said he is working with the Republican Senate candidate in District 10, George Roughead, who is running against incumbent Democrat Ryan Braunberger.
District 46
As in District 10 with Republican candidate Hendrix, the political action committee Brighter Future Alliance led by Republican Pat Finken has targeted incumbent Republican Rep. Jim Kasper as being too extreme on the party’s right wing.
It’s also a district where two incumbents — father and daughter Sen. Jim Roers and Rep. Shannon Roers Jones — did not run for reelection.
Kasper and Desiree Morton are the Republican candidates for the House seats. Todd Reisenauer and Will Thompson are the Democratic-NPL candidates for House.
Republican Michelle Powers and Democrat Jess Arenson are competing for the Senate seat.
District 9
The lines for District 9 were redrawn this year after two Native American tribes won the legal argument that maps drawn by legislators violated the Voting Rights Act.
The result is five Native Americans and one non-Native candidate competing for three seats in the Legislature.
All three Democratic candidates are tribal members — Richard Marcellais for Senate and Jayme Davis and Collette Brown for House. Marcellais is a former senator who lost reelection in 2022. Davis is an incumbent. Both are members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. Brown is a member of the Spirit Lake Nation. (Craig Poitra was initially endorsed by District 9 Democrats but did not submit paperwork to the secretary of state. He was replaced by Brown ahead of the June primary.)
Marcellais faces Republican state Sen. Judy Estenson, who was elected by District 15 in 2022, but was put into District 9 when the district lines were redrawn this year.
The Republican House candidates are Robert Graywater of the Spirit Lake Nation and David “Doc” Brien of the Turtle Mountain Band.
The other district significantly affected by the lawsuit is District 15, including the city of Devils Lake. But District 15 has no Democratic candidates.
District 9 and District 15 and the other odd-numbered districts in North Dakota had elections in 2022. The lawsuit and redistricting mean another election this year, but only for two-year terms.
The districts will be back on the ballot again in 2026, along with the other odd-numbered districts.
District 42
Republican Emily O’Brien is seeking reelection to the House but one of her constituents is questioning whether she really lives in the Grand Forks district.
A resident of District 42 filed a police report, the Grand Forks Herald reported. WDAY News reported the Secretary of State’s Office indicated there are no facts to back up the accusation that O’Brien does not live in the district.
Doug Osowski got the most votes among District 42 House candidates in the June Republican primary. O’Brien finished ahead of Sadie Hanson by 11 votes.
The Democratic candidates are Sarah Grossbauer and Carol Hagen.
The Senate race has Republican Claire Cory, who pleaded guilty to reckless driving in July, and Democrat Rodney Gigstad.
District 18
The Senate race in District 18 in Grand Forks made news when the Democratic-NPL challenger filed a police report against the Republican incumbent.
Kyle Thorson filed a report on Oct. 22 after getting what he felt were threatening messages from Sen. Scott Meyer.
Meyer apologized to Thorson and said he had been drinking before looking through some of Thorson’s Facebook posts about the campaign.
District 2
District 2 in northwest North Dakota is notable because there actually are contested races.
Four years ago, there were no Democratic-NPL challengers to the Republican candidates. This year, the Democrats fielded a full slate of candidates.
For the Senate, Republican Mark Enget faces Democrat Rosemary Tanberg in a race to replace David Rust.
The House races are Republican incumbents Bert Anderson and Donald Longmuir against Democrats Betty Dhuyvetter and Gene Nygaard.
District 24
Republican state Sen. Mike Wobbema won by 2 percentage points in the 2020 election. This year, his Democratic-NPL challenger is Knut “Pete” Gjovik.
The House incumbents are Republicans Dwight Kiefert and Daniel Johnston. Johnston’s son, Damian Johnston, was recently charged in connection with entering the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot in 2021. Daniel Johnston said his son “got swept up in a crowd.”
The Democratic challengers are Shawn Olauson and Nancy Farnham.
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