North Dakota Treasurer Kelly Schmidt, a Republican, has announced she won’t seek a fifth four-year term in office during the 2020 election cycle. “This is not something I have taken lightly,” she told Bismarck Tribune reporter Jack Dura. “I have thought about it. I have prayed about it. I have visited with my family about…
State Rep. Rick Becker (R-Bismarck) addresses the North Dakota Young Republicans convention in Bismarck on November 16, 2019. Photo via Facebook
North Dakota Republican Group Votes for Making Access to Recreational Marijuana a Constitutional Right
UPDATE: NDYR state chairman Reed Christianson called me to clarify that the vote was intended as a “straw poll” and not really an endorsement. However the ballots circulated, which you can see below, describe the vote as an endorsement. It’s not clear if conference attendees felt that they were endorsing or not, but I wanted to…
Plain Talk: North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Got Individual Insurance Rates 20 Percent Lower, Here’s What He Wants to Do Next
Most North Dakotans get their insurance through some sort of group plan, usually through an employer, but our state is also a unique place. We have a lot of self-employed entrepreneurs, people like ranchers and farmers and other small business owners, and they’re responsible for purchasing their own insurance. The only news most of us…
Josh Gallion Represents a Real Conundrum for North Dakota Republicans
Auditor Josh Gallion is in Bismarck announcing his re-election campaign even as I type these words. He’ll be making a follow-up announcement in Fargo later today, weather permitting. You can read his full press release below. Despite being young, by political standards, and just finishing up his first term, there was some hesitation on the…
Amid Scandal and a Push for Impeachment North Dakota’s Top Elected Officials Join Trump’s Re-Election Campaign
There were some headlines earlier this week about incumbent President Donald Trump losing some popularity in North Dakota ahead of the 2020 election year. That was according to one poll, anyway, and I’m dubious of its findings for several reasons. Still, scandal has enveloped the Trump administration, and there is an ardent for impeachment in…
I’m Not Buying That President Trump’s Approval Rating Is “Barely Above Water” in North Dakota
Recently some members of North Dakota’s left-wing media – notably radio station KFGO, managed by the brother of former Democratic U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp, and former KFGO employee Mike McFeely – have been giddily touting a Morning Consult poll which shows President Donald Trump with some discouraging approval numbers among North Dakotans. Discouraging, that is,…
Heidi Heitkamp Rails Against “Ultra-Conservative” Judges, but She Voted for Most of Them
Since I write about politics for a living I end up on a lot of political email lists. I also have a lot of political emails forwarded to me. Which I don’t mind since it allows me to kind of monitor the zeitgeist of campaign messaging in a given moment. Today a reader forwarded me…
Socialist State Lawmaker May Be Considering a Challenge to Republican Congressman Kelly Armstrong
It’s fall in an odd-numbered year, and that means we need to start thinking about who may and may not be running for elected office in this election cycle. I’ll be honest with you, the news on that front is a little slow in North Dakota, owing mostly to the dominance of the NDGOP and…
Should There Be an Age Limit for Holding Elected Office?
Former President Jimmy Carter, 95 years old next month, was asked during a recent town hall at the Carter Center in Atlanta whether he would consider running for president again. Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1980 after serving only one term in office. He is technically eligible to run again, and indeed former…
Print Column: If Democrats Want to Re-Elect Trump, They Should Impeach Kavanaugh
MINOT, N.D. — I’m not a very demonstrative person. Still, I laughed right out loud when I read the excuse House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) had for not pursuing the impeachment against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. I scared my dog, Molly, even. “We have our hands full with impeaching the president right…