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North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2026
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| North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction |
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| Election details |
| Filing deadline: April 6, 2026 |
| Primary: June 9, 2026 General: November 3, 2026 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times:
Open between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.; close between 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2026 Impact of term limits in 2026 State government trifectas State government triplexes Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026 |
| North Dakota executive elections |
| Attorney General Secretary of State |
North Dakota is holding a special election for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction on November 3, 2026. The primary is June 9, 2026. The filing deadline is April 6, 2026.
There are no official candidates yet for this election.
Candidates and election results
Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:
- Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
- Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies
There are no official candidates yet for this election.
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
Candidate profiles
There are currently no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles will appear here as they are created. Encourage the candidates in this race to complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey so that their profile will appear here.
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No candidate in this race has completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Ballotpedia is seeking 100 percent participation so voters can learn more about all the candidates on their ballots.
Voting information
- See also: Voting in North Dakota
Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.
Past elections
The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2016.
2024
General election
General election for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent Kirsten Baesler defeated Jason Heitkamp in the general election for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kirsten Baesler (Nonpartisan) | 56.9 | 185,318 |
 | Jason Heitkamp (Nonpartisan) | 42.4 | 138,085 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 2,316 | ||
| Total votes: 325,719 | |||
 = 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent Kirsten Baesler and Jason Heitkamp defeated Jim Bartlett and Darko Draganic in the primary for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction on June 11, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kirsten Baesler (Nonpartisan) | 54.9 | 59,170 |
| ✔ | | Jason Heitkamp (Nonpartisan) | 22.1 | 23,837 |
 | Jim Bartlett (Nonpartisan) | 19.7 | 21,216 | |
 | Darko Draganic (Nonpartisan) | 3.1 | 3,320 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 280 | ||
| Total votes: 107,823 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2020
General election
General election for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent Kirsten Baesler defeated Brandt Dick and Charles Tuttle in the general election for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kirsten Baesler (Nonpartisan) | 59.1 | 192,835 |
 | Brandt Dick (Nonpartisan) | 39.9 | 130,280 | |
 | Charles Tuttle (Nonpartisan) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 0 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.9 | 3,005 | ||
| Total votes: 326,120 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent Kirsten Baesler and Brandt Dick defeated Charles Tuttle in the primary for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction on June 9, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kirsten Baesler (Nonpartisan) | 54.2 | 76,987 |
| ✔ | | Brandt Dick (Nonpartisan) | 25.8 | 36,733 |
| Charles Tuttle (Nonpartisan) | 19.7 | 27,929 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 456 | ||
| Total votes: 142,105 | |||
| = 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
General election
General election for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction
Incumbent Kirsten Baesler won election in the general election for North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction on November 8, 2016.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Kirsten Baesler (Nonpartisan) |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Election analysis
Click the tabs below to view information about demographics, past elections, and partisan control of the state.
- Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the state.
- Statewide elections - Information about recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections in the state.
- State partisanship - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
- Demographics - Information about the state's demographics and how they compare to the country as a whole.
Cook PVI by congressional district
| District | Incumbent | PVI |
|---|---|---|
| North Dakota's At-Large | Julie Fedorchak | R+18 |
2024 presidential results by 2026 congressional district lines
| District | Kamala Harris  |
Donald Trump  |
|---|---|---|
| North Dakota's At-Large | 31.0% | 68.0% |
| Source: The Downballot | ||
2016-2024
How a state's counties vote in a presidential election and the size of those counties can provide additional insights into election outcomes at other levels of government including statewide and congressional races. Below, four categories are used to describe each county's voting pattern over the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:
| County-level voting pattern categories | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | |||||||
| Status | 2016 | 2020 | 2024 | ||||
| Solid Democratic | D | D | D | ||||
| Trending Democratic | R | D | D | ||||
| Battleground Democratic | D | R | D | ||||
| New Democratic | R | R | D | ||||
| Republican | |||||||
| Status | 2016 | 2020 | 2024 | ||||
| Solid Republican | R | R | R | ||||
| Trending Republican | D | R | R | ||||
| Battleground Republican | R | D | R | ||||
| New Republican | D | D | R | ||||
Following the 2024 presidential election, 98% of North Dakotans lived in one of the state's 51 Solid Republican counties, which voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election from 2016 to 2024, and 2% lived in one of 2 Solid Democratic counties. Overall, North Dakota was Solid Republican, having voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016, Donald Trump (R) in 2020, and Donald Trump (R) in 2024. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in North Dakota following the 2024 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.
| North Dakota county-level statistics, 2024 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solid Republican | 51 | 98.0% | |||||
| Solid Democratic | 2 | 2.0% | |||||
| Total voted Democratic | 2 | 2.0% | |||||
| Total voted Republican | 51 | 98.0% | |||||
Historical voting trends
North Dakota presidential election results (1900-2024)
- 5 Democratic wins
- 27 Republican wins
| Year | 1900 | 1904 | 1908 | 1912 | 1916 | 1920 | 1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1940 | 1944 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winning Party | R | R | R | D | D | R | R | R | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
This section details the results of the five most recent U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections held in the state.
U.S. Senate elections
The table below details the vote in the five most recent U.S. Senate races in North Dakota.
Gubernatorial elections
- See also: Governor of North Dakota
The table below details the vote in the five most recent gubernatorial elections in North Dakota.
Congressional delegation
The table below displays the partisan composition of North Dakota's congressional delegation as of October 2025.
| Congressional Partisan Breakdown from North Dakota | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | U.S. Senate | U.S. House | Total |
| Democratic | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Republican | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vacancies | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 2 | 1 | 3 |
State executive
The table below displays the officeholders in North Dakota's top four state executive offices as of October 2025.
| Office | Officeholder |
|---|---|
| Governor | Kelly Armstrong |
| Lieutenant Governor | Michelle Strinden |
| Secretary of State | Michael Howe |
| Attorney General | Drew Wrigley |
State legislature
North Dakota State Senate
| Party | As of October 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 5 | |
| Republican Party | 42 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 0 | |
| Total | 47 | |
North Dakota House of Representatives
| Party | As of October 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 11 | |
| Republican Party | 82 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 1 | |
| Total | 94 | |
Trifecta control
North Dakota Party Control: 1992-2025
No Democratic trifectas • Thirty-one years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
The table below details demographic data in North Dakota and compares it to the broader United States as of 2023.
| Demographic Data for North Dakota | ||
|---|---|---|
| North Dakota | United States | |
| Population | 779,094 | 331,449,281 |
| Land area (sq mi) | 68,993 | 3,531,905 |
| Race and ethnicity** | ||
| White | 83.9% | 63.4% |
| Black/African American | 3.2% | 12.4% |
| Asian | 1.6% | 5.8% |
| Native American | 4.5% | 0.9% |
| Pacific Islander | 0.2% | 0.4% |
| Other (single race) | 1.4% | 6.6% |
| Multiple | 5.3% | 10.7% |
| Hispanic/Latino | 4.5% | 19% |
| Education | ||
| High school graduation rate | 93.8% | 89.4% |
| College graduation rate | 32.3% | 35% |
| Income | ||
| Median household income | $75,949 | $78,538 |
| Persons below poverty level | 10.6% | 12.4% |
| Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2020). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2018-2023). | ||
| **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here. | ||
See also
| North Dakota | State Executive Elections | News and Analysis |
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External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction official website
Footnotes
