Plain Talk

Me and my co-host Chad Oban took a break from guests on this episode of Plain Talk to spend some to talk through some of the headlines in North Dakota. We discussed the Republican primary races. With Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller in the gubernatorial race with U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, and Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak in the U.S. House race with former state lawmakers Rick Becker and Tom Campbell, the stage seems set. It doesn't seem like we're likely to get any more candidates in those races. But how will they play out? We made some predictions, one being that we're all about to be inundated with political advertising, particularly from candidates in the gubernatorial race. Also on this episode, we spent some time talking about the death of Russian political dissident Alexei Navalny, the antics of Putin apologist Tucker Carlson, the inability of 2020 election conspiracy theorists to make their case in court, the legal battle over the costs of responding to the violent protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and how that all ties in to this ignoble moment in North Dakota politics. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information. Also, if you listen to the show on platforms like Apple Podcasts or Spotify which allow you to leave a rating or review, please give us an honest one. We appreciate it.

Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller has announced her campaign for governor. She'll be taking on U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong in the Republican primary. Asked, on this episode of Plain Tal, how she's different from Armstrong, she touted her business background. "I'm a proven business leader," she said, referencing the 14 years she spent leading Border States Electric, the Fargo-based electrical distributor and one of the largest companies in the country in that category. This was perhaps telegraphing what will be an early talking point deployed by Miller's campaign against Armstrong, who has served in elected office -- first the state Legislature, then Congress -- since 2013. Miller seems eager to contrast that time in politics with her private sector experience. Asked by my co-host Chad Oban why she wants to be governor, Miller said she'd like to "continue the great momentum" of Gov. Doug Burgum's administration. Miller talked about growing up in small town North Dakota (she's from Brocket, population 34), and working at her family's retail business. Sometimes defending it, too. "We were often robbed," she said. "We would protect our store with shotguns until the Ramsey County Sheriff showed up." Her early campaign messaging leans heavily into culture war topics with the candidate vowing to fight "woke" left-wing activists and the "socialist" administration of President Joe Biden. But, as governor, Burgum was more moderate than that on social issues. When asked about that, Miller said that while she was glad the Legislature took up some of those issues during previous campaigns, she was hoping to see a focus more on economic policy areas in coming sessions. But she is leaning hard on her support for former President Donald Trump and his bid for a second term in the White House. A campaign ad released along with her announcement touts Trump heavily. Asked why she felt it was important for her to endorse Trump for president hours after Burgum announced he wasn't seeking a third term, she said it's because "Donald is the best person to lead our country." To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.

"Republicans understandably and rightly believe that border security is important for our national security," U.S. Senate candidate Katrina Christiansen told me and co-host Chad Oban on this episode of Plain Talk. Wanting a secure border is "absolutely paramount if you're going to be a real leader," she added. I want to stress, at this juncture, that Christiansen is a Democrat. She's challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer. You don't normally hear Democrats talk about the border this way -- acknowledging that it's a crisis, calling for a crackdown on illegal crossings -- but Christiansen is going there. She says she's "frustrated" by President Joe Biden who, she argues, "had an opportunity in the first two years" to address the border but didn't. Christiansen understands that she's a Democrat challenging a Republican incumbent in a Republican leaning state, but, pointing to Republicans tanking a get-tough border bill seemingly at the behest of former President Donald Trump and his short-term political interests, she says "our current leadership isn't working." "Kevin Cramer is very good at identifying problems -- and I mean this sincerely -- and he's good at assigning blame," Christiansen said. But where he's lacking is taking the next step, and getting to solutions. Christiansen also talked about what she learned from her losing campaign for the U.S. Senate from last cycle, where she got nearly 25% of the vote in a three-way race against incumbent Sen. John Hoeven.  Also on this episode, Oban and I talk about President Joe Biden's age issues, which are making headlines thanks to a special counsel's report on his handling of classified information, as well as some of the weirdness around U.S. House candidate Rick Becker's campaign, whether another Republican is going to join that race, and whether Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller will eventually announce a run for governor against Rep. Kelly Armstrong, who is already in that race. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.

Chris Berg says that he once had a boss, when he was a talk radio host for AM1100 "The Flag" in Fargo, who told him that he was supposed to be infuriating his audience. "You gotta get people angry," Berg says he was told (he said people will think he was talking about host Scott Hennen, but that it was someone else). In addition to talk radio, Berg was the host of the politically-themed 6:30 Point of View on Valley News Live in Fargo for nearly a decade, and he often succeeded in making his audience angry. Berg has moved on from the media industry — he is now working in commercial real estate in California — and he has some regrets. "Turn off the TV and talk radio," he now says, despite working in those media for more than a decade. "Take off the red or blue glasses and challenge yourself," he added. "I felt like I was dragging myself to the microphone," Berg told me on this episode of Plain Talk. He said that shortly after he moved to California, news broke of a school shooting in Tennessee, and despite the awful news, he felt a sense of relief that he wouldn't have to spend hours having the same old shout fest about it without anything meaningful getting done. "The sad thing about the media business is the more anger and hate you sow, the more money you make," he said. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.

MINOT — Sen. Kevin Cramer is vexed by some of his fellow Republicans who want to kill a tax bill, and an immigration deal, lest they be seen accomplishing anything that might be perceived by voters as an accomplishment for incumbent Republican Joe Biden. "That frustrates me," told me and my co-host Chad Oban on this episode of Plain Talk. On the immigration bill, specifically, Cramer said Biden is under more fire from his left flank than Republicans are from the left. "He's taking more crap for this than we are," he said. We also asked Cramer about the competitive primaries North Dakota Republicans have for open gubernatorial and U.S. House races. "My political action committee, my leadership PAC, will be participating," Cramer said, though he made it clear he isn't picking a side just yet. He said he didn't run for office "so I can be neutral." He praised Armstrong for getting into the gubernatorial race quickly after Burgum announced he wouldn't be seeking a third term. "He could lock out the crowd," he said, adding that Armstrong's early advantages in the race "may be weighing" on Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller's own decision on whether or not to seek that office. As for the House race? Cramer said he "loves" both former state Rep. Rick Becker, and former state Sen. Tom Campbell, but also said, "I don't think that field is filled yet." "I think there's room in our party for another candidate in that race," he added. He said the chaos in the Republican House caucus may be giving some potential candidates pause. "I'm starting to wonder why anyone wants the job." Also on this episode, Scott Schofield, an Air Force veteran from Grand Forks, talks about his campaign for the state House in District 18, where he's taking on Democratic-NPL incumbent Rep. Corey Mock. In his campaign announcement, Schofield said there are "many of our elected leaders are more focused on fighting culture wars than in working together to address the problems facing our state." "I also think there are a lot of Republican voters who don't want to hear that," he said when we asked him about the statement. He said he considered running for the Legislature as a Democrat, but ultimately chose to campaign as a Republican because he feels he more consistently lines up with the NDGOP's platform. "I'm fiscally conservative," he said, though he added that not everything in that platform is to his liking. "The part that really chapped me is there is an entire chapter that is against the LGBTQ community," he said. "That hurts my heart," he added. Schofield also described himself as "pro-choice" and said he opposes North Dakota's near-total ban on abortions, which is currently being litigated in the courts, though he said he would consider certain a ban on abortion after a certain number of weeks. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.

Former state Sen. Tom Campbell has a plan for getting the nation's finances in order should he be elected to Congress. "No new hiring," he said. "Let's use artificial intelligence." He argued that many government jobs could be automated, resulting in dramatic reductions in the federal workforce, and savings for taxpayers. Campbell is seeking the NDGOP's nomination for the U.S. House, and he had some sharp words for his opponent in that race, former state Rep. Rick Becker. He accused Becker of opposing the farm bill. "Does he want to bankrupt our small towns with no farm program?" he asked, going on to say that Becker is "just too radical far right." Also on this episode, state Rep. Mike Nathe of Bismarck discusses why he and his fellow incumbents in District 30 skipped their own party's endorsing convention, something for which they were censured. "Our [district] party was taken over a few years ago," he said, adding that district events had become so "ugly" that a police presence was necessary. "A lot of good Republicans don't want to go because it is so disgusting," he said, adding that he and his fellow incumbents struggle to find delegates to attend the local convention because "a lot of them have PTSD" from bad experiences in the past. He argued that other NDGOP district committees have similar problems across the state. Nathe and the other incumbents skipped the endorsing convention, which was organized by a district chair who was also a candidate for the endorsement, and instead collected signatures to place their names on the June ballot. Nathe says that if he's elected to another term in the House, he plans to introduce legislation to do away with the endorsing convention process. Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.

MINOT — "I think our personalities are different," Rep. Kelly Armstrong said on this episode of Plain Talk, responding to my question about how he's different from outgoing Gov. Doug Burgum. Armstrong immediately launched a campaign to be North Dakota's next governor when Burgum announced that he wouldn't seek a third term in that office. "Given the current dynamic change in the political environment, North Dakota is going to need a lot of leadership," he told my co-host Chad Oban and I. But how is he different from the governor who has presided over North Dakota's affairs for most of the last decade? "He's one of the smartest people in North Dakota if not the country," Armstrong said of Burgum, "but I grew up in smaller businesses." But he said the differences may be more style than substance. He said he also admires former governors Ed Schafer, John Hoeven, and Jack Dalrymple, but argued few would see them as sharing similar styles and personalities. Burgum frequently clashed with the Republican-controlled Legislature. Even during the 2023 legislative session, which we now know was Burgum's last as governor, it wasn't unusual to hear members of Burgum's own party bemoan his vetoes. Armstrong said he would likely have his conflicts with lawmakers too, as all governors do, but said his philosophy in politics is to not "make it personal." One area where lawmakers and Burgum frequently failed to see eye to eye were on social or so-called "culture war" bills that dealt with things like book bans pronouns and LGTBQ+ issues. Burgum signed a couple of those bills, but vetoed more. Asked how he would handle those issues, Armstrong said he'd use the approach he uses for all policy proposals. "First of all, is it a problem? Second, does the solution have unintended or unforeseen consequences? Third, is it something for the state or federal government to handle?" "The expansion of the state government is not going to solve problems" he added. Asked how he has navigated an era where American politics is not just divided between Republicans and Democrats, but also Republicans and Republicans, Armstrong said that he seeks to work with the other side, but also understands that unity, while "a great buzzword," is not necessary "to be effective." To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.

It's been a wild week in North Dakota politics. Former state Rep. Rick Becker announced a primary challenge to U.S. House incumbent Kelly Armstrong. But then, Armstrong left the race to run for governor because the incumbent there, Doug Burgum, opted not to seek a third term. Many pieces are moving around the chess board of North Dakota politics. On this episode of Plain Talk, me and my co-host Chad Oban dig into them. Can former state Sen. Tom Campbell, who is also running for governor, overcome the early advantages in terms of fundraising Armstrong has as a congressional incumbent? Will Lt. Governor Tammy Miller join the governor's race? And if she does, to what extent will outgoing Gov. Doug Burgum support her financially? Will Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak get in the race? Becker is currently the only Republican running for North Dakota's at-large seat in the House. Will others join that race? We don't have answers to all those questions, but we certainly have some informed thoughts. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.

"Yeah, I think that's a fair conclusion," Aaron Moss, a former member of the Minot Police Department, and the Sgt. at Arms of the North Dakota Fraternal Order of Police, told me and co-host Chad Oban on this episode of Plain Talk. Moss was asked if his group feels state Rep. Nico Rios, who so far hasn't stepped down after an incident in which he berated two Williston Police Department officers with racist and homophobic diatribes during an arrest for DUI. He called the situation "extraordinarily frustrating." "We rely on these folks to come up with the police we enforce," Moss said. When an elected official who makes the laws behaves this way, "It cuts the legs out from under us." Moss applauded House Majority Leader Mike Lefor for calling on Rios to resign, and for removing the Williston lawmaker from the House Judiciary Committee, where he would have been a "distraction" for law enforcement officials obliged to work with that committee. Also on this episode, Chad and I discuss a political attack by state Rep. Brandon Prichard on nearly three dozen of his Republican colleagues, and Gov. Doug Burgum's endorsement of former President Donald Trump for a second term. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.

When we talk about carbon dioxide, it's usually in the context of having too much of it. Which is to say, that we're putting too much carbon into our atmosphere though human activity. But according to Ron Ness, the president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, who joined me and co-host Ben Hanson on Plain Talk today, our state's oil industry is going to need more carbon to keep itself sustainable into the future. The industry needs the carbon to inject down into oil wells for enhanced oil recovery. "It's absolutely critical," he told us. Ness's comments come at a time when there is a brawling political debate over carbon pipelines. The Summit Carbon Pipeline, specifically, has drawn a lot of attention, facing as it does outspoken opposition from a coalition of strange bed fellows, including left-wing environmentalists and right-wing populists. That project doesn't have anything to do with what Ness is talking about -- it's backed by the ethanol industry, aiming to bring carbon produced at ethanol plants to North Dakota for storage -- but he says his industry is watching it carefully. Because they're going to need carbon in the future, and pipelines are the best way to bring it here. Also on this episode, Ben and I discuss and analyze the possibility that Gov. Doug Burgum could join a second Trump administration in some official way. Maybe as a cabinet official? Maybe as Trump's running mate? To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.