North Dakota Is Happy, And That's Why Democrats Can't Win Here

Bismarck NBC affiliate KFYR released the video above celebrating North Dakota as the happiest state in the union. Which is accurate, if multiple public opinion polls are to be believed.

It’s a fun and sometimes irreverent romp through a lot of the things that are great about this state (I laughed out loud at the bit about the Fighting Sioux), and I hate to make a political point about something that wasn’t intended to be political, but this is a political blog. And there’s one to be made here.

The fact that a video like this can be made about North Dakota right now, even amid challenges posed by rapid economic and population growth, is why Democrats can’t win in North Dakota.

Sure, there are problems with housing shortages. Labor shortages. Rising crime. Rapidly expanding energy development. We hear about them all the time in the media, both national and local. But I think most North Dakotans feel that things are going very well in the state right now.

For the first time in a long time new and exciting things are happening in the state, and it’s because of energy development.

Given that Republicans are generally seen as pro-fossil fuel energy development, and Democrats are generally seen as against it (despite the best efforts to the contrary of North Dakota Democrats), it’s the folks on the right who are benefitting.

Democrats will make inroads in North Dakota again when citizens of this state feel like things have changed for the worse. Which is no doubt why left-wing groups in the state spend so much time trying to paint a bleak picture of what’s going on.