North Dakota Democrats Opt for More of the Same
Kylie Oversen is the endorsed Democratic candidate for ND tax commissioner. photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald
MINOT, N.D. — I was going to begin this column with a now-familiar recitation of all the ways the Democratic-NPL is all but irrelevant in the governance of our state, but I’m not sure I need to.
By now you get it, right? North Dakota’s Democrats have been lost in the wilderness for nearly 30 years. Their statewide candidates are routinely routed. Their legislative candidates lose everywhere but a few blue pockets around the state’s campuses and Native American communities.
The conventional political wisdom on this state of affairs is that the local Democrats are the victims of their national counterparts. Figures such as Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden are deeply unpopular in North Dakota, and that toxicity of brand is something most local Democratic candidates can’t overcome.
I don’t believe that.
