LIVE AT 2 p.m.: North Dakota Republican lawmaker Dwight Kiefert responds to recall effort

There are some deep fractures in the North Dakota Republican Party.

A faction of the party, loosely affiliated under the banner of the Legislature’s supposedly conservative Bastiat Caucus, is attempting to recall Governor Doug Burgum. They’re pushing a constitutional ballot measure to implement term limits. They attempted to take over leadership of the NDGOP this spring.

Now they’re attempting a recall of Rep. Dwight Kiefert, a Republican from Valley City who has represented District 24 since 2013. Kiefert was just re-elected to a third term in 2020, having earned the largest share of votes in his district’s four-way House race.

The organizers of the recall campaign claim they’re not a part of the Bastiat Caucus movement, though its organizer, a local party official in District 24, led an effort to censure Kiefert earlier this year for voting to expel Bastiat Caucus lawmaker Luke Simons from the Legislature.

On this episode of Plain Talk, Kiefert will address the recall campaign and speaks to what he sees as its motivations.

The audio of every episode of Plain Talk Live is available on the Plain Talk podcast, which you can find through your favorite podcasting service.