North Dakota 2018 Election Results — MultiState Elections

North Dakota held its general election on November 6, 2018, deciding 72 legislative seats across 48 districts and 6 statewide offices. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

Republicans kept two-thirds supermajorities in both chambers, but 4 Republican incumbents lost their seats, House Majority Leader Al Carlson among them.
Democrats flipped 3 seats, all from Republicans, and the losses reached into GOP leadership:
- HD-41: Al Carlson (R) finished fourth of four for the district's two seats, behind Rep. Pamela Anderson (D) and Michelle Strinden (R). House Republicans elected Rep. Chet Pollert to replace him as majority leader.
- HD-27: Ruth Buffalo (D) unseated Rep. Randy Boehning (R), sponsor of the voter ID law, becoming the first Democratic Native American woman elected to the Legislature.
- SD-43 and HD-43: JoNell Bakke (D) unseated Sen. Lonnie Laffen (R), while Mary Adams (D) and Matt Eidson (D) took both House seats, ousting Rep. Richard Becker (R).
Sen. Larry Luick (R) held SD-25 by about 20 votes, the only other race decided by less than two percentage points.
Every statewide incumbent won another term. Five Republicans won comfortably: Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem (R), Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring (R), Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger (R), and Public Service Commissioners Randy Christmann (R) and Brian Kroshus (R). The outlier was Secretary of State Al Jaeger (I), a Republican in office since 1993 who ran as an independent after the party's endorsed candidate withdrew over a past conviction; he won with less than half the vote over Rep. Joshua Boschee (D) and Michael Coachman (I).
Voters passed 3 of 4 measures. Measure 1 wrote a state ethics commission into the constitution and called for more transparency in lobbying and political spending, while Measure 3, which would have legalized recreational marijuana for adults and expunged past convictions, failed. Voters also approved Measure 2, limiting voting to U.S. citizens, and Measure 4, free license plates and park access for volunteer emergency responders.

Legislature

House (94 seats): 13 D, 81 R before the election, 16 D, 77 R, 1 other or vacant after; control stayed with Republicans.
Senate (47 seats): 9 D, 38 R before the election, 10 D, 37 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Race	Winner	Others	Notes
Agriculture Commissioner	Doug Goehring (R) 67.8%	Jim Dotzenrod (D) 32%
Attorney General	Wayne Stenehjem (R) 67.6%	David Thompson (D) 32.2%
Public Service Commissioner Seat 1	Brian Kroshus (R) 61.46%	Casey D Buchmann (D) 38.34%
Public Service Commissioner Seat 3	Randel (Randy) Christmann (R) 61.63%	Jean Brandt (D) 38.16%
Secretary of State	Alvin Jaeger (I) 47.3%	Josh Boschee (D) 39.2%, Michael Coachman (I) 13.2%	Flipped R to I
Tax Commissioner	Ryan Rauschenberger (R) 58.6%	Kylie Oversen (D) 41.18%

Legislative races

Race	Winner	Others	Notes
House 1	Patrick Hatlestad (R) 37.6%, David Richter (R) 37.5%	Lindsay Walsh (D) 12.4%, Crysta Parkinson (D) 12.1%
House 3	Jeff Hoverson (R) 34%, Bob Paulson (R) 31.6%	Shannon Krueger (D) 18%, Bob Schwartz (D) 16.1%
House 5	Scott Louser (R) 41.7%, Jay Fisher (R) 37.3%	Zach Raknerud (D) 20.3%
House 7	Jason Dockter (R) 41.5%, Rick Becker (R) 40.1%	Paul Wilkins (D) 17.9%
House 9	Tracy Boe (D) 53.9%, Marvin Nelson (D) 44.9%	Unopposed
House 11	Gretchen Dobervich (D) 30.4%, Ron Guggisberg (D) 27.5%	Kathy Jorgenson (R) 23.1%, Bridget Ertelt (R) 18.7%
House 13	Austen Schauer (R) 32%, Kim Koppelman (R) 28.7%	Dianne Hyndman (D) 20.5%, Landis L Larson (D) 18.8%
House 15	Dennis Johnson (R) 40.5%, Greg Westlind (R) 33.8%	Bill Mertens (D) 25.2%
House 17	Mark Sanford (R) 31.6%, Mark Owens (R) 25.5%	Monte Gaukler (D) 22.2%, Angela Urlacher (D) 20.7%
House 19	Wayne Trottier (R) 41.9%, Gary Paur (R) 36.6%	Linda Ott Tangen (D) 21.2%
House 21	Mary Schneider (D) 35.3%, LaurieBeth Hager (D) 30.8%	Madison Rodgers (R) 17.6%, William Kloubec (R) 16%
House 23	Don Vigesaa (R) 30.4%, William Devlin (R) 28.8%	Cathy Swenson (D) 21.5%, Jessica Hawkes (D) 19.1%
House 25	Cynthia Schreiber-Beck (R) 35.3%, Alisa Mitskog (D) 29.8%	Rebecca Forness (R) 22.9%, Bill Berlin (D) 11.8%
House 27	Thomas Beadle (R) 27.2%, Ruth Buffalo (D) 25.8%	Randy Boehning (R) 24.5%, Jon Kitzman (D) 22.4%	Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated
House 29	Chet Pollert (R) 34.3%, Craig Headland (R) 31.3%	Lori Carlson (D) 17.3%, Mary Schlosser (D) 17%
House 31	Karen Rohr (R) 49.1%, Jim Schmidt (R) 48.8%	Unopposed
House 33	Gary Kreidt (R) 53.3%, Bill Tveit (R) 45.1%	Unopposed
House 35	Bob Martinson (R) 29.1%, Karen Karls (R) 28.5%	Rachel Thomason (D) 21.8%, Joe Elsberry (D) 20.4%
House 37	Mike Lefor (R) 40.6%, Vicky Steiner (R) 38.9%	Fern Pokorny (D) 10.8%, Keith Fernsler (D) 9.5%
House 39	Keith Kempenich (R) 52.1%, Denton Zubke (R) 47.1%	Unopposed
House 41	Pamela Anderson (D) 27.6%, Michelle Strinden (R) 27.5%	Brandon Medenwald (D) 22.8%, Al Carlson (R) 22.1%	Incumbent defeated
House 43	Mary Adams (D) 28.2%, Matt Eidson (D) 24.5%	Ben Olson (R) 24.1%, Rich S. Becker (R) 23%	Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated
House 45	Mary Johnson (R) 31.2%, Tom Kading (R) 28.7%	Tim Hoye (D) 20.7%, Lukas Maughan (D) 19.3%
House 47	George Keiser (R) 39.6%, Larry Klemin (R) 38.8%	Sabina McGarrahan Gasper (D) 21.3%
Senate 1	Brad Bekkedahl (R) 79%	Melissa Johnson (D) 20.7%
Senate 3	Oley Larsen (R) 53.2%	Andrew Maragos (R) 24%, Joseph Nesdahl (D) 22.6%
Senate 5	Randy Burckhard (R) 69.2%	David Grimes Haugen (D) 30.5%
Senate 7	Nicole Poolman (R) 98.3%	Unopposed
Senate 9	Richard Marcellais (D) 98.5%	Unopposed
Senate 11	Tim Mathern (D) 62%	Todd McMichael (R) 37.6%
Senate 13	Judy Lee (R) 58.4%	Carrie Leopold (D) 41.4%
Senate 15	Dave Oehlke (R) 67.6%	Barbara Vondell (D) 32.1%
Senate 17	Ray Holmberg (R) 59%	Phyllis Johnson (D) 40.9%
Senate 19	Robert Fors (R) 68%	Nikolaus Groenewold (D) 31.7%
Senate 21	Kathy Hogan (D) 65.1%	Sierra Heitkamp (R) 34.3%
Senate 23	Joan Heckaman (D) 54.4%	Judy Estenson (R) 45.5%
Senate 25	Larry Luick (R) 50.1%	Perry Miller (D) 49.7%
Senate 27	Kristin Roers (R) 55.6%	Quinn Joseph Garrick (D) 44.2%
Senate 29	Terry Wanzek (R) 70.6%	Katherine Roth (D) 29.3%
Senate 31	Don Schaible (R) 64.9%	Rachele Hall (D) 34.8%
Senate 33	Jessica Unruh-Bell (R) 98.2%	Unopposed
Senate 35	Erin Oban (D) 54.3%	Gary Emineth (R) 45.5%
Senate 37	Rich Wardner (R) 81.2%	R. Travis Brazelton (D) 18.5%
Senate 39	Dale Patten (R) 98.8%	Unopposed
Senate 41	Kyle Davison (R) 51.5%	Paul Thomas (D) 48.3%
Senate 43	JoNell Bakke (D) 52.6%	Lonnie Laffen (R) 47.3%	Flipped R to D; Incumbent defeated
Senate 45	Ron Sorvaag (R) 59.5%	Danielle Pinnick (D) 40.3%
Senate 47	Mike Dwyer (R) 66.8%	Brandi Jude (D) 33%

Ballot measures

Measure	Description	Result
Measure 1	Establishes an ethics commission, bans foreign political contributions, and enacts provisions related to lobbying and conflicts of interest	Passed (53.63% yes)
Measure 2	Prohibit the state or local governments from allowing non-citizens to vote	Passed (65.93% yes)
Measure 3	Removes marijuana and other products from list of controlled substances and provides for automatic expungement of convictions from legalized controlled substances	Failed (40.55% yes)
Measure 4	Requires free access to state parks and personalized license plates for volunteer emergency responders	Passed (64.32% yes)

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