Plain Talk

Disgraced former state Sen. Ray Holmberg has indicated, through his legal counsel, that he will be pleading guilty to federal criminal charges related to international travel to solicit sex with children. "When that happens," Attorney General Drew Wrigley said on this episode of Plain Talk, "everything that we have becomes a public record." An untold number of public documents, including email mes...

We covered a lot of ground on this episode of Plain Talk. Rep. Brandy Pyle, a Republican from Casselton, joined to talk about her efforts to curb distractions from devices in the legislative committee she chairs, and to talk about the struggles our society is having with our phone addictions. North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott also joined to discuss the State Board of Higher E...

The signature turn-in deadline for the committee backing a ballot measure to abolish North Dakota's tax on property value (but not, it's important to note, other types of property taxes) arrives on Saturday, June 29. The committee is expected to turn in the requisite number of signatures, which, if they pass muster, will kick off a repeat of a debate over property taxes voters here have had before...

North Dakota's primary elecitons this year were brutal. Attack ads and dirty tricks are endemic to politics, but I think most people would admit that, by the standards of our state, the Republican campaigns in this cycle were rough. In legislative races, we saw ads suggesting that some incumbent lawmakers promote pornography to children, or that they would be unsafe to allow your children around....

"We knew we wanted to stay positive and above board," Republican U.S. House nominee Julie Fedorchak said on this episode of Plain Talk. Fedorchak just emerged from a bruising competition against former state lawmaker Rick Becker and three other candidates with a resounding victory.  She received nearly 50% of the vote in a five-way race. The race was a nasty one. In the final days text messages in...

Will a ballot measure putting age limits on North Dakota's congressional delegation, and printing candidate ages on the ballot, be approved by voters? Will MAGA-aligned populists gain ground against traditional Republican legislators in the North Dakota Republican party's primaries? Who will win the NDGOP's primaries for governor and U.S. House? Can Democratic-NPL candidates across the state build...

Due to a scheduling mix-up with Attorney General Drew Wrigley -- he was coming on to discuss North Dakota's legal position in redistricting lawsuits -- this episode of Plain Talk was truncated. Still, despite the shorter show, we covered some good ground. Me and my co-host Chad Oban talked about the top election official in one of North Dakota's most populous counties winning a gift from U.S. Hous...

When we booked U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong for this episode of Plain Talk, we weren't planning on talking about Donald Trump. The plan was to get Armstrong's reactions to polls showing a prohibitive lead for him over Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller in the Republican gubernatorial primary. The plan was to discuss the debate the Greater North Dakota Chamber of Commerce just hosted between him and Miller. But th...

U.S. House candidate Alex Balazs is still set on winning. On this episode of Plain Talk, he told me and co-host Chad Oban that he plans to finish the last two weeks of his primary campaign strong. There will be ads and billboards and travel, and the candidate, who received the North Dakota Republican Party's convention endorsement in April, thinks he can win, despite polls showing him in a distant...

"I've been an outside viewer," Dustin McNally, a Republican candidate for the state Senate in Grand Forks-area District 42, said on this episode of Plain Talk. "I haven't really liked what I've seen. McNally was speaking about what he's been seeing from North Dakota's Legislature. "It's a lot of negative news. It's a lot of changes in the Republican party, and not for the better," he said. "I feel...

U.S. House candidate Rick Becker recently took the unusual step of paying internet personality and trans rights activist Dylan Mulvaney to record a message praising the energy record of his primary rival, Public Service Commisisoner Julie Fedorchak. The message was done tongue-in-cheek -- though it hasn't sat well with some elements of the MAGA movement who take exception to Becker working with Mu...

A civil war is playing out in the North Dakota Republican Party between traditionally conservative Republicans and MAGA-aligned populists. One front in that war is the NDGOP's legislative primaries, where a group called Citizens Alliance of North Dakota is trying to defeat traditional Republicans. State Rep. Brandon Prichard, a Republican from Bismarck, is the executive director of Citizens Allian...

"I like debates," Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorhcak told me and co-host Chad Oban on this episode of Plain Talk. Fedorchak has come under fire from some of her opponents in the Republican U.S. House primary. Three of them — Rick Becker, Cara Mund, and Alex Balazs — participated in a recent debate sponsored by BEK Television. Fedorchak did not. "Last weekend was a balancing act," she said...

Pat Finken is a long-time political consultant in North Dakota who now heads up an independent political action committee called the Brighter Future Alliance. Finken and his group have come under fire from U.S. House candidate Rick Becker and his allies for mailers attacking Becker and his voting record. Finken joined this episode of Plain Talk my me and my co-host Chad Oban, and said his goal is...

The State of North Dakota is back in court over redistricting. This time, the state is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision that the state had previously argued for. Specifically, the dismissal of a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of legislative subdistricts created by lawmakers in an attempt to enhance the state's Native American vote in two districts. The cou...

Racial incidents keep happening at North Dakota school events. At basketball games. Proms. Hockey games. Part of the problem is, we don't know if they're happening more, or less. Maybe we're just noticing them more now that everyone has a smartphone in their pocket and the ability to document the taunts and jeers and boorish behavior. State Rep. Jayme Davis is a Democrat from District 9a, which co...

"I'm sympathetic to what they're doing while recognizing there's a better way to do it." Those are the words of Jason Bohrer, president of the North Dakota Lignite Energy Council, and advocacy and lobbying group that represents the state's coal industry. He was speaking on this episode of Plain Talk about the Midwest Carbon Express pipeline proposed by Summit Carbon Solutions. That project has no...

Marijuana is already legal in North Dakota. At least for medicinal reasons. But the backers of a new ballot measure want recreational use of marijuana to be legal as well. The campaign is calling itself New Economic Frontier. Their measure was just approved by the North Dakota Secretary of State's office for circulation. They have until July 8 to get it on the November ballot, though if they miss...

U.S. Senate candidate Katrina Christiansen says the incumbent in her race "isn't that popular." Christiansen is running unopposed for the Democratic-NPL's nomination, and the incumbent she's referring to is Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer, who is seeking a second six-year term. The challenger says she has polling suggesting that only 33% of previous Cramer voters are committed to voting for the incum...

It wasn't on purpose, but bipartisanship and moderation ended up being the themes of this episode of Plain Talk. Whether we're talking about a Republican Speaker of the House, under siege from the MAGA wing of his own party, reaching out to Democrats to get things done, or democracy engaging on the issue of abortion now that the Roe v. Wade precedent has been overturned, it's clear that process ma...

"I don't think he's a good person," U.S. House candidate said on this episode of Plain Talk, referring to former President Donald Trump. "I'm appalled at how much people have caved," she also said, saying her opponents in the North Dakota Republican Party's primary are too Trump loyal. "I'm the only candidate in this race who is not worshiping Trump,"she added. "I support women," she continued, re...

Kirsten Baesler has been the elected Superintendent of North Dakota's Public Schools for nearly 12 years. She's now seeking a fourth term. Before each of her previous three elections to this office, she sought and received the North Dakota Republican Party's endorsement. She sought it again this year, but was denied it by the convention's delegates by a wide margin. They instead chose home schooli...

Alex Balazs, the out-of-nowhere candidate who won the North Dakota Republican Party's convention endorsement last week, ended his interview on this episode of Plain Talk by joking about the tough questions we asked him. We did run him through the ringer, on everything from abortion, to Trump's claims about the 2020 election and January 6, to the farm bill, Ukraine, and Social Security. One questio...

By the time you listen to this podcast, we will know if Cara Mund is going to turn the three-way Republican House primary into a four-way race. Whatever choice the former Miss America makes, North Dakota politics has gotten a lot more interesting since the North Dakota Republican Party's state convention in Fargo. And the Democratic-NPL's convention, as well. On this episode of Plain Talk, co-host...

When state Sen. Merrill Piepkorn, gubernatorial candidate for the Democratic-NPL, joined this episode of Plain Talk with me and my co-host Chad Oban, the first question I wanted to ask him was how he plans to unite North Dakota voters at a time when even Republicans here seem deeply divided against themselves. Piepkorn accused me of not "pussy footing around." Joking aside, he thinks the right app...