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North Dakota election preview, 2024
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Last updated: Oct. 24, 2024
Thousands of general elections are taking place across the United States on Nov. 5, 2024. Those elections include offices at the federal, state, and local levels. This is one of 50 pages in which Ballotpedia previews the elections happening in each state as part of the Daily Brew’s 50 states in 25 days series.
This page provides an overview of all elections happening in North Dakota within our coverage scope on Nov. 5, 2024. Those elections include office for one U.S Senator, one U.S. Representative, governor and lieutenant governor, 23 state Senators, and 48 state Representatives. There are also five statewide ballot measures on the ballot. On this page, you will also find information regarding:
- How to vote in North Dakota
- The elected offices that North Dakota voters can expect to see on their ballots
- The races in North Dakota that Ballotpedia is covering as battlegrounds
- The ballot measures that voters in North Dakota will decide on
- Ballotpedia's Sample Ballot Lookup Tool
- The partisan balance of North Dakota's congressional delegation and state government
- Past presidential election results in North Dakota
- The competitiveness of legislative elections in North Dakota
- The candidates who are on the ballot in North Dakota
Voting information
- See also: Voting in North Dakota
What's on the ballot?
2024 elections
- See also: North Dakota elections, 2024
North Dakota voters will elect one U.S. Senator and one U.S. Representative.
Twenty-three seats in the state Senate are up for election. Eight of the seats are open. Forty-eight seats in the state House are up for election. There are nine open seats in the state House.
There are seven state executive offices on the ballot—governor, lieutenant governor, auditor, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction, one public service commission seat, and insurance commissioner.
There are five statewide ballot measures on the ballot. Voters in Burleigh County, North Dakota will decide one local ballot measure.
Below is a list of North Dakota elections covered by Ballotpedia in 2024. Click the links to learn more about each type:
| North Dakota elections, 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Office | Elections? | More information |
| U.S. Senate | ✓ | Click here |
| U.S. House | ✓ | Click here |
| Congress special election | — | — |
| Governor | ✓ | Click here |
| Other state executive | ✓ | Click here |
| State Senate | ✓ | Click here |
| State House | ✓ | Click here |
| Special state legislative | ✓ | Click here |
| State Supreme Court | — | — |
| Intermediate appellate courts | — | — |
| School boards | — | — |
| Municipal government | ✓ | Click here |
| Recalls | — | — |
| Ballot measures | ✓ | Click here |
| Local ballot measures | ✓ | Click here |
Legend: ✓ election(s) / — no elections
Subject to Ballotpedia's scope
Your ballot
- See also: Sample Ballot Lookup
Noteworthy elections
As of October 24, 2024, Ballotpedia has identified one election as a battleground race. Those are the races that we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly compelling.
- North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2024: Incumbent Kirsten Baesler and Jason Heitkamp are running. The election is a nonpartisan election, but both candidates are Republicans.
Ballot measures
- See also: North Dakota 2024 ballot measures
There are five statewide ballot measures on the ballot in North Dakota in 2024. Between 1985 and 2020, 127 ballot measures were on the ballot in North Dakota. Voters approved 59 measures and rejected 68 measures.
State analysis
Partisan balance
A Republican represents the state's one at-large U.S. House district. In the U.S. House, Republicans have a 220-212 majority with three vacancies.
North Dakota has two Republican U.S. Senators—Kevin Cramer and John Hoeven. Democrats have a majority in the U.S. Senate. There are 47 Democrats, 49 Republicans, and four independents. Three independents caucus with the Democratic Party, and one other counts towards the Democratic majority for committee purposes.
Republicans have a 43-4 majority in the state Senate and an 82-12 majority in the state House. Republicans won control of the state Senate in 1994 and the state House in 1984.
Because the governor is a Republican, North Dakota is one of 23 states with a Republican trifecta. It has held this status since 1995, after Republicans won Senate control in 1994. North Dakota's attorney general and secretary of state are also Republicans. This makes North Dakota one of 23 states with a Republican triplex.
Past presidential election results in North Dakota
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 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. Click [show] on the table below for examples:
| County-level voting pattern categories | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | |||||||
| Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
| Solid Democratic | D | D | D | ||||
| Trending Democratic | R | D | D | ||||
| Battleground Democratic | D | R | D | ||||
| New Democratic | R | R | D | ||||
| Republican | |||||||
| Status | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | ||||
| Solid Republican | R | R | R | ||||
| Trending Republican | D | R | R | ||||
| Battleground Republican | R | D | R | ||||
| New Republican | D | D | R | ||||
Following the 2020 presidential election, 95.7% of North Dakotans lived in one of the state's 47 Solid Republican counties, which voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 2.2% lived in one of four Trending Republican counties. Overall, North Dakota was Solid Republican, having voted for Mitt Romney (R) in 2012, Donald Trump (R) in 2016, and Donald Trump (R) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in North Dakota following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.
| North Dakota county-level statistics, 2020 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solid Republican | 47 | 95.7% | |||||
| Trending Republican | 4 | 2.2% | |||||
| Solid Democratic | 2 | 2.1% | |||||
| Total voted Democratic | 2 | 2.1% | |||||
| Total voted Republican | 51 | 97.9% | |||||
State legislative competitiveness
According to Ballotpedia's annual state legislative competitiveness report, North Dakota had a Competitiveness Index of 37.9 ranking it 17th of the 44 states that held elections.
- 17 of the 69 seats up for election were open (25%)
- 20 of the 52 incumbents who ran for re-election faced contested primaries (38%)
- 35 of the 69 seats up for election were contested by both major parties (51%)
2010-2024
Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents.
| State Legislative Competitiveness Index in North Dakota, 2010-2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Open seats | Incs. in contested primaries | Major party competition | Competitiveness Index | Rank | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2010 | 20.8% | 3.5% | 72.2% | 32.2 | 24 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2012 | 24.0% | 16.4% | 82.7% | 41.0 | 14 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | 18.1% | 6.8% | 66.7% | 30.5 | 19 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | 21.7% | 13.0% | 89.9% | 41.5 | 10 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | 16.7% | 10.0% | 76.4% | 34.4 | 25 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 8.7% | 7.9% | 78.3% | 31.6 | 27 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | 26.5% | 36.0% | 37.8% | 33.4 | 27 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | 24.6% | 38.5% | 50.7% | 37.9 | 17 / 44 | |||||||||||||||||||
In 2024
Hover over column headings to learn more about their contents. Click on headings for more state-specific information.
| State Legislative Competitiveness Index in North Dakota, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chamber | Open seats | Incs. in contested primaries | Major party competition | Competitiveness Index | ||||||||||||||||||||
| House | 19.6% | 45.9% | 47.8% | 37.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Senate | 34.8% | 20.0% | 56.5% | 37.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 24.6% | 38.5% | 50.7% | 37.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||
List of candidates
| candidate | office | party | status |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Democratic | Lost General | |
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Republican | Lost Primary | ||
 | Republican | Lost Primary | |
 | Democratic | Lost General | |
 | Democratic | Lost Primary |
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
| candidate | office | party | status |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Lost Primary | |
 | Democratic | Lost General | |
 | Independent | Lost General | |
Independent | Lost (Write-in) General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Lost Primary | |
 | Democratic | Lost General | |
 | Independent | Lost General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Democratic | Lost General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Democratic | Lost General | |
 | Nonpartisan | Won General | |
Nonpartisan | Lost Primary | ||
 | Nonpartisan | Lost Primary | |
 | Nonpartisan | Lost General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
 | Independent | Lost General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost (Write-in) Primary | ||
 | North Dakota State Senate District 9 (Special election) | Democratic | Won General |
 | North Dakota State Senate District 9 (Special election) | Republican | Lost General |
 | Democratic | Won General | |
Republican | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | North Dakota State Senate District 15 (Special election) | Republican | Won General |
 David Clemens Incumbent | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Democratic | Lost General | |
Republican | Won General | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Democratic | Lost General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Democratic | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Republican | Lost (Write-in) General | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Democratic | Won General | |
Republican | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Lost Primary | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
 | Democratic | Won General | |
 | Democratic | Won General | |
Republican | Lost General | ||
Republican | Lost General | ||
Republican | Won General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Democratic | Lost General | |
Republican | Won General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | North Dakota House of Representatives District 23 (Special election) | Republican | Won General |
North Dakota House of Representatives District 23 (Special election) | Democratic | Lost General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 Jeremy Olson Incumbent | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Lost Primary | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 Matthew Ruby Incumbent | Republican | Won General | |
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Republican | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Lost Primary | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Democratic | Won General | |
 | Democratic | Won General | |
 | Republican | Won General | |
Republican | Won General | ||
Democratic | Lost General | ||
 | Democratic | Lost General |
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
See also
Footnotes
