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Marijuana is already legal in North Dakota. At least for medicinal reasons. But the backers of a new ballot measure want recreational use of marijuana to be legal as well.
The campaign is calling itself New Economic Frontier. Their measure was just approved by the North Dakota Secretary of State's office for circulation. They have until July 8 to get it on the November ballot, though if they miss that deadline they'll still have a year from the date they began collecting signatures to qualify for the next statewide vote.
Steve Bakken, the former mayor of Bismarck, and current member of the Burleigh County Commission, joined this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the measure.
North Dakotans have said no to recreational marijuana before, though the "no" side of the argument has been shrinking.
In 2018, just over 40% of voters cast their ballots for a proposal to legalize.
In 2021, another legalization proposal passed in the state House of Representatives on a 56-38 vote, though it failed in the state Senate with just 10 Senators approving it.
In 2022, just over 45% of voters cast a ballot for another legalization proposal.
Bakken says that's progress, and they're relying on it to get this measure over the finish line, though Bakken says he isn't planning on partaking if it's successful. "I'm not interested in using it," he said, but he does think the status quo creates problems, such as dangerous marijuana products mixed with other drugs.
"It's tragic when you see someone who smokes some canabis and then dies from a fentanly overdose," he said.
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U.S. Senate candidate Katrina Christiansen says the incumbent in her race "isn't that popular."
Christiansen is running unopposed for the Democratic-NPL's nomination, and the incumbent she's referring to is Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer, who is seeking a second six-year term. The challenger says she has polling suggesting that only 33% of previous Cramer voters are committed to voting for the incumbent again.
"I think that shows the race can be competitive," she told me and my co-host Chad Oban, though she acknowledges that she has her own challenges. "My name rec is not great," she said, referring to name recognition, a common campaign metric, especially for challengers.
We talked mostly about the question of federal policy on abortion -- Christiansen said she would vote to "codify Roe" in federal law -- and foreign policy. On the latter, Christiansen said Congress should have passed more aid funding for Ukraine "six months ago." She also spoke strong in support of Israel, though she says she supports a ceasefire.
Still, "Supporting Ukraine puts America first," she said. "Supporting Israel puts America first."
Christiansen said that if elected, she'll be "a foreign policy hawk."
Also on this episode, we discuss the first debate between Republican gubernatorial candidates Tammy Miller and Kelly Armstrong, as well as my story about Miller's running mate, Commerce Commissioner Josh Teigen, and some personal conflicts of interest he had with his work in the Commerce Department under Gov. Doug Burgum's administration.
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It wasn't on purpose, but bipartisanship and moderation ended up being the themes of this episode of Plain Talk.
Whether we're talking about a Republican Speaker of the House, under siege from the MAGA wing of his own party, reaching out to Democrats to get things done, or democracy engaging on the issue of abortion now that the Roe v. Wade precedent has been overturned, it's clear that process matters. And when we engage in the process, and we have the debates, and we don't let ourselves be derailed by all the various flavors of theatrical obstructionism, the outcomes we get are further from what the extremes might want, and closer to what most of us can live with.
Co-host Chad Oban and I talk about renewed controversy about delegate votes at the NDGOP state convention and whether U.S. House candidate Rick Becker's promises to help contribute to the chaos in Congress if elected is going to help him with North Dakota voters.
We asked the guest for this show, Sen. Kevin Cramer, about that last point. "I think it's consistent with how Rick Becker has behaved in the Legislature," he said, arguing that Becker's campaign trail posturing is authentic. "It might be a good tactic to being the largest vote getter in a five-way race, he added.
But also, "the House doesn't really need more bulls in a China closet," Cramer added.
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"I don't think he's a good person," U.S. House candidate said on this episode of Plain Talk, referring to former President Donald Trump.
"I'm appalled at how much people have caved," she also said, saying her opponents in the North Dakota Republican Party's primary are too Trump loyal. "I'm the only candidate in this race who is not worshiping Trump,"she added.
"I support women," she continued, referencing her fiercely pro-choice position on the issue of abortion, "and I will not bow to Trump."
But when I asked her how she'll vote in November, she didn't rule out casting a ballot for Trump. "I'm considering the options for both," she said, adding that she did vote for Trump in 2016.
Mund also discussed other policy positions, such as the issues at the border and support for Israel, and told my co-host Chad Oban and I that despite her passion about keeping legal access to abortion, she doesn't want to be known as a single-issue candidate.
Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak also joined this episode, and talked about her evolving position on a federal abortion ban. When we interviewed her on Plain Talk in February, Fedorchak said she opposed a federal abortion ban. Now she says she supports one. What gives?
Fedorchak says she supports the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe, and send the issue back to the states, but that she also isn't opposed to the federal government setting national guideline, though it wouldn't be an immediate priority.
"Would this be my goal in the first 100 days in Congress? It wouldn't," she said.
Fedorchak also hit both Mund and Becker for what she characterized as convenient political posturing. "They have changed parties as opportunists," she said, referring to Becker's decision to challenge Republican Sen. John Hoeven in 2022 as an independent, and Mund's strong support from Democrats as an independent U.S. House candidate that same cycle.
As for Mund's contention that she worships Trump? "The only person I worship is my god," she said, adding that she plans to support Trump in 2024, and has no comment on his personal lifestyle choices or legal challenges.
"I'm not going to pass judgment on Trump and his personal issues," she said.
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Kirsten Baesler has been the elected Superintendent of North Dakota's Public Schools for nearly 12 years. She's now seeking a fourth term.
Before each of her previous three elections to this office, she sought and received the North Dakota Republican Party's endorsement. She sought it again this year, but was denied it by the convention's delegates by a wide margin.
They instead chose home schooling advocate James Bartlett, who has campaigned on bringing the 10 commandments and other Christian tenets to our state's public schools.
On this episode of Plain Talk, Baesler told my co-host Chad Oban and I about her experiences at the state convention, Bartlett's push for more religion in schools, and why voters should give her a fourth term in office.
"I have not heard in 12 years that families are asking us for more Christianity," she said.
She added that she sought the NDGOP's endorsement knowing full well "things had shifted quite a bit in the Republican party" toward a new sort of populism. She said that whether or not to seek the endorsement at the convention was "weighing" on her mind. "I decided in the end I was going," she said. "I needed to make my case."
Also on this episode, we discuss the politics around North Dakota's five-way Republican U.S. House primary that now features a traditional Republican in Public Service Commisisoner Julie Fedorchak, a populist Republican in former state lawmaker Rick Becker, former Miss America Cara Mund who campaigned against a Republican House incumbent as an independent last cycle, and two newcomer candidates, Alex Balazs and Sharlet Mohr.
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Alex Balazs, the out-of-nowhere candidate who won the North Dakota Republican Party's convention endorsement last week, ended his interview on this episode of Plain Talk by joking about the tough questions we asked him.
We did run him through the ringer, on everything from abortion, to Trump's claims about the 2020 election and January 6, to the farm bill, Ukraine, and Social Security.
One question I thought was important to get him on the record about was how he'd handle the dysfunction that has roiled the Republican caucus in the United States House of Representatives. One of his opponents, former lawmaker Rick Becker, has promised to go to Washington D.C. and contribute to the chaos by being a "bull in a china shop."
"If you just want to stir things up you're not doing your job," Balazs told us of that approach.
Balazs says he was "very humbled" to receive the convention endorsement. He said he made his decision to run for Congress "at the kitchen table."
"I guess you could call me a Trump Republican, he said when asked about his support for the former president, "but I'm also the first one in the kitchen to say 'why did he have to say that?'"
Did Trump win the 2020 election? "We went through a process that elected Joe Biden," he said, though he also said there was some fraud in the voting, and that Democrats should acknowledge it. As for January 6? "There was no insurrection," he said.
"I'm never going to support anyone who broke a window or something," he added, but said he felt there have been many people put in jail for merely walking into the capitol that day. He added that what happened on January 6 was "less wrong than what happened after."
On abortion, Balazs says "the answer is no on a federal abortion ban" but that he's a "conception to death kind of person" who wants to put "more teeth in the law."
Balazs also said his campaign is mostly self-funded. He claims to have raised only $2,035 from contributors so far. 
So far in his campaign, he's leaned heavily on his resume in the military. When asked if he could offer documentation to substantiate that record, he said he doesn't want personal information made public --"they're very sensitive documents," he said -- but would be willing to make arrangements to have them reviewed.
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