Now that the political conventions are complete, the focus turns to the primary election. And that means the campaign season has begun.
Already, billboards and direct mail are in play, and we’ll soon see campaign ads on commercial radio and television, and in newspapers. Yard signs are also appearing, and we will likely see campaign events.
It’s all part of democracy in action. And I have to admit… I enjoy it.
This year, I’ll also be paying closer attention to legislative races for a few reasons. First, North Dakota Democrats have fielded significantly more candidates for those seats. And with the state GOP convention passing resolutions that call for ending partisan primaries in favor of convention-selected candidates, these races could be very interesting to watch.
Primary challenges past
There have occasionally been inter-party primary challenges for the statewide nomination. Most recently, when Doug Burgum skipped the GOP convention to go to the primary, where he defeated the convention’s choice of then-Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. At the time, some observers said it was a nasty campaign, with a lot of accusations going back and forth.
Earlier, then-Democratic Attorney General Nick Spaeth defeated the Dem-NPL convention choice of state Senate Majority Leader Bill Heigaard (D-Langdon). That, too, was seen as a nasty campaign, and that led to Republican Ed Schafer being elected Governor.
In this cycle, the inter-party primary challenges for statewide office are Republican versus Republican — in the two positions for the Public Service Commission and in the U.S. Congressional race.
I don’t know if I’ll need extra coffee for primary night, but I’ll be going to the grocery store soon just in case.
