“Is it time for Republicans to start freaking out?” asks Politico. “More than 40 House Republican incumbents were outraised in the final quarter of 2017 by one — or several — of their Democratic opponents, according to the latest round of fundraising numbers. And of that group, more than a dozen had less cash on…
Democratic House Candidate Raises Paltry $36,000 in First Quarter
North Dakota’s Democrats would like us to believe that there’s a lot of enthusiasm in the state for unseating incumbent Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer in the upcoming 2018 election cycle. But judging by the financials for Ben Hanson, the only challenger to Cramer to announce so far, that just isn’t the case. Hanson announced his…
Democratic House Candidate Forgets to Mention That Time Voters Kicked Him Out of the Legislature
Ben Hanson, who announced earlier this month his candidacy for the U.S. House seat currently occupied by Republican Kevin Cramer, wrote on Medium about why he launched his campaign. It’s titled, very creatively, “Why I’m running for Congress.” Most of the text is the usual sort of rote talking points we get from politicians. It’s long…
ND Democrat Says He’ll Avoid Criticizing Trump in Campaign for Congress: “I’m Not Running Against the President”
Yesterday we got news that West Fargo Democrat Ben Hanson, fresh off taking fourth place in a campaign for re-election to the state House last year, is launching a campaign for the U.S. House (listen to incumbent Rep. Kevin Cramer’s response to that news here). Anyway, in the reporting on Hanson’s announcement, he makes a…
Audio: Congressman Cramer Says “Liberal Media” Would Have Praised Trump’s Words on Charlottesville if They’d Come From Obama
Congressman Kevin Cramer was on my radio show today for his weekly open phones segment, and I asked him about former state lawmaker Ben Hanson announcing a run for the U.S. House for Democrats. “He’s not my challenger yet because I haven’t announced that I’m running,” Cramer said, correcting the way I referred to Hanson.…
North Dakota Republicans, Democrats Get Utterly Uninspiring Candidates for House and Senate Races Today
For those of us who enjoy horse race politics, today was an indication that the 2018 election cycle in North Dakota may be a dull one. For the Democrats, former state lawmaker Ben Hanson of West Fargo announced his intention to run for the U.S. House. The most pertinent part of his resume may be…
About Those Pre-Existing Conditions
A caller to my radio show last week had a really good analogy for insurance. He said that we should imagine an insurance company as a bucket. The premiums we pay for coverage is water flowing into the bucket. In the bottom of the bucket, though, are holes which represent health care the insurance company…
Hundreds Of Activists Pack Republican District Conventions Across North Dakota
In his column today Mike Jacobs alludes to some interesting outcomes for Republican legislative races in three districts across the state: In District 28, William Kretschmar—a long-serving member of the North Dakota House—was defeated. He’s regarded as too tolerant on social issues. Likewise in District 36, Alan Fehr lost to a candidate who presented himself…
Attorney General: 11am Sunday Alcohol Sales Are Legal
Earlier this year state lawmakers passed a law – called the “brunch bill” – allowing for alcohol sales to begin at 11:00am on Sundays. Or did they? The bill modified section 05-02-05 of the North Dakota Century Code referencing when booze can be sold on Sundays and changed it from noon to 11:ooam (the change…
ND Democrats To Business Community: Shut Up
A group of Democrat lawmakers have introduced an amendment to the state constitution which erase free speech rights for people acting through corporations. Introducing HCR 3050 in the #NDLeg today: http://t.co/MG5cpiQ7IM because corporations are not people my friends. #NDpol — Rep. Ben Hanson (@BenjaminWHanson) March 9, 2015 Here’s the text of the proposed amendment which…