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Welcome to 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!
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Democracy Summer Fellows Graduation
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Thursday, Aug 6th was graduation day for the 3 Democracy Summer Fellows working in ND. Jonas Aaland, Benjamin Beasley, and Nicholas Meyers all successfully completed their fellowship. Jonas worked on voter engagement in the Christine/Walcott area and Valley City, Nick is still actively working with the BisMan Dems, and Ben was embedded with Vern Thompson's campaign helping with policy work.
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Democracy Summer is a program begun by Congressman Jamie Raskin when he first ran for office with the goal of educating his family and friends about grassroots campaigning and the foundations of our democracy. The Fellowship has grown into a nation-wide program for high school and college aged students that runs for 6 weeks in the summer. Fellows who are accepted through state parties and candidate campaigns spend 1 hour each week with Raskin and leaders in all phases of democratic leadership from labor to immigration reform, and many others. They also spend an hour a week in a regional cohort learning hands-on tactics and strategy for grassroots organizing. Finally, they are required to work 10-15 hours/week for the campaign or party who hired them. For this, they are awarded a small stipend, but more importantly, they get an amazing experience learning from leaders across the country.
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Congratulations Ben, Nick, and Jonas!
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Make America Good Again Campaign
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Our candidates are furiously fundraising right now, and one of the best ways we can support them is by hitting the streets and the phones to talk to voters.
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We are so excited to have 3 all organizers on staff to drive the Make American Good Again Campaign! Andrea Alfson is working in Fargo, and all of Region 8; Sarah Grossbauer will be starting July 1, covering the greater Grand Forks area; and Nicole DesRosier continues working in Minot and the western regions. They all bring so much experience to our team to make sure volunteers not only stay on track with our goals but also make sure we all have some fun along the way.
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Rural Canvassing Training
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Join the National Democratic Training Committee on Monday, August 10th from 1-2 pm ET for a free virtual live training on Rural Canvassing. We're here to help, so join us to learn the following:
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1. Describe ways to maximize the effectiveness of canvassing in areas with low population density
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2. Offer solutions to common challenges rural organizers encounter when planning and executing canvass operations
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This training is right for you if you intend to plan or manage a campaign's direct voter contact activities in a rural area.
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Dickinson Area Democratic-NPL meeting
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Wed, Aug 12 7:00pm-9:00pm MDT
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The Press Box at Players Sports Bar & Grill
2050 1st Ave E. Dickinson
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Districts 37, 36, and 39 meet every second Wednesday after Drinking Liberally!
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District 31 Fundraising Event
Former US Senator Heidi Heitkamp and Darwin Lange are hosting a fundraising event to support candidates that are committed to listen first, serve always, and lead for North Dakota. Support a bipartisan legislature!
RSVP is appreciated
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Cass County Summerfest
Lindenwood Park
1905 Roger Maris Dr. Fargo
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Join us for an evening of fun, food and fellowship at Lindenwood Park, Main Shelter from 5:30-8:30 Our guest speakers include Trygve, Vern and other state and Cass County legislative candidates. Suggested donation is $15 per person or $30 per family.
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Coffee, Conversation & Connections
1001 2nd Ave N Ste A, Wahpeton
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Come connect, share some good conversation, and enjoy time with fellow D25 Dem-NPL supporters. We hope to see you there!
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Summer Picnic
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Join us for a fundraiser with Alisa Mitskog, Bob Heitkamp, and Trygve Hammer! Families are welcome, and bring a friend!
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Battle of the Brats
Sertoma Shelter 10
166 Riverside Park Rd, Bismarck
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Attend this End-of-Summer, All-District event for Region 6 in North Dakota! The social will begin at 5pm and a picnic will follow at 5:30. Be prepared to see who brings the best brat. Each district will additionally be bringing dessert (for another battle).
May the best brat win!
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Potato Bowl Parade
University & North 9th St
Grand Forks
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The Potato Bowl Parade is coming up on September 5th, and Northern Valley Democrats will be there!
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Before the Fighting Hawks take the field, we’ll be tailgating at the Alerus Center and getting ready to hit the parade route. We need walkers and candy to help make our presence a big one!
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Grafton Town Hall
Grafton Armory
309 Hill Ave, Grafton, ND 58237
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Ask the Dem-NPL endorsed candidates about rural healthcare, data centers, and other issues!
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Help us spread our message—share these recent posts!
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Proposed bill would require new rules for North Dakota data center deals
Former state Sen. Vern Thompson is supporting Mathern's bill, who says there was far too much secrecy during Harwood's building process and that similar stories have come up statewide.
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"That's not how you do things in North Dakota. We need to trust our elected officials to be open, honest, and transparent, and if they aren't, you're going to think the worst," Thompson said.
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ND Ag Commission candidate Vern Thompson addresses upcoming special session
Vern Thompson is a former farmer and state legislator and now trucker, and is the Democratic-NPL candidate for North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner, running against incumbent Doug Goehring. He's holding a press conference to address data centers in the North Dakota special session.
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Introducing a bill on data center development in special session
North Dakota Senator Tim Mathern is on Afternoons Live with Tyler Axness to tell you why he will be introducing a bill to regulate data center development and what it will do if passed.
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One year after scrubbing outdated language from state law, HIV advocacy in North Dakota is an ongoing process
The state HIV Advisory Board is guided by the 2022-2026 North Dakota Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Plan, a map to address HIV. The 2022-2026 plan focused on preventative care, improving education and decreasing stigma — including removing the state’s outdated HIV law.
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Grueneich estimates the state successfully met 80 to 90% of the benchmarks laid out in the 2022-2026 plan. The board will release the updated 2027-2033 plan this year.
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He highlighted one statewide statistic he’s particularly proud of: In the last two years, there were nine infants born to mothers living with HIV — and none were born with the virus.
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“Because of the science and medicine, people living with HIV can have families, can lead productive lives, and I love that,” Grueneich said.
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North Dakota lawmaker wants clemency for men who killed 2 federal agents
Legislative Management, a powerful committee of lawmakers who guide the Legislature’s decisions between sessions, will decide whether to advance Magrum’s measure along with others for a special session starting Sept. 2. Gov. Kelly Armstrong called the special session to restrict kratom and related products.
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Magrum said Faul reached out to him after seeing he was one of the state’s three presidential electors during the 2024 election and asked if Magrum had any access to Trump. Magrum told Faul he did not.
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ND Democratic lawmaker proposes data center moratorium and ban on officials signing NDAs
One bill would seek to impose a one-year statewide moratorium on the development of data centers. The other, which Mathern is calling the Data Center Transparency Act, seeks to prohibit any level of government from entering into nondisclosure agreements with data center developers that have the purpose or effect of concealing details of a data center's development.
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Former U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon speaks to resolution granting clemency to men involved in Medina Shootout
Tyler Axness, host of Afternoons Live, is in for Joel Heitkamp and is joined by Tim Purdon. Tim Purdon is an attorney and partner at Robins Kaplan in Bismarck, and Former United States Attorney for the District of North Dakota.
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A North Dakota state senator plans to introduce a resolution urging President Donald Trump to grant executive clemency to two men serving life sentences for their roles in a 1983 shootout that left two U.S. marshals dead. Read more at KFGO.com.
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Frustration mounting with use of Flock Surveillance
Institute for Justice Attorney Michael Soyfer is on Afternoons Live with Tyler Axness to discuss Flock and how they are impacting civil liberties across the country.
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The Detroit Lakes School Board’s sneak attack against the LGBTQ community, and Doug Burgum’s deceit over the Reflecting Pool
We are learning more about Burgum’s deception now that charges have been dropped against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn for allegedly vandalizing the pool. The charges were bogus from the start, with no evidence to support them.
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In recent weeks, Burgum absurdly claimed that the pool’s problems were caused by vandalism. “There was vandalism there, there was box cutters,” Burgum told CNN’s Dana Bash. “I’m not sure why you and others in the media think you want to keep question(ing) this…It didn’t peel off. There was vandalism.”
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North Dakota fair housing organization in limbo
An organization that helps people confront housing discrimination across the Dakotas is facing an uncertain future.
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The Grand Forks-based High Plains Fair Housing Center is waiting on a federal grant that was expected in May. If the funding doesn’t arrive by September, the nonprofit will be forced to furlough half of its eight staff members.
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Reporter Jack Dura joins host Craig Blumenshine to talk about the impact the cuts could have for people seeking help with housing issues.
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Check out these posts from national Democrats
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Trump’s Reflecting Pool Fiasco Is About to Get Even Worse for Him
Making the Keystone Kops nature of this even more buffoonish, Pirro has now angrily accused Interior Secretary Doug Burgum of deliberately misleading her office by persuading prosecutors of Hearn’s guilt. But under ethics guidelines, prosecutors aren’t supposed to bring indictments unless they really think the charges are supported. Shouldn’t Pirro have looked more skeptically at this “evidence” before throwing the book at Hearn?
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This Is The Real Vandal Exposed in Trump’s Reflecting Pool
And nobody is more disturbed by that than Ted Roosevelt IV, great-grandson of Teddy and a member of the Wilderness Society’s governing council.
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“We are on the point of seeing a massive, intergenerational theft because these public lands don’t belong to us,” he told the Daily Beast this week. “They belong to all future generations.”
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Of his great-grandfather, Ted IV said, “I think that without question, the Old Lion would be utterly appalled and outraged by what is happening. He fought desperately to see our public lands preserved, and he several times said they must be passed down to children ‘in the womb of time.’”
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On the Anniversary of Social Security, Trump and Republicans Have Turned Their Backs on Seniors
“For over 90 years, Social Security has provided a lifeline to millions of American families, giving workers a dignified way to retire and lifting more people out of poverty than any other program. Since taking office, Donald Trump, JD Vance, and Republicans have waged a war on the benefits that Americans rely on — turning their backs on working families to give tax cuts to the ultra-rich. Workers today deserve to know that the benefits they’ve paid into their whole lives will be there when they retire — and voters will remember who stood up for them in November.”
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States begin banning ‘surveillance pricing’ that uses personal data to charge more
New Jersey’s new law, signed by Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill in July, prohibits retailers from using personal data to set individualized prices for groceries and placed a one-year moratorium on the installation of new electronic shelf labels while the state studies their effects. Retailers with these shelf labels already installed can continue to use them and maintain them.
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“New Jersey families are already feeling the pressure of higher costs,” Sherrill said in a statement. “The last thing they need is companies secretly using their personal data to charge them more than someone else for the exact same product.”
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Tim Miller on GOP Corruption and Betrayal
Rural voters keep hearing about scandal in Washington, but most of it never gets past the surface. Tim Miller, host of the Bulwark Podcast, joins Heidi to dig into what’s actually driving political corruption right now, from foreign money shaping U.S. policy to the insider trading scandals barely making headlines.
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Tim traces how political corruption has evolved, from straightforward kickbacks to the foreign money now quietly steering decisions on war and energy. He and Heidi also get into what’s happening back home in North Dakota, where data centers are reshaping local economies and testing what rural communities are willing to trade for growth.
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Trump dismisses concerns about USS Abraham Lincoln, saying its record-breaking 250 days at sea ‘not nearly enough’
As he left Washington, Donald Trump dismissed the reports about the mental health crisis and living conditions on board USS Abraham Lincoln.
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When he was asked by reporters whether family members were worried about the situation, the president said “no, they’re not.”
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The vessel has now been on a record-breaking deployment for more than 250 days, but Trump said that it had not been at sea for too long. “Not nearly enough,” he said.
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The president also confirmed that the USS Abraham Lincoln would now be replaced by another aircraft carrier. On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the USS George Washington would be sent to relieve the Abraham Lincoln, after it was redirected to help with the military operation in Iran.
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“That ship is moving right now or very shortly and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship,” Trump said.
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Share these Dem-NPL Graphics!
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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.
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Help us elect great Democrats up and down the ballot!
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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.
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Grassroots organizers are the lifeblood of the Dem-NPL! Sign up to volunteer with the Dem-NPL!
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