Adam Fortwengler
From Ballotpedia
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Adam Fortwengler (Democratic Party) ran for election to the North Dakota House of Representatives to represent District 42. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Fortwengler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Adam Fortwengler was born in Anderson, Indiana. He obtained two bachelor's degrees from the University of North Dakota, one in 2010 and one in 2017.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: North Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 (2 seats)
Incumbent Emily O'Brien and incumbent Claire Cory defeated Adam Fortwengler and Zachary Tomczik in the general election for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Emily O'Brien (R) | 29.1 | 1,772 |
| ✔ |  | Claire Cory (R) | 26.1 | 1,589 |
 | Adam Fortwengler (D)  | 22.5 | 1,369 | |
| Zachary Tomczik (D) | 22.4 | 1,363 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 3 | ||
| Total votes: 6,096 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 (2 seats)
Zachary Tomczik and Adam Fortwengler advanced from the Democratic primary for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 on June 9, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Zachary Tomczik | 50.9 | 369 | |
| ✔ | | Adam Fortwengler | 49.0 | 355 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 1 | ||
| Total votes: 725 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 (2 seats)
Incumbent Emily O'Brien and incumbent Claire Cory advanced from the Republican primary for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 on June 9, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Emily O'Brien | 51.4 | 572 |
| ✔ | | Claire Cory | 48.3 | 538 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 3 | ||
| Total votes: 1,113 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Fortwengler's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Adam Fortwengler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Fortwengler's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I came to Grand Forks as a young child when my dad, active duty US Air Force at the time, was stationed here. I've been here since 1994 - I grew up on the air base, went to the public schools there and graduated from Grand Forks Central High School. I graduated from the University of North Dakota with degrees in political science and social work. When my dad retired from the Air Force, we all made the decision to stay here. This is home. I coached in the public schools for a decade, and I'm currently the Program Coordinator at a nonprofit that supports refugee integration, helping working-class families achieve the American Dream.
My parents worked themselves to the bone to provide a better life for my brother and I. I've struggled on my own, too. The problems working families face are not new or unfamiliar to me - they're personal. I work with many families now who are struggling on a weekly basis. You can see the fear in their eyes when they sit down at the table. They lose sleep over it, they stress over it as soon as they wake up, and it infects their partners and kids. No one should have to worry about where their next meal is going to come from, or how they're going to keep a roof over their heads next month, or if they need to ration their medicine to be able to afford heat, or if their pain is really bad enough to risk financial ruin by seeing a doctor. I fully committed to fighting for solutions to the daily struggles of working families in Grand Forks and beyond.
- I'm fighting for economic security for working families. A living wage for *all* workers (without exemptions!), paid sick and family leave for *all* workers, workplace protections like fair scheduling, and increased democracy within workplaces.
- I'm fighting for healthcare for all North Dakotans - it's a human right. We must unlink the ability to see a doctor, receive treatment, and take medicine from employment to the furthest extent possible as a state. No one should ever have to put off seeing a doctor or ration life-sustaining medicine.
- I'm fighting for truly affordable housing for all, and a Tenants Bill of Rights (extended to Mobile Home Park residents) to level the playing field, lower costs, and restore power to where it should always be: the people.
My top priority, and the reason I'm running, is to make regular people like you and me the priority of our government and provide, finally, economic security and fundamental rights to working families. There are many things we must fix to work in the favor of the people, including wages and paid leave, healthcare, housing, and affordable housing. About 10,000 people in Grand Forks live in poverty. At least another 10,000 people live paycheck-to-paycheck each month. 44% are rent-burdened. Over 10% face food insecurity at any one moment. We have college students and families living out of cars. Our schools have a dedicated homeless liaison. No one should have to live in or near poverty, with the excruciating and inhumane choices and sacrifices that come along with it - the fact that so many people in our community do is a policy choice of our "leaders." It doesn't have to happen. It's a matter of warped priorities.
Corporations squeeze every ounce of profit from their employees and leave them with scraps. We subsidize the profits of these companies when they pay so low of wages that large numbers of their employees must seek support in Medicaid and SNAP just to get by and survive. Employers have the responsibility to any person in their employment to provide them with a fair wage that their family can live off of - anything else is plainly unacceptable in an advanced society. And our government has the responsibility to put its people first, not corporations.
Corporations squeeze every ounce of profit from their employees and leave them with scraps. We subsidize the profits of these companies when they pay so low of wages that large numbers of their employees must seek support in Medicaid and SNAP just to get by and survive. Employers have the responsibility to any person in their employment to provide them with a fair wage that their family can live off of - anything else is plainly unacceptable in an advanced society. And our government has the responsibility to put its people first, not corporations.
I look up to my parents. They both faced challenging upbringings and dedicated themselves to serving their country and community, while also working to provide a better life for my brother and I. My father was active-duty US Air Force (including time as a crew chief on KC-135s) until his retirement about a decade ago. My mother has worked in the Grand Forks Public Schools as a paraprofessional for over 25 years. They're amazing, caring, principled people.
I also greatly look up to my late grandmother, Gloria. She was a kind, gentle, and fearless soul, deeply devoted to social justice and activism when it wasn't only unpopular in Indiana, but dangerous. She taught us many lessons in empathy and dedication to others.
I also greatly look up to my late grandmother, Gloria. She was a kind, gentle, and fearless soul, deeply devoted to social justice and activism when it wasn't only unpopular in Indiana, but dangerous. She taught us many lessons in empathy and dedication to others.
Not so much about political philosophy, but if povery hasn't touched your life, read "The Other American" by Michael Harrington. It's a non-fiction portrait of poverty in NYC in the 1960s and a study of policy both leading up to that point, and what could be done to help. We're still fighting for the same basic rights and protections as they were in the 1960s.
The willingness and ability to listen. The empathy to make other people's problems their own. The honesty to do things the right way, even if the system is built to allow them to act dishonestly or against the people. The ability to stay principled and unwavering in the face of political pressures, special interest group money, and donor threats. The fundamental ability to put others first and not act out of personal self-interest. People over party. People over profit.
Like my parents, and their parents, and so many parents out there today - I want to leave people a better life than I was fortunate enough to have myself. I don't want anyone to struggle like I see people struggling today. I see the pain, I feel the anxiety, and hear the cries for help. It kills me that our system was designed for us to suffer so that others can grossly profit. It's on purpose. And it's actively protected and strengthened by our supposed "leaders" still today. If I can a voice of the unheard, of the hurting, and dedicate my life to fighting for life-altering change for all of us, I will have left a community that's more just and fair. I couldn't sleep at night fighting for anyone or anything else. I don't seek the political career the late Sen. Paul Wellstone had, but his legacy is far reaching and one of authentic empathy. I don't ever think of terms of legacy myself, but that's the kind of legacy I would aspire to. That people knew what side I was on, that they knew who I was fighting for, that they knew I did everything I could in their corner to make their lives better.
My first job was as a football coach at Twining Middle School at the Grand Forks Air Force Base. I started coaching when I was 19 years old while attending the University of North Dakota. It was a goal of mine for much of my youth and ended up a great passion of mine. I was recruiting to coach wrestling and track at Twining, as well. After four years I moved to South Middle School, and after two seasons there I was named the Head Football Coach at Midway & Minto High Schoools north of Grand Forks. While I absolutely loved the strategy and technique side of coaching, and was a true student of the game, I coached because I loved working with the kids and aiding their personal development. I largely stopped coaching a few years ago to go back to school for social work (spurred by my time working with families as a coach), but have picked up coaching soccer over the past few years.
I think the diversifcation of our economy is the greatest long-term challenge we face, though it absolutely has short-term implications, too. When all of our eggs are in a couple of baskets, such as oil and agriculture, the survival of our vital services are based upon the unstable whims of commodity markets, speculators, and actions of foreign governments. Let's invest in green energy technologies; research, development and deployment. Let's invest in the technology and industries of the future.
I strongly supported both the policy and overarching goals of Measure 3 before it was taken off the ballot in a brazen partisan attack on the power of the people in North Dakota - my opponents in District 42 signed onto the ridiculous lawsuit that resulted in the striking of the initiative. We MUST have fair redistricting in North Dakota. So many things rely on it. We need to strengthen the nonpartisan Ethics Commission and empower it to redraw district lines for the upcoming decade. We need to work with Tribal leadership to ensure sovereignty is recognized and respected in terms of districting, including allowing reservations to be represented by one legislative district - gerrymandering games to weaken the voice of Native voters, or any voter, is despicable.
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See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 27, 2020
Current members of the North Dakota House of Representatives
Leadership
Speaker of the House:Robin Weisz
Majority Leader:Mike Lefor
Minority Leader:Zac Ista
Representatives
Republican Party (82)
Democratic Party (11)
