Gov Candidate Wayne Stenehjem Announces Endorsement Of 81 State Lawmakers

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem’s campaign released today a list of 81 state lawmakers who endorse his campaign for governor.

You can see the full list below. In total, 29 members of the state Senate and 52 members of the state House have endorsed Stenehjem. Just to put those numbers into context, they represent 90 percent of the Senate’s 32 Republicans, and 73 percent of the 71 Republicans in the House.

It also explains why Fargo businessman Doug Burgum, who is challenging Stenehjem for the NDGOP’s gubernatorial nomination, has said he doesn’t plan to win at the state convention. Lawmakers are themselves delegates to their party’s state convention, and they wield no small amount of influence over other delegates from their districts.

These lawmakers have less influence over the voters in an open primary where Burgum is clearly hoping to win.

Rick Becker, the third NDGOP candidate for governor and himself a state representative from the Bismarck area, announced that five lawmakers were backing his campaign back in November.

Here’s the Stenehjem campaign’s press release: