North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple will not seek re-election next year.
The Casselton Republican and former state House Appropriations Commiuttee chairman served as the state’s Lieutenant Governor from 2000 to 2010. He became Governor when John Hoeven won a US Senate seat. Dalrymple was elected in 2012. He has been Governor during a huge expansion of the state’s oil industry, and during a time of high crop prices. And the state has the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
“In a lot of ways, it’s very fun to go to a conference of the national Governors, and have all the Governors k now that we are at the top of the list," Dalrynple told reporters.
Dalrymple presided over a period of prosperity that he termed a “golden period” for North Dakota, with the oil boom and good crop prices. He says during that time, the state was able to accomplish a lot.
"The infrastructure investments across the state will go down in history as the strongest period of state investment," said Dalrymple. "Of course, the amount of tax relief is something I hope people never forget."
Dalrymple says under his administration, income and property taxes have been cut by $4.2 billion.
Dalrymple governed during a time of major economic expansion, fueled by the Bakken shale play. But that also brought challenges, such as natural gas flaring, which skyrocketed. Dalrymple pushed for new regulations to reduce flaring and to reduce the volatility of Bakken crude.
"Really, we have tackled these impacts if rapid growth on all fronts," said Dalrymple. "We've made great progress. And we're going to see more progress in the coming months."
Dalrymple and First Lady Betsy Dalrymple plan to return to their farm in Casselton. But he says the next 16 months will be very busy – and he has a number of goals he wants to accomplish before he leaves Bismarck. He will be putting an executive budget together, and will present it to the Legislature’s pre-session in December, 2016 – just before he leaves office.