Unofficial voting results on Tuesday evening showed all six incumbents in Grand Forks’ races for the state Legislature keeping their seats in Bismarck. That result represents a surprisingly strong showing for the local GOP, which had pinned its hopes on their résumés in Bismarck as Democrats had campaigned hard on kitchen table economics.
The results are unofficial, though, and at least one race is within a sliver of votes small enough to potentially trigger scrutiny before a winner is officially declared.
District 18
In District 18 — downtown Grand Forks and surrounding neighborhoods — state Sen. Scott Meyer held off Democratic-NPL challenger Kyle Thorson with nearly 54% of the vote. Meyer had 2,946 votes to Thorson's 2,524. As Meyer took a phone call on Tuesday evening, background cheering came over the line on a good night for Republicans in North Dakota.
“I think we did prove that we had a lot of success these last four years,” Meyer said, referring in particular to recently passed bills — one slashing taxes on military retirement benefits and another designed to help new North Dakotans, like military spouses, find work. He congratulated Thorson on a well-run campaign.
"I think it's unfortunate where we ended up, but I feel really confident that we ran a hard race,” Thorson said, though he added that he’s hopeful Meyer will work hard on the challenges of the pandemic in the coming session, especially as North Dakota COVID numbers grow quickly. “I think that makes people nervous, so I hope Senator Meyer and the people who were elected tonight take that seriously when we get to the session."
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The two state House seats available in the district appeared split between incumbents Steve Vetter, a Republican, and Corey Mock, a Democrat, who won about 28% and 25% of the vote, respectively. Vetter had 2,739 votes and Mock had 2,430.
Mock, however, was only 19 votes ahead of Republican Cindy Kaml in Tuesday night counts, and briefly expressed hope via text message that the result would continue to hold. Jacqueline Hoffarth appeared to run behind the pack with 22% of the vote, at 2,136 votes.
District 42
In District 42 — UND and surrounding neighborhoods — the GOP swept seats. State Reps. Emily O’Brien and Claire Cory were carrying 29% and 26% of the fully counted vote, with 1,170 and 1,586 votes, respectively. Democratic-NPL challengers Adam Fortwengler and Zachary Tomzcik, each had about 22%, with Fortwengler getting 1,365 votes and Tomczik 1,357.
In the district’s state Senate race, Sen. Curt Kreun, a Republican, handily beat his Democratic-NPL challenger, Melissa Gjellstad, with 53% of the vote. Kreun had 1,853 votes to Gjellstad's 1,611.
Kreun said he’s happy for all three GOP incumbents in his district, and sketched out his own win as the result of years of work on important local projects — including his time in the Legislature and back even further to work elsewhere in the community.
“We've been working non-stop, whether it's in session or between sessions,” Kreun said. “And it shows. People start to realize that we're making progress and things are better."
Gjellstad said she’s grateful to neighbors who cast ballots in the election. And like Thorson, she expressed hope that leaders in Bismarck will work hard to mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus on North Dakotans’ health and on the economy.
"Our election will be over tomorrow, of course, but COVID is going to be with us for a long time in the future,” she said. “And hopefully no matter what candidate folks choose, we can come together to persevere through this."
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Those results appear to indicate that the GOP, which picked up big gains in the area in 2016, will retain those seats for four more years, dealing a blow to the state Democratic-NPL’s hopes that it might expand its caucus in Grand Forks. The loss is all the more pointed given that, just four years ago, multiple Democratic-NPL party leaders still held seats in District 42.
Jeffrey Powell, the Democratic-NPL chairman for District 42, expressed surprise that voters seemed satisfied with Republicans in his district elected in 2016.
“Clearly, we’re disappointed. We had a tremendous team -- a professor, a heavily-involved student leader, and a community leader. All of our candidates understand the struggles people in Grand Forks encounter,” Powell said in a late Tuesday text message. “But this is the way democracy works: people vote. The people who don’t win this time help the people that did win, then you hold them accountable four years later.”
Those results appear to indicate that the GOP, which picked up big gains in the area in 2016, will retain those seats for four more years, dealing a blow to the state Democratic-NPL’s hopes that it might expand its caucus in Grand Forks. The loss is all the more pointed given that, just four years ago, multiple Democratic-NPL party leaders still held seats in District 42.
