Merrill Piepkorn is an American entertainer and politician who has served in the North Dakota Senate from the 44th district since 2016. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Piepkorn is a candidate in the 2024 North Dakota gubernatorial election. He has also hosted radio shows on

Prairie Public Radio Prairie Public is a network of ten North Dakota radio stations. It is a service of Prairie Public Broadcasting, in association with North Dakota State University in Fargo. Prairie Public maintains active studios in Grand Forks, Fargo, and Bism ...

and served as the

public address announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience of a broadcast media programme or live event. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, ...

for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.

Early life and career

Piepkorn was born in 1949. He attended Concordia College. While he was enrolled there, he began playing music with Gregg Temple, a fellow student, in 1972. He graduated from Concordia in 1974. After graduating, Piepkorn and Temple co-founded a country band called Skunk Hollow. Piepkorn worked for

, hosting "Morning Edition" while he was a graduate student at North Dakota State University. In 1999, he co-created and began hosting the radio show "Here & Now". Piepkorn became the

for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, a Minor League Baseball team, for the 1997 season. He stayed in the role through the 2006 season. Piepkorn and Temple co-founded a band called the Radio Stars in 2008. He created, hosted, and served as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

of "Dakota Air" on Prairie Public Radio, which debuted in 2010.

Political career

Piepkorn ran for the North Dakota Senate as a member of the Democratic Party in 2016. He defeated

Tim Flakoll Tim Flakoll (born October 8, 1959) is an American people, American politician. He was a member of the North Dakota State Senate from the 44th District of North Fargo, serving from December 1, 1998 through November 30, 2016. Senator Flakoll serve ...

, the incumbent state senator, in the November general election. Flakoll sought a rematch in 2020, and Piepkorn won reelection. He won reelection in 2022 with 62% of the vote against Republican Bjorn Altenburg. In November 2022, Piepkorn was elected to serve as assistant minority leader of the state senate. On April 2, 2024, Piepkorn announced that he would run for governor of North Dakota in the 2024 election. He won the party's nomination at their convention in April. He selected Patrick Hart as his running mate for lieutenant governor of North Dakota.

References

External links

Merrill for North Dakota
campaign website
Senator Merrill Piepkorn
legislative website , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Piepkorn, Merrill 1949 births Living people Democratic Party North Dakota state senators Politicians from Fargo, North Dakota 21st-century American legislators Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota) alumni Public address announcers