North Dakota 2016 Election Results

Ballot Measures, June 14, 2016

North Dakota voters decided 1 statewide ballot measure on June 14, 2016.

Ballot measures

General Election, November 8, 2016

North Dakota held its general election on November 8, 2016, deciding 69 legislative seats across 46 districts and 7 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Republicans widened their Senate majority from 32-15 to 38-9 and their House majority from 71-23 to 81-13, deepening two-thirds supermajorities in both chambers. In all, 20 legislative seats changed party, all but two toward Republicans, and incumbents lost in 16 races.
• Both Democratic floor leaders lost. Senate Minority Leader Mac Schneider (D) lost to former state Rep. Curt Kreun (R) by about 210 votes in Senate District 42, and House Minority Leader Kenton Onstad (D) fell about 280 votes short of winning one of the two seats in House District 4. State Democratic-NPL chair Kylie Oversen (D) also lost in House District 42. Schneider said down-ballot Democrats were ice skating uphill with the top of the ticket faring so poorly.
• Businessman Doug Burgum (R), in his first run for political office, beat state Rep. Marvin Nelson (D) by about 57 points for governor, after defeating the GOP convention's choice, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, in the June primary. He inherited an oil bust that cut state revenues by about a quarter.
• The closest race was Senate District 46 in Fargo, where Jim Roers (R) beat Sen. George B. Sinner (D) by 37 votes in a 2012 rematch; Sinner said he would request a recount. Republicans also unseated Democratic Sens. Connie Triplett (D) in Senate District 18 and Tyler Axness (D) in Fargo's Senate District 16. Democrats' two gains also came in Fargo. Merrill Piepkorn (D) beat Sen. Tim Flakoll (R), in the Senate since 1998, by about 140 votes in Senate District 44, and Karla Rose Hanson (D) took a House District 44 seat from Rep. Blair Thoreson (R).
• Voters approved 4 of 5 statewide measures, including Measure 5, which legalized medical marijuana, and constitutional amendments on legislator residency, oil extraction tax allocation, and crime victim rights. They rejected Measure 4, a tobacco tax increase.

Legislature

• House (94 seats): 23 D, 71 R before the election, 13 D, 81 R after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (47 seats): 15 D, 32 R before the election, 9 D, 38 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races

Ballot measures