2025 North Dakota legislative session

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2025 North Dakota legislative session
General information
Scheduled session start:    January 7, 2025 Scheduled session end:    May 3, 2025
Leadership
Senate President Michelle Strinden (R) House Speaker Robin Weisz (R) Majority Leader Senate: David Hogue (R) House: Mike Lefor (R) Minority Leader Senate: Kathy Hogan (D) House: Zac Ista (D)
Elections
Next Election:    November 3, 2026 Last Election:    November 5, 2024
Previous legislative sessions
2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018
Other 2025 legislative sessions
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In 2025, the North Dakota Legislative Assembly was scheduled to convene on January 7 and adjourn on May 3.

The legislators serving in this session took office following the 2024 elections. Republicans won a 42-5 majority in the Senate and a 83-11 majority in the House. The party also controlled the governorship, creating a Republican state government trifecta. At the start of the 2025 session, North Dakota was one of 20 state legislatures where Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers.

At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session:

Republicans held a majority in the North Dakota state House and state Senate.

North Dakota was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas.

North Dakota's governor was Republican Kelly Armstrong.

Leadership in 2025

See also: Leadership positions in state legislatures

North Dakota State Senate

• Senate president: Michelle Strinden (R)
• Majority leader: David Hogue (R)
• Minority leader: Kathy Hogan (D)

North Dakota House of Representatives

• Speaker of the House: Robin Weisz (R)
• Majority leader: Mike Lefor (R)
• Minority leader: Zac Ista (D)

Partisan control in 2025

See also: State government trifectas

North Dakota was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas at the start of 2025 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

North Dakota was also one of 20 state legislatures where Republicans had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly in the 2025 legislative session.

North Dakota State Senate

Party		As of January 2025
	Democratic Party	5
	Republican Party	42
Total		47

North Dakota House of Representatives

Party		As of January 2025
	Democratic Party	11
	Republican Party	83
Total		94

Regular session

The list below shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2025 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria in 2025. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

Legislation trackers

See also: Legislation Trackers

Ballotpedia’s legislation trackers are your go-to resource for staying on top of key legislative topics. We capture any bill introduced on the topic across all of the 50 state legislatures, and we track the movement of the bill every step of the way. We provide real-time updates and translate legislative legalese into easily understandable language. As of the 2025 session, Ballotpedia provided tracking on the following topics. Click on the links below to view related bills from the 2025 session:

• Administrative state
• AI deepfakes
• Election administration

Standing legislative committees

See also: Standing committee and List of committees in North Dakota state government

A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

At the beginning of the 2025 legislative session, there were 27 standing committees in North Dakota's state government, including 13 state Senate committees and 14 state House committees.

Senate committees

• Senate Agriculture Committee
• Senate Appropriations Committee
• Senate Education Committee
• Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee
• Senate Finance and Taxation Committee
• Senate Government and Veterans Affairs Committee
• Senate Human Services Committee
• Senate Industry, Business and Labor Committee
• Senate Judiciary Committee
• Senate Political Subdivisions Committee
• Senate State and Local Government Committee
• Senate Transportation Committee
• Senate Workforce Development Committee

House committees

• Appropriations - Education and Environment Committee
• Appropriations - Government Operations Division Committee
• Appropriations - Human Resources Division Committee
• House Agriculture Committee
• House Appropriations Committee
• House Education Committee
• House Energy and Natural Resources Committee
• House Finance and Taxation Committee
• House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee
• House Human Services Committee
• House Industry, Business and Labor Committee
• House Judiciary Committee
• House Political Subdivisions Committee
• House Transportation Committee

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

The methods by which the North Dakota Constitution can be amended:

See also: Article III and Section 16, Article IV, of the North Dakota Constitution and Laws governing ballot measures in North Dakota

The North Dakota Constitution provides three mechanisms for amending the state's constitution—a citizen-initiated process, a legislative process, and a state constitutional convention. North Dakota requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.

Initiative

See also: Initiated constitutional amendment

An initiated constitutional amendment is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that amends a state's constitution. Eighteen (18) states allow citizens to initiate constitutional amendments.

In North Dakota, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 4% of the state's population reported by the last decennial census. Each initiative has its own unique deadline of one year after it was approved to circulate. The completed petition must be submitted at least 120 days prior to the election.

Legislature

See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

A simple majority vote is required during one legislative session for the North Dakota State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 48 votes in the North Dakota House of Representatives and 24 votes in the North Dakota State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

Convention

See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

According to Section 1 of Article III of the North Dakota Constitution, the state's initiative petition process is used to call a constitutional convention.

Historical partisan control

The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of North Dakota.

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

Historical Senate control

Republicans won control of the North Dakota State Senate in 1994. In 2024, they won a 42-5 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the North Dakota Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

North Dakota State Senate election results: 1992-2024

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18	'20	'22	'24
Democrats	25	20	19	18	18	16	15	21	21	12	13	15	9	10	7	4	5
Republicans	24	29	30	31	31	31	32	26	26	35	33	32	38	37	40	43	42

Historical House control

Republicans won control of the North Dakota House of Representatives in 1984. In 2024, they won an 83-11 majority.

The table below shows the partisan history of the North Dakota House following every general election from 1992 to 2024. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

North Dakota House of Representatives election results: 1992-2024

Year	'92	'94	'96	'98	'00	'02	'04	'06	'08	'10	'12	'14	'16	'18	'20	'22	'24
Democrats	33	23	26	34	29	28	26	33	36	25	23	23	13	15	14	12	11
Republicans	65	75	72	64	69	66	68	61	58	69	71	71	81	79	80	82	83

Analysis

Adopted legislation, 2015-2023

See also: The State Legislative Decade - North Dakota

In 2024, Ballotpedia released analysis of bills enacted in each state in the preceding decade. The charts and table below detail legislation passed each year by party sponsorship.

See also

Elections	North Dakota State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
North Dakota State Senate elections, 2026 North Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2026	North Dakota Legislative Assembly North Dakota House of Representatives North Dakota State Senate Governor of North Dakota North Dakota Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2025 State legislative special elections, 2025 State legislative elections, 2022 State legislative elections, 2020	State government trifectas State government triplexes Veto overrides in state legislatures State executives State courts Ballot measures

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• North Dakota Legislative Assembly homepage

Footnotes

State legislatures

Legislatures

Alabama (H, S) · Alaska (H, S) · Arizona (H, S) · Arkansas (H, S) · California (A, S) · Colorado (H, S) · Connecticut (H, S) · Delaware (H, S) · Florida (H, S) · Georgia (H, S) · Hawaii (H, S) · Idaho (H, S) · Illinois (H, S) · Indiana (H, S) · Iowa (H, S) · Kansas (H, S) · Kentucky (H, S) · Louisiana (H, S) · Maine (H, S) · Maryland (H, S) · Massachusetts (H, S) · Michigan (H, S) · Minnesota (H, S) · Mississippi (H, S) · Missouri (H, S) · Montana (H, S) · Nebraska · Nevada (A, S) · New Hampshire (H, S) · New Jersey (GA, S) · New Mexico (H, S) · New York (A, S) · North Carolina (H, S) · North Dakota (H, S) · Ohio (H, S) · Oklahoma (H, S) · Oregon (H, S) · Pennsylvania (H, S) · Rhode Island (H, S) · South Carolina (H, S) · South Dakota (H, S) · Tennessee (H, S) · Texas (H, S) · Utah (H, S) · Vermont (H, S) · Virginia (H, S) · Washington (H, S) · West Virginia (H, S) · Wisconsin (A, S) · Wyoming (H, S)

2026

State legislative elections (2026) • State legislative special elections (2026) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2026 Session Dates

2025

State legislative elections (2025) • State legislative special elections (2025) • Primary dates and filing requirements • 2025 Session Dates

Historical elections

2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 • 2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 • 2009 • 2008 • 2007 • 2006 • 2005 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 • 2001 • 2000

Features of state legislatures

How vacancies are filled in state legislatures • States with a full-time legislature • State legislatures with term limits • Comparison of state legislative salaries • When state legislators assume office after a general election • Population represented by state legislators • State constitutional articles governing state legislatures • State legislative sessions • Resign-to-run law • State legislature candidate requirements by state • Official names of state legislatures • State legislative chambers that use multi-member districts • Factors Affecting Competitiveness in State Legislative Elections

State senates

Length of terms of state senators • State senators • Partisan composition of state senates • State senators sorted by year first elected

State houses

Length of terms of state representatives • State representatives • Partisan composition of state houses • State representatives sorted by year first elected

Leadership positions

President of the Senate • President Pro Tempore • Senate Majority Leader • Senate Minority Leader • House Majority Leader • House Minority Leader • State Speaker of the House

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