Mystery Republican Candidate Files for North Dakota House Race

According to a Statement of Candidacy filed with the FEC (see below), a woman named Tiffany Abentroth is running for the U.S. House in North Dakota, a race that would pit her against three-term incumbent Republican Kevin Cramer for the NDGOP nomination.

Former state lawmaker Ben Hanson is currently the only announced U.S. House candidate for North Dakota Democrats.

But who is Abentroth? Nobody I’ve spoken to in North Dakota political circles has heard of her before. I’ve been writing about politics in North Dakota for going on 15 years now and I’ve never heard of her either.

She has a campaign website listed in her FEC filing, though it’s only an “under construction” message as I write this. I’ve sent a message to the email account listed in the filing for Abentroth but so far haven’t received a reply.

The filing also lists a man named Allen Lee Denz, Jr. of Woodbridge, VA, as the treasurer and custodian of records for the campaign. He has a number with a California area code listed for him. I called it and left a voicemail this morning. The address listed for Denz appears to be a residence per Google Maps.

The filing lists a P.O. Box in Hillsboro, North Dakota (a community along I29 south of Grand Forks) as the address for the campaign. I did find a Facebook profile for a Tiffany Abentroth in Cummings, North Dakota, that looks sort of campaigny.

There’s not much on it, but it’s worth noting that Cummings is very near Hillsboro. That profile also mentions Abentroth living in Charlottesville, VA:

Anyway, it’s hard to know how serious a candidate Abentroth is. As of right now she’s a name nobody knows whose campaign is being organized out of Virginia.

UPDATE: Mr. Denz has reached out to me via email. “We will be making an official announcement shortly, once we official announce we will be in contact with you to set up an interview,” he said in an email.

He also provided a two page information packet on Abentroth. She has a military background, and says that while Congressman Cramer has “done his best” it’s “time for a fresh perspective.”

Here’s the full FEC filing:

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