In a big surprise, businessman Doug Burgum not only defeated North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem in Tuesday’s GOP gubernatorial primary, he did it by a massive 59-39 margin. Burgum started the contest with little name recognition, and he even spent months flirting with running as an independent. Stenehjem, who has served as attorney general since 2000, had the backing of the state GOP establishment, including outgoing Gov. Jack Dalrymple and Sen. John Hoeven. Stenehjem also won the state party’s endorsement in April, and Burgum made the unusual choice to keep campaigning into the primary rather than respect the party endorsement.
Thanks in large part to self-funding, Burgum badly outspent Stenehjem, but there was more to his win than that. As Mike McFeely explains at inforum.com, Stenehjem didn’t do much campaigning, apparently believing that voters were happy enough with the status-quo to pick Dalrymple’s chosen successor. However, North Dakota’s budget has taken a hit from the collapse of oil and crop prices, and it was easy for Burgum to tie Stenehjem to the state’s problems. Burgum also ran ads against Stenehjem over Obamacare, accusing him of not doing enough to fight the program.
But as Say Anything’s Rob Port argues, Burgum also benefited from the support of Democratic voters, though his win may have been so large that they weren’t decisive. North Dakota not only doesn’t have party registration, it’s the only state that doesn’t have voter registration whatsoever, so it was easy for Democrats to show up for Burgum. Liberal talk show host Joel Heitkamp, the brother of Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, openly advocated for Democrats to crossover for Burgum, and in a small state like North Dakota, his voice carries a lot of weight. While Burgum attacked Stenehjem from the right, Democrats liked that he was trashing the GOP establishment, and they decided to take the conservative they didn’t know instead of the conservative they already hated. Burgum should have no trouble in November against Democratic state Rep. Marvin Nelson, who has raised very little cash.