545: A legislative debate all of North Dakota should listen to

"Even the most extreme ends of our legislature vote the same way 60+ percent of the time," a Plain Talk listener and sitting state lawmaker texted me recently.

He was making a point about the way we talk about politics, where we emphasize our disagreements more than our agreements. "Difference in ideology is great. We need more civil debate and strengthening ideas through discourse," he said. "But the gap between left and right is much narrower than most people realize."

He's right, and the voting records bear it out. We do agree more than we disagree, what gets the heat, what draws our attention for reasons having to do with human nature (and, if we're being honest, the sort of content that drives clicks and shares and views) is our differences.

I was thinking about while recording this episode of Plain Talk, which featured Chad Oban and I moderating a debate between District 10 Sen. Ryan Braunberger, a Democrat, and challenger George Roughead, a Republican. As we covered education topics like student performance, school choice, and school lunches, and as we hit on working-class issues like child care, and as we delved into culture war issues like LGTBQ issues and book bans, these two bright, engaged, well-informed candidates spent a lot of time agreeing on what North Dakota's challenges are.

They often disagreed, sometimes sharply, on what the solutions to those problems are, but when it comes to what the job before them would be if elected to another term in the Legislature? Both men were over the target.

"I was a very good voice for my district," Braunberger told us when asked why voters should give him another term. He mentioned his work on child care and his efforts to work with Republicans. "Being one of only four Democrats in the Senate, you have to work across the aisle," he said.

Roughead, who works as a teacher, said he wants to focus on education. "The Senate doesn't have any active teachers," he said.

District 10 features one of the few competitive races in North Dakota, and that's probably because it's one of the few places with mixed partisan representation. The debate in District 10 can tell us a lot about the debates that are happening (or that would be happening if they featured competitive races) in legislative campaigns around North Dakota.

To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or use one of the links below.

Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts | Episode Archive