Audio: NDGOP Chairman Kelly Armstrong Talks Dalrymple Retirement And 2016 Elections

I interviewed NDGOP Chairman Kelly Armstrong (who is also a state Senator from Dickinson) this morning while hosting the Hot Seat program on WDAY AM970, and we talked about Governor Jack Dalrymple’s decision to step down after his current term is through as well as the 2016 elections generally.

I asked Armstrong about the potential gubernatorial candidacy of Fargo-based tech millionaire Doug Burgum, which could be a sticky situation for the party given that Burgum hasn’t ruled out a run as an independent. Armstrong responded about as you’d expect the chairman of a political party to which Burgum has been pretty generous over the years. He said he’d welcome Burgum’s candidacy…as a Republican candidate.

Democrats have been telling me that they plan to focus on legislative races in the 2016 cycle, which was part of the reason for picking state Rep. Kylie Oversen (D-Grand Forks) to be their party chair. I asked Armstrong about that, and he said that Democrats have worked pretty hard to shape the narrative after the 2014 cycle where they netted one additional seat in the state House, but that he doesn’t see them making up much ground.

The full audio is above.