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Republicans take Minot area legislative races

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Unofficial voting results on Tuesday, Nov. 3, showed Republicans winning Minot-area legislative seats.

In District 3, incumbent Sen. Bob Paulson of Minot led Democratic-NPL challenger and Surrey mayor Mike Thiesen 2,349-1,373 in unofficial results in the Senate race.

A retired Navy pilot, Paulson and his family operate a farm southeast of Minot. He served in the North Dakota House from 2019-22 and Senate since 2023. Thiesen is employed in the construction industry.

In the House race, Republicans Blaine DesLauriers, with 2,250 votes, and Tim Mihalick, with 2,243 votes, led Democrats Natalie Mclaughlin, with 1,148 votes, and Tara Hiatt, with 1,125 votes.

Mihalick and DesLauriers defeated the Republican-endorsed candidates in June’s primary, then survived a lawsuit alleging improper updating of incomplete signature information on petitions to get on the ballot. The North Dakota Supreme Court ruled in late October the lawsuit was filed too late and dismissed it. Citizens Alliance of North Dakota brought the lawsuit against four candidates in the state, asking for election results to be voided if they won.

Both Mihalick and DesLauriers have many years of experience in Minot’s banking industry. Mihalick has served in numerous civic and statewide leadership roles, including on the State Board of Higher Education. DesLauriers also has been active in the local community.

Natalie Mclaughlin of Minot, who grew up in a military family, is a paramedic who has spent the last 15 years serving communities in the northwest corner of North Dakota, and Tara Hiatt, a Lansford native now of Minot, has worked in the Bakken oil field and the North Dakota University System. She currently works in the School of Business, Math and Technology at Minot State University.

In District 5, the House race’s top vote-getter was Republicans Rep. Scott Louser, a 16-year incumbent from Minot, followed by Roger Brabandt, a self-described fiscal conservative who served in the House from 2011-18. Unofficial results showed Louser with 2,627 votes and Brabandt with 2,375.

Louser has served as the assistant majority leader. He is the broker/owner of a Realty company and serves on the Minot School Board. Brabandt was in the glass business for more than 50 years, including managing the Minot branch of Fargo Glass and Paint for many years before retiring in 2010. He also has farmland interests he maintains south of Granville.

Democratic-NPL candidate Zach Raknerud came in third with 1,474 votes, followed by running mate Kyle Erickson with 1,340 votes, in the House race.

Raknerud moved to Minot in 2016 after graduating from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. He has been employed in retail and sales management positions and ran for U.S. House on the Democratic-NPL ticket in 2020 and for a District 5 House seat in 2018. Erickson is a disability advocate and nonprofit professional.

Republican Rep. Jay Fisher, who sought to move to the Senate after serving in the House since 2019, was unchallenged and had 3,269 votes in the unofficial tally.

Fisher, an agronomist, spent 22 years as director of the NDSU North Central Research Extension Center. He later established Fisher Research LLC, a value-added agriculture company, and is president of L&Q Great Plains, a road surfacing company.

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