​Times are changing in North Dakota

Republican Gov candidates moving to left on social issues

Last week, the Governor’s race in North Dakota for 2016 got turned upside down when Fargo businessman Doug Burgum officially threw his hat in the ring. This pleased people of both parties as Burgum appears to be a man who isn’t a knee jerk Republican and someone who has in the past stuck his neck out on issues like gay rights because it was the right thing for the state to do business wise to attract high quality workers.

Following on his announcement, the Republican front runner, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem told KFGO’s Joel Heitkamp he supports gay marriage as did his lesser known challenger ND State Representative Rick Becker. Stenehjem also said earlier to Rob Port of Say Anything Blog that he doesn’t like with the term “pro-life”. This is significant because of the extreme language in the ND Republican party’s platform regarding gay marriage, gay rights and abortion. Incidentally, that language will be approved and adjusted at their state party convention in March but is not likely to change much.

But it’s worth noting, the Republican party will likely have a Governor candidate in 2016 who supports gay marriage, barring a last minute entry of a more conservative challenger. This is progress in a state which saw extremely conservative social laws pass the last few Legislative session on abortion and not pass on gay rights allowing for discrimination protections. In addition, the gay marriage ban in 2004 passed overwhelmingly in 2004. As the state gets younger, attitudes change and gay marriage legalization is almost inevitable due to court intervention anyway. It’s a reality North Dakotans, conservative or not have to face.

That’s not to say the state is getting liberal per se. But it’s worth recognizing progress in an area that seemed bleak in the past. Whether or not this will translate to no more extreme social laws being passed by the Legislature or extremely conservative candidates getting elected to the Legislature is another story. It’s much easier for partisan candidates to get elected in individual districts, where smaller pockets of population can be more conservative or liberal than the whole state, depending on where they are located.

Having moderate candidates at the top of the ticket is nothing new for the Republican party in North Dakota. John Hoeven, now Senator and previously Governor, is not known to be extremely conservative as is current retiring Governor Jack Dalrymple. What those moderates have never done however, is stick their neck out on controversial social issues like gay rights or abortion. They didn’t want to use any of their vast political capital on it even if they disagreed with it or felt that it hurt the party overall. Dalrymple didn’t speak out much on Measure 1 at all and most notably only spoke out against the Legislature not adding gay rights discrimination protections after they already voted on the matter when he could’ve made a difference in how Legislators voted.

There’s no question Burgum will lead the Republican party in a different direction on social issues as he has proven time and time again he is willing to challenge party leaders on it. Despite Stenehjem saying he is in favor of gay marriage during this campaign when he has a challenger with a strong opinion on the matter, it remains to be seen whether he would be willing to stand up to Al Carlson and other conservative leaders in the state who have pushed an extreme social conservative agenda and Legislation.

Stenehjem did say he would’ve signed all bills that Jack Dalrymple did on abortion, which preceded expensive and needless legal fights designed to challenge Roe vs. Wade. So is apparently, he wouldn’t have stood up to the past despite passing laws like Measure 1 which failed overwhelmingly on the statewide ballot. Whether in the future, Stenehjem will push leaders in a different direction is something he could be asked about. Does he want to fight with Al Carlson during the campaign? Probably not. But his vision for what he wants as Governor need to be probed. And we should know if he will act differently than Hoeven or Dalrymple did if he is elected. No one previously wanted to stand up the extreme wings of the party, Burgum clearly would.