DICKINSON — The emergence of new North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League (ND Dem-NPL) candidates comes amid their efforts to challenge the long-standing GOP control over statewide offices, which has persisted for decades. These candidates are eyeing seats that have been under Republican control.
The Dem-NPL party has visited all 53 counties in North Dakota, engaging with rural communities and aiming to secure their votes. With rural areas accounting for nearly 40 percent of the population, Dem-NPL candidates are focusing on their small-town outreach to influence the upcoming election.
During a recent third visit to Dickinson, candidates including Katrina Christiansen for Senate, Trygve Hammer for House, Sen. Merrill Piepkorn for Governor, and Tim Lamb for Auditor spoke about the changes they envision for North Dakota.
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Manuel Holguin JR / The Dickinson Press
“We have independents and Republicans who really enjoy the positive nature that we’re taking on this campaign—which is about you all,” Christiansen told the crowd that gathered at Dickinson Veterans Pavilion on Aug. 24. “It’s about meeting you all where you are, understanding your hopes and your concerns, and listening and doing something about it.”
Christiansen discussed the Dem-NPL Party’s focus on rural areas of the state, expressing concern that these communities often feel overlooked.
“I feel like sometimes those rural places get neglected, not just in terms of representation or in terms of what our leaders are doing in DC, but in terms of being talked to on the campaign trail,” she said.
I’m running for Senate to make sure rural America is forgotten no longer.
— Katrina Christiansen (@KatrinaforND) August 28, 2024
DEM-NPL PARTY ON THE ROAD: “THEY HAVE TO TO KNOW YOU, TRUST YOU”
Leading up to the recent debates, the Dem-NPL Party spent months crisscrossing North Dakota, meeting voters on their home turf to energize Democrats, inspire the undecided, and persuade Republicans. Dem-NPL candidates, well-acquainted with the challenges of winning over GOP voters, are making efforts to engage as many voters as possible across the state.
527: U.S. Senate debate between Sen. Kevin Cramer and challenger Katrina Christiansen
Fri Aug 23 12:12:00 EDT 2024
We don’t really even want a competition. We want a conversation. A thoughtful discussion between two candidates on important issues of interest to the voters.
I think we achieved that with the debate my co-host Chad Oban and I hosted between incumbent U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Republican, and his Democratic challenger Katrina Christiansen.
Our conversation covered everything from partisanship, to social security, the national debt, the state of the farm bill and Congress’s inability to pass an updated iteration of it, the wars in Ukraine and Israel, and the role of government in our lives.
The candidates found places where they agree. Both say they’re committed to America’s continued backing of Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression. Both support Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism. Both described border security as a crisis for our country.
In other areas, however, there was sharp disagreement. Christiansen hit Cramer for voting against a bipartisan border bill negotiated in part by Sen. James Lankford, one of the most conservative members of the Senate and, Cramer revealed, a roommate of the incumbent. Cramer, for his part, pointed out that while Christiansen may be more moderate than some of her national Demcoratic counterparts, her presence in the Senate is a vote toward liberal Democrats leading the chamber.
Overall, it was precisely the conversation we were hoping to get. Specifically, a back and forth between two engaged, well-informed candidates.
We will have more debates upcoming on Plain Talk.
On August 30, the U.S. House candidates, Republican Julie Fedorchak and Democrat Trygve Hammer, will face off.
On September 6 we’ll host the gubernatorial candidates, Republican Kelly Armstrong and Democrat Merrill Piepkorn.
On September 13, supporters and opponents of the Measure 4, the property tax proposal, will make their cases.
We also have a preliminary agreement between the candidates for Superintendent of Public Schools, incumbent Kirsten Baesler and former state Sen. Jason Heitkamp. I’ll have more on that once it’s confirmed.
Want to follow Plain Talk and be kept up to date on all of these debates? Click here for an archive of past shows and for information on how to subscribe, or just search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, including on YouTube.
529: Republican Julie Fedorchak and Democrat Trygve Hammer square off in the U.S. House debate
Fri Aug 30 12:08:00 EDT 2024
Hammer, a Marine Corps veteran, said it’s because less than 80 of the current 435 members of the House of Representatives have served in the military. He also said he wants to promote an atmosphere where leaders talk to one another instead of past one another.
Fedorchak wants to focus on issues like border security, “record high inflation,” and energy policy.
One of the last questions I asked them was about their top priorities if elected. Hammer said a new farm bill and the national debt, as well as “talking to North Dakotans continuously” and taking his cues from the people. For her answer, Fedorchak said constituent services, arguing that, even if progress on making policy is stalled, members of Congress can still “be a force” for individual North Dakotans.
Our debate covered a myriad of issues, from campaign promises made by national candidates to eliminating taxes on tips and Social Security benefits (Fedorchak wouldn’t commit to supporting either, Hammer said he supports both with some caveats), to the national debt, to civility in politics, to America’s foreign policy in Ukraine and Gaza.
One area where the candidates agreed very closely was the need for a new farm bill. Both acknowledged that American agriculture has been operating under an old and badly out-of-date farm bill.
An area where the candidates disagreed sharply was on the issue of abortion. Asked about her support for a national abortion ban — something presidential candidate Donald Trump has come out against — Fedorchak described her position as wanting a national “gestational limit” on abortions after around 15 or 16 weeks, with exceptions for the life of the mother and rape or incest. This “would allow states within that framework to be a little stricter,” she argued that it would put the United States in line with “every civilized country in the world.”
Hammer said he does not support a national abortion ban and argued that even state-level bans are often “unnecessarily cruel.” He pointed to the failure of a pro-life ballot measure in 2014 as evidence that North Dakotans don’t want government interference in the abortion issue “at any level.”
Our intent with the Plain Talk debates is to foster conversations where the candidates can compare and contrast with one another on the issues. As with our previous U.S. Senate debate between Democrat Katrina Christiansen and Republican incumbent Kevin Cramer, Hammer and Fedorchak engaged civilly, providing robust answers while disagreeing without being disagreeable.
Want to follow Plain Talk and be kept up to date on all of these debates? Click here for an archive of past shows and for information on how to subscribe, or just search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, including on YouTube.
Hammer underscored the need of connecting with all voters, regardless of their political stance. He recounted personal experiences where conservative voters have crossed party lines to support him.
“I’ve had several Republicans tell me, ‘You got my vote,'” he said, detailing one instance where a man selling Donald Trump T-shirts declared his support.
Through his conversations with Republicans, Hammer has noticed a common frustration of feeling excluded. “A lot of them really don’t like the way there seems to be this other part of the Republican Party that’s a gated community,” he explained. “If you’re not there, and if you don’t have a powerful person to put you in that pipeline, you don’t matter as much as them.”
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Hammer hopes that by meeting voters, he can lead them out of what he calls an “information silo,” where opposing views might seem monolithic. He emphasizes, “There’s a whole lot of individual differences out there.”
Hammer says that remaining stuck in this silo can distort the image of both Democrats and Republicans, creating a skewed perception of the parties.
“Democrats are people too,” added Christiansen, commenting on the polarized image of both parties. “The narrative has been that we are all just a bunch of coastal elites with liberal policies,” she said, referring to how national politics in recent years have shaped this perception and led to public dissatisfaction.
A record number of Americans now express unfavorable views of both major parties, with about 28 percent holding negative opinions of both the Democrats and Republicans, according a
. This discontent is amplified by the perception that both parties are more focused on fighting each other than on solving real issues.
Helmut Schmidt / The Forum
These face-to-face connections are a way Democrats are trying to combat perceptions.
“Sen. [Byron] Dorgan told me, to win the people they have to know you, trust you and like you and so in order to do that you have to meet people in the rural communities,” said Christiansen. “They can meet me and they can understand like, ‘Oh, she doesn’t sound like a Democrat. She sounds like one of us.’ and so that’s what [the campaign] is about.”
THE DECLINE OF DEMOCRATS ND: “A STEADY EVOLUTION TO IRRELEVANCE”
Dr. Nicholas Bauroth, a Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Department Chair at North Dakota State University, reflected on the decline of the Dem-NPL Party in North Dakota over recent years, leading to its current status.
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He noted how much the party’s influence has waned over the past several election cycles. “It’s pretty fascinating how far the Dem-NPL has fallen in this state. And particularly over the last four or five elections.”
Democrats controlled the Senate in 1992, and the party held several statewide offices beyond the congressional delegation in the ’70s, ’80s, or ’90s. “They weren’t dominant, but they were certainly competitive and could win the occasional election here or there,” said Bauroth. “Since then, it’s just been a steady evolution to irrelevance.”
Bauroth added, “If you’re looking at history, it just seems to get worse and worse.”
Photo by Manuel Holguin JR / The Dickinson Press
Bauroth sees no signs of a rebound, stating that the party has “gotten worse and worse,” with Dem-NPL candidates for statewide offices struggling to
surpass even 30 percent of the vote
in the 2022 midterm elections, underscoring their downward trajectory. For instance, in the 2022 U.S. Senate race, Katrina Christiansen managed to secure only 25 percent of the vote, while incumbent Senator John Hoeven won with 56.5 percent.
“It’s a fascinating thing to see. To go from competitive, to not just being uncompetitive, but being irrelevant, not even sufficient enough to withhold a governor’s veto,” he said, sharing his caution about the Democrat’s enthusiasm. “It’s really hard to see a pathway for Democrats to come back Any time soon… I have to be real Debbie Downer when it comes to the Dem-NPL party right at the moment in North Dakota.”
POLLING SHOWS MIXED RESULTS AS DEM-NPL ENTHUSIASM GROWS
The only available polls show some conflicting stats for some of the Democrats. An internal poll, commissioned by Christiansen’s campaign showed her initial ballot at 38 percent compared to Cramer’s 51 percent, plus an informed ballot showing a near tie at 46 percent for Christiansen and 45 percent for Cramer, closing the gap.
, conducted by Lake Research, surveyed 500 people from July 28 to Aug. 2.
The survey reflects an improvement from a June poll, where Christiansen was at 28 percent against Cramer’s 65 percent.
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It’s important to note that internal polls, while useful, can sometimes reflect the campaign’s perspective and should be considered alongside independent polling data.
In the US House race, Julie Fedorchak led Hammer by 39 points, and in the Governor’s race, Kelly Armstrong, led Ben Piepkorn by the same margin according to a June poll.
Despite the samplings, the party remains optimistic. Laura Dronen, ND Dem-NPL Communications and Digital Director, shared that a recent uptick in volunteering and canvasing has led to a demand for candidate lawn signs and literature. “They’re trying to show up where voters are. I think that there’s been, especially recently, it felt almost imbued with the enthusiasm,” said Dronen. “People are getting pretty excited. We have people coming in from all over, requesting yard signs, looking for ways they can be involved.”
Dronen attributes some of this to the presidential nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s, saying, “Well, I think a little bit has to do with national stuff, with Harris becoming the presidential nominee and Tim Walz being the vice presidential nominee. We’ve seen people are just really excited about that and excited about helping out other candidates too.”
Photo by Manuel Holguin JR / The Dickinson Press
FACE-TO-FACE POLITICS IN A DIVIDED STATE: “WE ARE A MAGA STATE”
For some voters, these face-to-face interactions offer a chance to engage with candidates on a personal level. “You don’t get to hear everything they stand for,” said Sussan Hinderer, a Dickinson resident who appreciates speaking with candidates beyond the rehearsed speeches, comparing them to a “quick press release.”
“This. This is what I like,” Hinderer added, as candidates mingled with guests after their speeches. “Now they’re talking personally to people. So you get the general idea of where they are, and now they personally talk to me.”
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A lifelong Democrat, Hinderer is familiar with the Republican track record in the state but feels disconnected from the current conservative contingent. “My state has been overrun, not by conservatives,” she said. “Because we’ve always been a conservative state. We’ve always been an open-minded state. Now we are a MAGA state.”
Shifting political dynamics in the state present new challenges in reaching certain voter groups. The MAGA movement, with its strong emphasis on loyalty to Trump and his grievances, has reshaped the GOP in a way that is both significant and narrow.
In the 2020 election, Trump and Vice President Mike Pence garnered 235,595 votes in North Dakota, securing 65.11 percent of the total—underscoring the state’s solid support for Trump.
Dr. Bauroth shared that Trump supporters have significantly shaped the current state of the North Dakota voter. “Trump has a big role to play in the nationalization. It’s almost like you’re on one side or the other. And Donald Trump has made himself very appealing to voters in North Dakota in general, and in the rural areas specifically.”
Omar Mendez, who recently became a U.S. citizen, is preparing to cast his first vote, driven by his strong support for the former president. “I prefer Trump a thousand times, one reason being that he is a Christian,” Mendez said. “Kamala and them don’t believe in God.”
His decision to support Trump is rooted in his beliefs and experiences with policies he feels unfairly favor those who do not work over those who do. “Before, many years ago, I was a Democrat,” he explained, “but now, as a business owner who receives no government benefits, I see things differently. I pay my child support and taxes, and I believe people should come to this country to work and behave properly.”
Despite his firm convictions at the national level, Mendez admits to having little information about the statewide candidates. “I try to research and all that, but I don’t have much,” he shared, reflecting a broader trend where voters prioritize national figures over local ones, sometimes at the expense of informed decision-making in state and local elections.
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His loyalty to the Republican Party remains steadfast. “I’m 100 percent for Republican control,” Mendez said.
This post was originally published on here
