North Dakota held two statewide elections in 2018: a primary election on Tuesday, June 12, and a general election on Tuesday, November 6. In addition, each

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

elected officers on Tuesday, March 20, and each school district held their elections on a date of their choosing between April 1 and June 30.

Primary Election

On Tuesday, June 12, North Dakota voters selected which candidates for statewide and legislative office will appear on the November ballot. Because North Dakota does not have party registration, any eligible voter may vote in any one party's primary election. Though primary elections often include any number of constitutional amendments, initiated measures, or referred measures placed on the ballot by petition, none were included in this particular election.

General Election

On Tuesday, November 6, concurrent with other statewide elections across the United States, North Dakota voters selected one

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, one

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and several other statewide executive and judicial branch offices. Voters in odd-numbered legislative districts also selected their representatives to the

North Dakota House of Representatives The North Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and is larger than the North Dakota Senate. North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts apportioned by population as d ...

and

North Dakota Senate The North Dakota Senate is the upper house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, smaller than the North Dakota House of Representatives. Per the state constitution, North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts appo ...

. Finally, voters faced four ballot measures.

United States Senator

Incumbent Democratic–NPL Senator

Heidi Heitkamp Mary Kathryn "Heidi" Heitkamp ( ; born October 30, 1955) is an American politician who served as a United States senator from North Dakota from 2013 to 2019. A member of the North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party, she was the first wom ...

ran for reelection to a second term, but was defeated by

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

United States Representative

Kevin Cramer Kevin John Cramer (born January 21, 1961) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator for North Dakota since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he represented North Dakota's at-large congressional distri ...

United States Representative

Though incumbent Republican Kevin Cramer had announced that he would run for re-election to a fourth term, he later decided to run for the Senate instead. Republican state Senator

Kelly Armstrong Kelly Michael Armstrong (born October 8, 1976) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for North Dakota's at-large congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the North Da ...

defeated Democratic-NPL former state Senate Minority Leader

Mac Schneider McLain Joseph Schneider (born March 27, 1979) is an American attorney and politician who has served as the United States attorney for the District of North Dakota since December 2022. He previously represented the 42nd district in the North Dak ...

for the open seat.

Secretary of State

Six-term incumbent Republican Secretary of State Alvin Jaeger was not re-endorsed by his party to serve a seventh term, so did not run for his party's nomination. When nominated Republican Will Gardner withdrew from the general election, Jaeger collected enough valid signatures to appear on the ballot as an independent. No candidate appeared on the ballot with the label of Republican. The incumbent defeated two challengers, including two-term Democratic-NPL state representative

Joshua Boschee Joshua Boschee is an American politician, who was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives in the 2012 state elections. A member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, he represents the 44th District in the legislature, serving alon ...

Governing magazine ''Governing'' is a website, edited and published in Washington, D.C., that covers state and local government in the United States. Originally a national monthly magazine, it was published in print 1987 and 2019. It covers policy, politics, and the ...

projected the race as being a likely victory for Jaeger.

Attorney General

Incumbent Republican Attorney General

Wayne Stenehjem Wayne Stenehjem ( ; February 5, 1953 – January 28, 2022) was an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of North Dakota. He was the Attorney General of the state, serving from December 15, 2000 until his death. He sought the Republi ...

won re-election against his Democratic-NPL challenger, trial attorney David Thompson.

Other statewide races

All North Dakota voters faced partisan races for Agriculture Commissioner,

Tax Commissioner A tax collector (also called a taxman) is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations. The term could also be applied to those who audit tax returns. Tax collectors are often portrayed as being evil, and in the modern wo ...

, one full term seat and one partial term seat on the Public Service Commission, and a nonpartisan ten-year term as Justice of the Supreme Court

State legislative races

24 seats in the

and 48 seats in the

were up for election. Voters in all odd-numbered districts had those races on their ballot.

Measures

Voters faced four measures placed on the ballot by petition. They passed Measure 1, which will establish government ethics rules and an ethics commission; the Secretary of State approved it for the ballot on July 24. They also passed Measure 2, which removes language in the state constitution currently guaranteeing all citizens to right to vote and replaces it with language banning non-citizens from voting; it had been approved on August 10. Measure 3 would have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, but was not passed. They did, however, approve Measure 4, which establishes personalized vehicle plates for volunteer emergency responders.

References

External links

Candidates
at

Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Candidates
at Ballotpedia
Campaign finance
at

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...

;Official Attorney General campaign websites
Wayne Stenehjem (R) for Attorney GeneralDavid Thompson (D) for Attorney General
;Official Agriculture Commissioner campaign websites
Jim Dotzenrod (D) for Agriculture CommissionerDoug Goehring (R) for Agriculture Commissioner
;Official Tax Commissioner campaign websites
Kylie Oversen (D) for Tax CommissionerRyan Rauschenberger (R) for Tax Commissioner
;Official Public Service Commission campaign websites
Randy Christmann (R) for Public Service Commission
;Official Public Service Commission (Unexpired two-year term) campaign websites
Casey Buchmann (D) for Public Service CommissionBrian Kroshus (R) for Public Service Commission
{{2018 United States elections

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...