Doug Burgum Names Watford City Mayor Brent Sanford As Running Mate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0SgvNYeWHU&feature=youtu.be

Well my prediction on Doug Burgum’s pick for running mate turned out to be wrong. It’s a western North Dakota mayor, just not the one I was thinking of.

According to the announcement video above, and the press release below, Burgum has chosen Watford City mayor Brent Sanford as his running mate.

It’s an interesting choice. I’m not sure that Sanford is, you know, a Republican. In 2012 he gave $1,000 to Democrat gubernatorial candidate Ryan Taylor’s campaign.

Plus, he thinks things like water parks are “critical infrastructure.”

Yikes.

I guess this is a smart pick for Burgum. He needed someone from western North Dakota who can speak credibly on western North Dakota issues, and Sanford is that. But when Republicans are already skeptical of your candidacy, is a smart to pick a guy with a history of giving money to Democrats?

Or, at least, one pretty notable Demcorat anyway.

Though, to be fair, Sanford has contributed money to Republicans too. In the 2014 cycle he gave $250 to the NDGOP, and in 2010 contributed to Rick Berg’s campaign for U.S. House.

UPDATE: A reader just made an interesting point. At the convention Stenehjem played a video as a part of his presentation to delegates. Appearing in it was…Brent Sanford.

Here’s the press release.

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