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 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.
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General Election
On Tuesday, November 6, concurrent with other statewide elections across the United States, North Dakota voters selected one United States Senator, one United States Representative, Secretary of State, Attorney General
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
, 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 and North Dakota Senate. Finally, voters faced four ballot measures.[
]
United States Senator
Incumbent Democratic–NPL Senator Heidi Heitkamp ran for reelection to a second term, but was defeated by Republican United States Representative Kevin Cramer.
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 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 Da ...
for the open seat.
Secretary of State
Six-term incumbent Republican Secretary of State Alvin Jaeger
Alvin A. Jaeger (born December 10, 1943) is an American politician and member of the Republican Party who had served as the Secretary of State of North Dakota from 1993 to 2023. Jaeger was elected to the office in 1992, and re-elected in 1996, 2 ...
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.[
Governing magazine 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
In the state governments of the United States, all 50 U.S. state, states have the Executive (government), executive position of agriculture commissioner, director of agriculture, or secretary of agriculture. This official is in charge of the stat ...
, Tax Commissioner, 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
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
State legislative races
24 seats in the North Dakota Senate and 48 seats in the North Dakota House of Representatives 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 Ethics in the public sector is a broad topic that is usually considered a branch of political ethics. In the public sector, ethics addresses the fundamental premise of a public administrator's duty as a "steward" to the public. In other words, it is ...
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
Candidates
at Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...
Campaign finance
at OpenSecrets
;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