North Dakota Legislative Races: Democrats Have Just 22 Candidates For 72 Slots So Far

North Dakota’s district conventions for Republicans and Democrats are wrapping up. Democrats just held a bunch of conventions over the weekend, and Republicans have a bunch scheduled for this week and a few more the week after. According to the North Dakota Democrats’ website, they have just two more conventions for odd-numbered districts (the ones on the ballot this year) scheduled before their statewide convention: Districts 1 and 15, both of which are currently held by Republicans.

North Dakota Republicans still have a bunch of odd-numbered conventions left. In the Fargo area districts 11, 13, 21, 27, 41 and 45 will be holding their conventions tomorrow night. District 1 (Williston) will be holding theirs on Thursday, and District 39 (west of Dickinson) will have theirs on Saturday. District 23 (west of Grand Forks) will have theirs on the 9th, and the final local convention of the year for Republicans looks to be District 9 (Rolla) on the 11th.

But even with Republicans still left with a lot of district conventions to hold, it’s Democrats who are leaving a lot of these races unchallenged. At least so far.

After searching extensively through party press releases and local news reports, as well as emails to local party officials, I’ve compiled the list below showing the odd-numbered districts and the candidates running in each.  See below.

The colors red, blue and purple denotes the partisan control of each district, stat and green denotes incumbents who are running again. There are a total of 72 legislative seats on the ballot this year, including 24 in the Senate and 48 in the House.

So far, Republicans have 49 candidates. Democrats have 22.

I’ve only included candidates who have publicly announced their intention to run, or told me personally that they’re in the race. I could add a few more to each column based on rumor, but we’ll leave that out for now.

Tracking these district races is pretty hard work – you’d be surprised at how little media coverage some of these races get – so if I’ve missed someone or made an error please shoot me an email or comment below.

The list will continue to fill in over the next month – April 7th is the drop-dead date for getting on the primary ballot – but as of right now it’s not a pretty picture for Democrats.

Update: I added Mike Deutsch to the Senate race for Democrats in District 45. That brings the Democrat total to 19.

Update: I added Evelyn Quigley for the Senate race in District 41, and Ed Grossbauer in the District 17 House race. Both are Democrats. That brings the Democrat total to 21. Post has been updated to reflect that.

Update: I added Jay Seibel for Republicans in the District 33 House race, and Perry Miller for Democrats in the District 25 Senate race. That puts Democrats at 22 candidates, and Republicans at 49.