With around 100,000 people moving into North Dakota in the last decade, all 47 of the district boundaries have changed.
For the ND-GOP Primary, this had created a situation where many unendorsed candidates came up against and even defeated endorsed candidates.
Such as ND-GOP District 8 Senate Candidate Sean Cleary who lost the delegate endorsement by a few votes at the ND-GOP Statewide Convention in April.
That did not seem to matter, as Cleary decisively defeated his opponent Ryan Eckroth by 70 to 30 percent margin on Tuesday.
“You know I decided to run because I care a lot about North Dakota. I want to see Bismarck succeed and North Dakota succeed,” said Cleary.
A lot of money was put toward attack ads against Representative Jeff Magrum and other candidates.
But, North Dakota’s loose campaign finance reporting laws prevent us from knowing where that money came from.
“We need some serious campaign finance reform in this state. Hopefully, we can get a cap on the amount of money that can be spent,” said Magrum.
Magrum’s opponent Dave Nehring has an impressive background working on the local level, and on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in the legislature.
“I’m an energy nerd and I really appreciate being in ag and energy resources and I want to bring my expertise to those areas,” said Nehring.
District 8 House candidate Brandon Prichard says he learned a lot about what the constituents want in his district from knocking on so many doors.
“Lowering property taxes. It’s a big issue in Burleigh County and in Bismarck and I know that we’re going to try to fight for them in the next legislative session. Term limits are a big thing, you talk about that. I think almost 80% of people in North Dakota support term limits, and we’re going to try to fight for them in the next session as well,” said Prichard.
And, now that Republican voters have made their decision, the ND GOP will support the primary winners going into the general election.
Go here for a list of North Dakota’s statewide primary results.
