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Democrats have won the majority of governor’s offices for the first time in 16 years after the GOP racked up major losses across the country. Democrats flipped governorships in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas and defended competitive races in Maine, Michigan and Wisconsin, according to unofficial results from…
Democrats made small gains in North Dakota’s Legislature Tuesday, flipping some seats in Fargo and Grand Forks to boost their tiny minority. Republicans will keep their longtime control of the Legislature by supermajorities in the House and Senate. Seventy-five of 141 seats were on the ballot. Two incumbents, both…
Voters across the country administered a sharp reprimand to President Donald Trump and Republicans who hold majorities in Congress, with Democrats gaining comfortable majorities in the Senate and the House. Several U.S. Senate and House races remained uncalled by The Associated Press as Election Day ended on the East…
North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring was reelected Tuesday after an active campaign by Democratic challenger Vern Thompson. Goehring, a Republican, pulled in about 63% of the vote in complete but unofficial results. That percentage tracked with other Republicans in statewide races. Thompson had 37% of…
North Dakota voters on Tuesday approved Gov. Kelly Armstrong’s first appointments to statewide offices, giving green lights to Public Service Commissioner Jill Kringstad and State Superintendent Levi Bachmeier to keep serving two more years. Voters also reelected all other Republican state officeholders. No Democrat…
North Dakota voters have rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that sought to guarantee free school meals to all K-12 students in the state. Measure 2 was rejected by nearly 51% of voters, according to complete but unofficial results published by the North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office. The measure’s…
North Dakota voters Tuesday rejected a higher bar to amend the state constitution. “No” votes for Measure 1 led “yes” votes by a margin of about 56% to 44%, according to complete but unofficial results. Measure 1 was for a 60% threshold for voters to approve future constitutional amendments. The measure’s defeat is a…
A voter enters the El Zagal Shrine Hall in Fargo, North Dakota, to vote in the midterm election on Nov. 3, 2026. (Photo by Dan Koeck/For the North Dakota Monitor)
North Dakota voters have given U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak a second term in Congress. Fedorchak led in a political rematch against Democratic-NPL U.S. House candidate Trygve Hammer when The Associated Press called the race at 8:56 p.m. Fedorchak finished with 57% of the vote Tuesday to Hammer’s 37% in complete but…
America voted. After the Trump administration pressured election officials, after concerns that armed federal agents would deploy to the polls, after fears U.S. Department of Justice election monitors would intimidate voters — ballots were cast by the millions Tuesday, mostly without incident. Across the United…
An error resulted in some Bismarck-area District 7 voters receiving a ballot that omitted the district’s legislative races early Tuesday. The error was caught and corrected by approximately 9:30 a.m. at the Liberty Elementary polling location, which opened at 7 a.m. Some District 7 voters had been erroneously handed a…
WASHINGTON — In a stunning upset, Democrats ousted Republicans and flipped control of the U.S. Senate Tuesday night, effectively establishing a barricade for President Donald Trump’s agenda for the last two years of his term. Democrats will now have the power to block many of Trump’s nominees, both executive and…
WASHINGTON — Democrats will regain control of the U.S. House early next year, after voters throughout the country rejected the policies that Republicans and President Donald Trump implemented during the last two years. The Associated Press, which States Newsroom looks to for the projected winner of congressional…
WASHINGTON — Tens of millions of Americans have already cast a ballot in the 2026 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress and shape President Donald Trump’s remaining policy agenda. As of Monday, more than 57 million Americans had cast a vote, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab…
Election workers are primed for Election Day after nearly a year of training, working primary elections and guiding tens of thousands of North Dakotans through early voting. “The general public does not realize how many previous months and how many hours the staff puts into getting ready for Election Day,” said Linda…
WASHINGTON — One day before his party is forecast to lose control of the U.S. House, and possibly the Senate, President Donald Trump gathered guests and press at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to tout the “magnificent” renovation of the monument — a monthslong project plagued by algae, reclosure and false…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, mere hours before Election Day in the midterms that will determine control of Congress, denied the Trump administration’s final attempt to force California to set aside the ballots of 20,000 people it suspects are noncitizens. The decision marked a significant blow to President Donald…
A North Dakota judge on Monday denied Greenpeace’s request for a new trial in the case brought against the organization by the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Greenpeace will now move forward with its appeal of the $345 million judgment entered against it earlier this year, the organization announced Monday…
As broad affordability concerns define elections across the country, voters in several states on Tuesday will have a say on their future utility bills. State utility regulators, who are facing heightened levels of attention and scrutiny amid high prices, are on the ballot in nine states: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia…
The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to require California to set aside the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters in a last-ditch appeal by the Trump administration to exert control over the state’s vote counting. The request came on the eve of Election Day and as more than 5 million…
North Dakota’s governor cast his ballot Monday, telling reporters he expects good results for Republicans in the state but not necessarily nationally. “I think we’re doing well here. I think we have reasonable, rational legislators that have put the state on a great path,” Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong told…
At least two counties in North Dakota this week are asking voters to let them go over the state’s limit for how much local governments can increase property taxes, a crucial revenue source to funding various services. The ballot measures in Divide and Traill counties show how some local governments are struggling with…
MEDORA, N.D. – North Dakota’s public and private investments in Medora and Billings County are unprecedented in the region’s history. Tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars, business development and philanthropic giving have been piling into this once-sleepy cow town, forever changing its character and, to…
WASHINGTON — When the polls close Tuesday night, the 2026 U.S. election will go down as one of history’s most expensive and extraordinarily ugly midterms — galvanizing record-breaking early voter turnout among a deeply divided electorate. Voters on Saturday crossed the high-water mark of 52.7 million early votes cast…
As concerns rise about the potential for federal influence over the results of next week’s midterm elections, many voting experts and advocates remain confident that the nation’s highly localized systems of administering and counting votes will persevere. Facing sinking approval ratings over high prices, the White…
A federal appeals court on Friday denied a Trump administration demand that California set aside and not count the ballots of 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters, setting the stage for a possible appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a U.S…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is rounding out his midterm travel blitz in the final sprint leading up to Election Day on Nov. 3. With just four days to go, the Republican Party is aiming to keep its narrow majority in the U.S. House and control of the Senate. But elections forecasters see a bleak
As the Trump administration waged a public legal fight with California over the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters in mid-October, behind the scenes a federal grand jury in Santa Ana issued a series of subpoenas to election officials in Los Angeles County at federal prosecutors’ urging. The subpoenas demanded a…
Medicaid recipients who are disabled or have a chronic illness will not have to prove they are unable to work to be exempted from new work requirements that take effect next year, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston grants a partial victory to the 25…
Department of Justice election monitors will observe polling locations in Cass County on Election Day as part of a nationwide effort. The federal observers will be part of more than 1,000 election monitors being sent to polling locations across all 50 states on Election Day, an expansion of the department’s monitoring…
WASHINGTON — As of early Friday, more than 46 million Americans had cast ballots ahead of Election Day, eclipsing the early voting turnout of the 2022 midterms, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab. In the 2022 midterm elections, 45.9 million Americans voted early, according to the UF Election Lab…
MERIDIAN, Idaho — It didn’t take long for doctors to see that something was amiss with Rebecca Crozier’s pregnancy. At her eight-week ultrasound in 2025, they mentioned a possible neural tube defect, she said, but after some research, she thought it was something that could be managed or treated. “If it was a fixable…
Downstream Missouri River states have worried for decades about receiving an insufficient flow of water from upstream dams. Now they’re worried their share of water could be further diminished by potential pipelines for dry Western states. The concern is the basis of a dispute about the U.S. House version of the…
Costs are soaring for people who care for their older parents and other family members, according to a new study. Out-of-pocket expenses are nearly 60% higher than they were just five years ago for family caregivers, who now spend an average of $11,508 a year on caregiving, according to a report released this week by
The Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to combat noncitizen voting and assert authority over elections came under intense scrutiny in courtrooms across the country on Thursday, as Democrats and voting rights groups alleged federal election interference. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the U.S…
The North Dakota State Board of Higher Education on Thursday named two interim college presidents to the long-term role. Allen Burgad will lead Valley City State University and Lisa Karch will lead North Dakota State College of Science. Burgad was approved unanimously after the board met in a closed-door executive…
WASHINGTON — Communities throughout the country have been inundated with television ads and outside spending as politicians try to spur voter turnout in the most competitive U.S. House races in Tuesday’s midterm elections. The focus on a short list of campaigns highlights how much power voters in a small number of…
A federal judge on Wednesday denied a U.S. Department of Justice request that would have forced California to not count the ballots of 20,000 voters the Trump administration alleges are likely noncitizens. The decision sets the case on a course to possibly reach the U.S. Supreme Court within days. In a scathing…
I think everyone should vote, but not for the aggravating script we’ve heard over the last two decades. I think people should vote because they matter, their lives matter, their voice matters, and they deserve to be heard. I say this as someone who isn’t partisan and has spent my adult life being disappointed in
North Dakota has launched a new website aiming to make Legacy Fund investments more transparent to the public. The long-awaited website allows users to see where and how the state has invested taxpayer money through the Legacy Fund, a sovereign wealth fund fueled by oil taxes, which is valued at $15 billion. “We’re…
The North Dakota Supreme Court on Wednesday denied an effort by GOP officials to overturn potential election victories of four legislative candidates whose paperwork they challenged, saying the court case came too late. The three challengers filed a petition with the court asking the seats be declared vacant and…
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is unlawfully scrutinizing naturalized U.S. citizens and placing them at risk of disenfranchisement, civil rights groups alleged in a lawsuit Wednesday, less than a week before Election Day. The lawsuit, filed in California, came as Homeland Security asked for an emergency…
North Dakota’s Ethics Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to begin its own inquiry into a state-backed business financing program that drew critical audit findings and lawmakers’ concerns about conflicts of interest and a lack of documentation for millions of dollars in transactions. The move is the first of its…
Less than a week before Election Day, President Donald Trump’s unprecedented drive for power over elections has set the stage for a series of courtroom fights that could quickly lead to a high-stakes showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over the limits of federal authority. Democrats and voting rights advocates have…
Most of the nation returns to standard time Sunday morning, and Congress could decide as early as next month whether it will be the last time people have to change their clocks. President Donald Trump wants year-round daylight saving time. The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly in July for the change. Lots of Democrats…
A record number of women are running for state legislative seats this November, more than two-thirds of whom are Democrats. Across the 46 states with legislative seats on the ballot, a total of 3,824 women are running — up from 2022’s previous record of 3,621 women candidates, according to the Center for American…
A federal appeals court has upheld a North Dakota judge’s decision ordering a Federal Reserve board to change how it regulates debit card transaction fees. The fees, which apply every time someone makes a debit card purchase, are meant to compensate banks for processing the transactions. The lawsuit was brought by…
WASHINGTON — Tens of millions of Americans have already made their way to the ballot box as early voting is underway in a midterm election that will determine control of the House and the Senate, possibly flipping one or both from Republicans to Democrats. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 34 million people have…
A North Dakota judge has ruled that the law for nominating people to the panel that promotes the beef industry violates the state constitution because it gives nominating power to specific trade groups and no one else. “That is arbitrary and unreasonable,” South Central District Judge Jackson Lofgren wrote in his…
The U.S. Department of Justice plans to send election monitors to every state ahead of Election Day, expanding a long-standing practice that’s spurred concern this year among Democrats and voting rights advocates because of President Donald Trump’s push to influence elections. The Justice Department for decades has…
Americans’ growing frustration over high prices has defined many political campaigns ahead of November’s midterm elections. Rising costs of healthcare, gas and groceries during President Donald Trump’s second term have put Republicans on defense, not only in Washington, but in statehouse and gubernatorial races across…
Every K-12 student has the legal right to receive a lunch at school in North Dakota without any stigma or shaming. But students and families who can’t afford to pay can still have long-term consequences, and some students may choose to go hungry to avoid them. There are more than two dozen school districts that
Birth centers are an option for those with low-risk pregnancies and are correlated with more positive health outcomes, but 10 states do not have any birth centers at all, and more could be built with certain state policy solutions and different models of care, a new report suggests. Birth centers can be an attractive…
The current Trump administration claims its mass deportation efforts have expelled nearly a million people through July of this year, but those include both voluntary returns and people turned around at the border, according to a new analysis by the former chief statistician for the Department of Homeland Security…
President Donald Trump’s 11th-hour campaign to intervene in California’s vote counting encountered its first resistance from federal courts on Monday, with appellate judges ruling against the effort. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled against a U.S. Department of Justice request for a…
An accounting firm’s investigation into the financial management and reporting at Dickinson State University has yielded a group of recommendations, including more support and oversight from the North Dakota University System. The University System, led by Commissioner Brent Sanford, has been discussing creation of a…
North Dakota voters have a choice for the state’s tax commissioner between the incumbent who says he wants to explore more tax reductions and a challenger who says the Republican-dominated state government is moving in the wrong direction. Republican Brian Kroshus is seeking a second four-year term, challenged by…
SPRINGDALE, Pa. — Residents in a small southwestern Pennsylvania town are facing the prospect of a 47-acre data center facility on their doorstep. “Right here behind this fence is where they want to put up the data center, and as you can see, there’s houses right across the street, roughly 100 feet,” said lifelong…
This year’s statewide ballot measures are written, on average, at a graduate-school reading level, according to a new report. The readability of 2026’s ballot questions — which ask voters to weigh in on issues as varied as abortion, property taxes, voter ID and firearms — varies by state, political data tracking…
Earlier this month, a 50-year-old man riding his personal electric scooter in Washington, D.C., was killed when he collided with a woman on a rideshare scooter. In June, a 12-year-old Massachusetts girl died after her electric scooter slammed into a school bus in a suburb of Boston. And in April, an Atlanta woman…
PORTLAND, Ore. — The latest cosponsor of a U.S. House bill to provide single-payer health insurance defeated a Republican incumbent in a suburban and rural Oregon district by fewer than 10,000 votes two years ago. U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum, a Democrat now seeking her second term, doesn’t have the far-left profile of…
CASSELTON, N.D. — The chair of the North Dakota Public Service Commission on Friday expressed concerns that a large battery storage project in Cass County would have to rely on Casselton for fire protection without Casselton having any say in the project’s approval. The project is called Harmony Storage and would sit…
Some supporters of a ballot measure to require at least 60% voter support to change North Dakota’s constitution say the move would help block a potential abortion rights initiative in the future. Opponents say the measure would make it harder to pass any constitutional amendment, giving more power to a minority of…
The percentage of working-age adults without health insurance has increased in the past two years, largely because many people can no longer afford Obamacare coverage after Congress allowed federal subsidies to expire at the end of last year. The uninsured rate for adults ages 19-64 rose to 11.2% this year, up from…
The U.S. Department of Justice is stepping up its legal campaign over the midterm elections, suing Alaska over its U.S. Senate election and appealing a lawsuit against suspected noncitizen voters in California. Election law experts have cast doubt on the strength of the cases, criticizing them as performative. The…
WASHINGTON — Fewer than 5% of U.S. House races are seen by a top political analysis as truly competitive heading into November’s midterm elections, giving relatively few voters the ability to determine which party controls the chamber for the next two years. The other 414 of 435 House districts are viewed by the…
As Election Day approaches, top Democrats on the intelligence committees in Congress are preparing for the possibility that President Donald Trump will allege foreign interference to discredit unfavorable results. And they want leading U.S. intelligence officials to be immediately reachable if he does. Sen. Mark…
A challenger for a seat on the Public Service Commission says North Dakotans do not feel like they are being heard by state regulators, while the incumbent defended the processes used by the state agency. Democrat Scot Kelsh said people feel like developers of projects such as power lines and pipelines are “running…
Early in-person voting begins in certain counties throughout North Dakota during the next week, an opportunity one Bismarck-area group is highlighting to encourage Indigenous people to vote. Staff of the Sacred Pipe Resource Center gathered Thursday with half a dozen voters to all cast their ballots shortly after…
WASHINGTON — The price health insurance companies charge for employer-sponsored plans increased again this year, as did the deductible many people must pay before those plans begin covering most healthcare costs, according to a survey released Thursday by the nonpartisan health organization KFF. The cost of individual…
Candidates for North Dakota’s top law enforcement position say artificial intelligence will be transformative for society but is not a replacement for humans in investigations or legal matters. Republican Attorney General Drew Wrigley, a two-time former U.S. attorney and past lieutenant governor, is running for…
National Democrats are suing President Donald Trump, accusing his administration of intimidating election officials and asking a federal court to block him from interfering in the midterm elections. The lawsuit, filed late Tuesday in Washington, D.C., comes as the Trump administration mounts a highly public offensive…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s midterm travel blitz will continue in the coming days, with Election Day on Nov. 3 now less than two weeks out, headlining rallies in several states hosting hard-fought Senate contests seen as toss-ups. Trump began his October campaign road trip in GOP-friendly states, but has…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to implement a rule that would terminate gender-affirming care for transgender people incarcerated in federal prisons. It means a lower court order that blocked the policy from going into effect will remain in place for…
Justices of North Dakota’s Supreme Court appeared skeptical during arguments Wednesday over why they should overturn the will of the voters in a case that asks them to basically void the election results if any of four challenged Republican House nominees is elected this fall. Three Republican officials are asking the…
A coalition of North Dakota-based advocacy groups has formed to oppose Measure 1, which asks voters whether constitutional amendments need at least 60% of the vote to pass. The coalition hosted an event in Fargo on Tuesday to make their case against the measure, which they said changes a fundamental aspect of North…
The North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality has opened a public comment period on a new heavy industry proposed northeast of Minot. North American Iron is proposing to transport mine waste from Minnesota to Minot where it can be refined into small iron pellets known as pig iron, which then can be used to make
A lawmaker from North Dakota’s coal country is working on proposed legislation to regulate some of the more controversial aspects of data centers in the state. Rep. Anna Novak, R-Hazen, briefed some of her legislative colleagues Tuesday on the framework of her bill. It focuses on three aspects: the cost of…
HYANNIS, Neb. — With 19 days until Election Day, Dan Osborn sat across from three skeptical voters in a conference room in this blink-and-you-miss-it rural Nebraska town. Osborn, a bearded former union leader and Navy veteran, wants to become the first independent U.S. senator from Nebraska since World War II by…
North Dakota’s new State Lab officially opened Tuesday with public health and environmental quality officials praising the enhanced safety equipment and testing capabilities. Construction began in April 2024 on the $70 million federally funded facility under then-Gov. Doug Burgum, who said at the time the new lab…
North Dakota voters will decide this fall whether to approve free school meals for K-12 students in a ballot measure proponents see as a way to ease costs for families while opponents view it as a wrong addition to the state constitution. Measure 2 would provide free breakfast and lunch for North Dakota’s roughly…
Farmers will be eligible to receive one-time payments from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to provide relief for high fuel and input costs. USDA and President Donald Trump announced Monday night at a rally in Kansas that farmers would have $8 billion made available in the Harvest Fuel Relief program. Farm groups…
Bears are having a very bad year. Across much of the United States, a warm winter and persistent drought have decimated the natural foods that black and brown bears rely on. With nearly every station at the buffet in short supply, the adaptable eaters are turning to human food. From California to Connecticut…
Democrats have used President Donald Trump’s unpopularity to expand the midterm map, and analysts project the party carries momentum heading into the final two weeks of the election cycle, even as Democrats are expected to flip fewer U.S. House seats than wave elections this century. The Cook Political Report with Amy…
North Dakota voters will decide this fall whether to require at least 60% approval of future amendments to the state constitution, a move supporters say would protect the foundational document, but opponents say would make it harder for citizens to enact changes. Measure 1 opponent Dustin Gawrylow, director of the…
Gov. Kelly Armstrong on Monday announced the state is shutting down white-tailed doe hunting this fall in parts of southern North Dakota due to an ongoing disease outbreak, weeks before the state’s popular deer gun season opens. Armstrong said the “conservative harvest strategy” is meant to help the deer population…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday establishing a Women’s Health Division within the National Institutes of Health. The new division is set to work with the agency’s existing Office of Research on Women’s Health, which was established in 1990 and “has served as the focal point for…
WASHINGTON — Immigrants living in the United States with humanitarian status from Ukraine and Sudan will retain their deportation protections and work authorizations for now, the Department of Homeland Security said over the weekend. More than 100,000 Ukrainians and roughly 2,000 Sudanese with Temporary Protected…
Party control is up for grabs in 15 state legislative chambers across the country as Republicans are increasingly on the defensive this midterm election cycle, a new analysis found. The nonpartisan newsletter Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics released its final analysis of state…
AUSTIN, Texas — It was a good day for the defense. Standing in front of a judge in Austin’s Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center, attorney Matthew Shrum secured a ruling that spared his client from serious punishment on a shoplifting charge. In the hallway immediately afterward, the defendant thanked Shrum with…
The sheer size of investment in data centers is drawing concern as it surpasses all other historical booms and crowds out other more job-creating ventures. Until now, no industry had driven the U.S. economy with such force since the railroad expansion of the late 1800s, when titans battled one another to lay the…
Hundreds rallied across North Dakota on Saturday to encourage early voting in the Nov. 3 election, joining similar No Kings events across the country. Fargo and Bismarck rallies, each with a few hundred attendees, featured tables with information about how and when people can vote. Fargo event organizer Lyn…
A coalition of oil industry leaders, state officials and a U.S. senator are rallying support for the next stage of an oil field research project that could have a significant impact on North Dakota’s economic future. The research centers on enhanced oil recovery, a collection of technologies that officials hope will…
Republican Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring sparred with Democratic challenger Vern Thompson on tariffs, the farm crisis and more during a debate recorded this week. The debate also crystallized a key difference in how the two candidates view the role of government when it comes to overseeing the development of…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has a flurry of travel on deck in the final frantic weeks leading up to the end of the midterm elections, in which the GOP is vying to maintain its control of both the U.S. House and Senate. But that outlook looks increasingly less favorable for Republicans, as analysts say
WASHINGTON — More than 100,000 Ukrainians and roughly 2,000 Sudanese immigrants are bracing for the possibility they’ll lose their humanitarian protections by Monday. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not indicated if he will renew protections for Ukrainians, who first received Temporary Protected…
The North Dakota Department of Transportation is traveling to all five tribal nations in the state next week to provide free nondriver photo identification cards ahead of the election. The ID cards will be issued to North Dakota residents 18 and older who do not have a driver’s license. Paperwork will be processed…
WASHINGTON — Democrats are touting an ambitious legislative agenda centered on affordability and accountability if they take back the U.S. House or Senate — or both — in November. A slew of pressing policy debates are on tap for Democrats, including healthcare, immigration, voting rights, the war in Iran, oversight…
WASHINGTON —Suddenly there’s hope for cutting the reams of red tape that can make getting new energy projects a seemingly endless slog. Top Republican and Democratic senators have unveiled a 417-page bill to overhaul the approval process, a pathway for what’s known as “permitting reform.” A debate is likely when…
Candidates for superintendent of the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction discussed teacher bonuses, tech in the classroom and funding public schools during a debate this week. The debate hosted by Plain Talk Podcast co-hosts Rob Port and Chad Oban featured Superintendent Levi Bachmeier, a former business…