|
|
Welcome to a special midweek message from the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Insider, a newsletter that features regular updates about upcoming Dem-NPL events, legislative happenings, and news that affects North Dakotans!
|
|
|
|
Join us for our second town hall of the summer tonight at 6:00 PM at the POW/MIA Plaza in West Fargo!
Other Upcoming Town Halls are:
July 14 - 4 Bears Casino,202 Frontage Rd, New Town
July 30 - Dakota Farms, 308 US-2, Rugby
|
|
Check out what was discussed at the first town hall in Washburn on May 28, 2026
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dem-NPL Candidates begin Town Hall Series in Washburn, Emphasizing Putting the Needs of North Dakotans over out-of-state corporations and billionaires
WASHBURN – North Dakota Democratic-NPL Candidates kicked off a series of town halls starting in Washburn, ND.
|
North Dakota Democratic-NPL Executive Director Cheryl Billler said, “North Dakotans deserve leaders who aren’t afraid to meet with them and have the hard conversations. We’re proud our Democratic-NPL candidates have already criss-crossed the state meeting with voters, and we’re excited to create more opportunities for North Dakotans to hear from our candidates!”
|
Signe Snortland of Mandan is running for State Senate in District 33 to ensure the needs of North Dakotans are being met. Snortland said, “My opponent, Senator Keith Boehm, voted against the free school lunch bill; if he hadn't done that, it would have passed. When he said that no child goes hungry in North Dakota, that was the last straw for me. Most North Dakotans, 82% according to the latest poll, support the free school lunch, yet he voted to kill the bill. One in seven children in North Dakota faced hunger. 24,510 children in our state don't have enough food. The least we can do with the legacy fund that we've got is to support free school lunch.”
|
As a Senator, Snortland wants to address unaffordable health care premiums, rural access to quality health care, and local control over construction of new data centers. “District 33 is the heart of data centers because we've got the Missouri River, plentiful water, and then we've got these coal plants that produce power. We just discovered there's gonna be a data center in our backyard. I met this morning with the planning staff of the city of Mandan, and they had heard nothing about it” Snortland said, “When I get to the legislature, I want to do something about this. We need to set some sideboards. There can't be nondisclosure agreements. They're paying $25,000,000 for for one section of land. And who's gonna turn that down? You sign an NDA so you don't tell your neighbors about it, and then the next thing you know, it's under construction. We need legislators who listen to their constituents and represent their wishes. A legislature dominated by one party is unchecked and immoderate.”
|
Kimball Banks of Mandan is running for State House in District 33. “I’m not afraid of hard work, in fact, I enjoy it, which should be a requirement to serve in the state legislature. I'm running because our current representatives lost focus and were out of touch with the voters. Instead, they pander to corporate interests and PACS or waste time on divisive culture war issues that do absolutely nothing to improve our lives. Proposals to ban books at target target librarians do not help our families thrive,” Banks said, “I want our legislators to focus on the basics: health care access, quality education, affordable housing, property tax relief, and real support for our farmers and ranchers, and to address the issue of data centers.”
|
Stacie Kruckenberg of Hazen is also running for State House in District 33. “We must bring down the cost of gas, groceries, insurance, and we need better health care at an affordable cost. We need to end the double standard where powerful interests receive no strings attached loopholes while families are left footing the bill. We need to end the culture where our taxes are spent without oversight. I want to serve as a second eye to ensure our tax dollars are spent properly and wisely,” Kruckenberg remarked, “We need to build a better future for our citizens, a place our children and grandchildren can live and work, a place they are proud to call home."
|
Senator Ryan Braunberger (D-Fargo) is running for Secretary of State on a platform of accountability, transparency, and restoring trust in government. “Politicians are choosing their electorates instead of the electorate choosing their politicians through gerrymandering across the country,” said Braunberger, “We need to take politicians out of drawing those boundaries, and we need to put it back in the hands of the citizens because you guys should be selecting us, not us selecting you.”
|
John Pederson of Mayville is running for the Public Service Commission. “The Public Service is supposed to be concerned about the consumers, the rate payers, the public interest and the environment. The record of the Public Service Commission suggests that they care about the industries that they are regulating first. I’m going to put rate payers and consumers first,” said Pederson, “I've had people share with me that out here in coal country, they have farmland that has been mined and has not yet been reclaimed as promised by the coal company, but that it is more affordable for the coal company to pay the fine rather than to reclaim the land as promised, and I do not think that's appropriate.”
|
Former State Representative Scot Kelsh of Fargo is running for the 2-Year unexpired term for Public Service Commission. “We have heard from dozens of landowners across the state, but we're hearing that they're being run roughshod over by corporations, by agents of those corporations, and they're not being given a voice in the Public Service Commission. There are legislators who are introducing and passing legislation to override all of those statewide or local rules and allow the Public Service Commission to provide the sole permitting process, and I don't think that's right,” remarked Kelsh.
|
|
Tracy Layne Foss of Hatton is running for Superintendent of Public Instruction, focusing on retention. “We need to look at why our teachers are leaving. We're spending lots of time on trying to recruit other teachers and figuring out how to get individuals into the classroom, but we're not looking at why they're leaving. We have so many wonderful educators who are leaving the system, and we need to figure out why. We need to figure out how to keep them in the classrooms.”
|
A teacher herself, Foss knows what struggles our educators face day-to-day, “We don't have enough paras in the classroom. My sixth-grade classes are twenty-four and twenty-five kids, and that is a hands-on class.”
|
|
Mark Nelson of Rugby is running for Tax Commissioner. “I would get to make sure nobody’s cheating,” remarked Nelson, “One thing Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad did when they were the state tax commissioner, every three months they’d have a get together with the press, and they would name names of anyone who was delinquent. Now, not your neighbor who’s a hundred bucks behind—the big guys, who are behind real money.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Century Club supports our year-round work to build party infrastructure supporting candidate recruitment, local district and regional leadership, issue-based education, and tools for Dem-NPL success.
|
|
|
|
|
Help us elect great Democrats up and down the ballot!
|
|
|
|
|
The North Dakota Democratic-NPL is launching a new grassroots program called “Neighbor to Neighbor” where volunteers will connect with voters in your community to elect Democrats up and down the ballot. As a volunteer, you will be responsible for connecting with voters in 25 homes in your neighborhood or friends and family to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot about 3-4 times this year.
|
|
|
|
Grassroots organizers are the lifeblood of the Dem-NPL! Sign up to volunteer with the Dem-NPL!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
