Attorney General: Despite Withdrawal Campbell’s Name Will Still Appear on the Primary Ballot

Earlier today state Senator Tom Campbell announced that he was withdrawing from the U.S. House race despite having filed petitions to put his name on the June primary ballot the day before.

Campbell’s name will still be on the June ballot, though. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has found no legal provision allowing Campbell to take his name off the ballot.

The full memorandum opinion provided to Secretary of State Al Jaeger is below, but here’s the key excerpt:

I’m not sure that this is going to make much of a difference. Were the other two candidates in the Republican House primary – Minot resident Paul Schaffner and Marine veteran Tiffany Abentroth also filed to have their names on the ballot – more competitive you might worry about Campbell’s entry on the ballot drawing votes away from Armstrong. But Abentroth got just less than 30 delegate votes at the NDGOP convention this last weekend, and Schaffner pulled just one.

All due respect to them, but I’m not sure they’re going to be very competitive.

In related news, while Campbell filed to be on the primary for the House race, he didn’t file to be on the June ballot for his current state Senate seat. District 19, being an odd-numbered district, is on the ballot this year. Campbell could still run for that office at this point, I suppose, but he’d have to do it as an independent in the general election.

Republicans Carrie Wallace and Robert Fors are competing on the primary ballot for the Republican nomination for Campbell’s seat.

Here’s the opinion from the AG’s office:

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