Emily O'Brien
Emily O'Brien (Republican Party) was a member of the North Dakota House of Representatives, representing District 42. She assumed office on December 1, 2016. She left office on August 19, 2025.
O'Brien (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the North Dakota House of Representatives to represent District 42. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
O'Brien left office on August 9, 2025 to become the North Dakota Health and Human Services deputy commissioner.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
O'Brien was assigned to the following committees:
2021-2022
O'Brien was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
O'Brien was assigned to the following committees:
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| North Dakota committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Industry, Business and Labor |
| • Transportation |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: North Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 (2 seats)
Doug Osowski and incumbent Emily O'Brien defeated Sarah Grossbauer and Carol Hagen in the general election for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Doug Osowski (R) | 31.4 | 2,654 |
| ✔ |  | Emily O'Brien (R) | 28.7 | 2,422 |
| Sarah Grossbauer (D) | 20.0 | 1,687 | ||
| Carol Hagen (D) | 19.7 | 1,667 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 19 | ||
| Total votes: 8,449 | |||
 = 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. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 (2 seats)
Carol Hagen and Sarah Grossbauer advanced from the Democratic primary for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 on June 11, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Carol Hagen | 50.7 | 210 | |
| ✔ | Sarah Grossbauer | 49.3 | 204 | |
| Total votes: 414 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 (2 seats)
Doug Osowski and incumbent Emily O'Brien defeated Sadie Hanson in the Republican primary for North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 on June 11, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Doug Osowski | 41.6 | 425 |
| ✔ | | Emily O'Brien | 29.5 | 301 |
 | Sadie Hanson | 28.4 | 290 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.5 | 5 | ||
| Total votes: 1,021 | |||
| = 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
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for O'Brien in this election.
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. | ||||
| 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. | ||||
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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
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. | ||||
2016
Elections for the North Dakota House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election took place on June 14, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was April 11, 2016.
Jake Blum and Emily O'Brien defeated Grant Hauschild and incumbent Kylie Oversen in the North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 general election.[2][3]
| North Dakota House of Representatives, District 42 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Jake Blum |
27.21% | 2,029 | |
| Republican | Emily O'Brien |
26.12% | 1,948 | |
| Democratic | Grant Hauschild | 22.43% | 1,673 | |
| Democratic | Kylie Oversen Incumbent | 24.24% | 1,808 | |
| Total Votes | 7,458 | |||
| Source: North Dakota Secretary of State | ||||
Grant Hauschild and incumbent Kylie Oversen were unopposed in the North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 Democratic primary.[4][5]
| North Dakota House of Representatives, District 42 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Grant Hauschild | |
| Democratic | Kylie Oversen Incumbent | |
Jake Blum and Emily O'Brien were unopposed in the North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 Republican primary.[4][5]
| North Dakota House of Representatives, District 42 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Jake Blum | |
| Republican | Emily O'Brien | |
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Emily O'Brien did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Emily O'Brien did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
O'Brien's campaign website highlighted the following issues:[6]
| “ |
JOBS Job development and creation is a priority for the District 42 Leadership Team. We understand that good paying jobs are vital for our state as we move forward in uncertain economic times. We believe in:
EDUCATION Wise effective use of state funds to support all areas for those preparing for future professions. We believe in:
TAX RELIEF Work towards lower property taxes with fewer regulations and a good pro-business public policy. We believe:
SOLUTIONS Our state will face challenges in the future. Some of these challenges are known and others will be unexpected. The District 42 Leadership team of KREUN, OBRIEN, and BLUM has the experience and the proven track record to take on the challenges of the future. We believe:
|
” |
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of North Dakota scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2024, the North Dakota State Legislature was not in session. |
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2023, the North Dakota State Legislature was in session from January 3 to April 29.
|
2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2022, the North Dakota State Legislature was not in session. |
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2021, the North Dakota State Legislature was in session from January 5 to April 29.
|
2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2020, the North Dakota State Legislature was not in session. |
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2019, the North Dakota Legislative Assembly was in session from January 3 through April 26.
|
2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2018, the North Dakota Legislative Assembly did not hold a regular session. |
2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2017, the 65th North Dakota Legislative Assembly was in session from January 3 through April 27.
|
2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2016, the North Dakota Legislative Assembly did not hold a regular session. |
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 |
Personal |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
North Dakota House of Representatives District 42 2016-2025 |
Succeeded by - |
Footnotes
- ↑ Knox News, "Grand Forks State Representative Emily O’Brien Resigns to Take State Job," August 12, 2025
- ↑ North Dakota Secretary of State, "2016 General Election Contest/Candidate List," accessed August 21, 2016
- ↑ North Dakota Secretary of State, "Official Results General Election - November 8, 2016," accessed November 28, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 North Dakota Secretary of State, "2016 Primary Election Contest/Candidate List," accessed April 13, 2016
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 North Dakota Secretary of State, "Official Results Primary Election - June 14, 2016," accessed August 2, 2016
- ↑ Emily O'Brien, "Issues," accessed September 29, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
