There’s a better way to do this, Gov. Burgum
MINOT, N.D. — Gov. Doug Burgum is pouring money into North Dakota’s legislative races again. He spent well over $3 million last cycle, and he’s close to a million in this cycle with the June primary vote less than a month away.
And you know what? There isn’t a thing wrong with Burgum spending that money.
There are a few things wrong with the way he’s going about things, though.
First, let’s acknowledge what an unusual election cycle this is. There are a lot of contested primaries in the legislative races. Far more than usual. In a typical year we might see a half-dozen or so competitive legislative primaries. That’s when the candidate endorsed by a political party’s local district is challenged by another candidate in the June primary.
This year there are 24, including 21 among Republican candidates and 3 among Democrats.
