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Burgum/Sanford begin transition to Governor's office

Governor-elect Doug Burgum and Lieutenant Governor-elect Brent Sanford are now focusing on their transition into North Dakota's executive branch, and they're assembling a team to help them do it.

Burgum has named Jodi Uecker as chair of his transition team. Uecker previously worked with John Hoeven on his transition team, and knows Burgum well from their days together at Great Plains Software and Microsoft. She served in many positions at Great Plains, including Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Uecker says there's a lot to do in just 37 days - so they're getting started immediately.

"As we look at the transition, it's a tight time frame, and what we want to do in that time frame is really build a high-performing team. And we're going to do based on certainly the strength of existing leaders, and certainly looking for additional people that want to join the journey. We have a website that was launched today called joindougburgum.com, and we would like to open up to anybody within this state, or people who have left this state who want to come back, or newcomers to North Dakota, the opportunity to join us on the journey to really shape the next level of government in North Dakota."

Since North Dakota leans conservative, Burgum says he wasn't surprised at the election outcome. But he says he was humbled at the overwhelming turnout in his favor.

"I know that the work we did, going out and connecting directly did connect - the message resonated, our time we spent face to face in the communities resonated, and I think people understood that given the challenges we face right now, business leaders are probably the ones who have the best chance of balancing the budget without raising taxes, diversifying the economy, and building communities. I mean, we have a track record of doing things that we say we want to do for the state of North Dakota, and I think that came across as very authentic. We're very honored to have the opportunity to serve, and thrilled at the support."

Brent Sanford says many in western North Dakota are eager to learn who will take his place as mayor of Watford City. He says there are two options to fill that vacancy - that one would be chosen from the current six-member city council, or a special election would be called to choose a replacement.