BISMARCK — Trygve Hammer of Minot, former candidate for Public Service Commission, has announced his Democratic-NPL candidacy for North Dakota’s sole Congressional seat. Republican Congressman Kelly Armstrong also announced that he will seek re-election to North Dakota’s seat in the House.

North Dakota Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread and Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler have announced their bids for re-election. Both are Republicans.

Hammer graduated from the Naval Academy with a degree in chemistry, then served as a CH-53D helicopter pilot, a forward air controller and an infantry officer, deploying to Iraq in 2003 as a weapons platoon commander. Outside of the Marine Corps, he has worked as a regional airline pilot, a defense contractor and a security consultant. After 25 years of military service, he returned to North Dakota and taught science at a rural high school, worked as a roughneck on oil rigs in the Bakken and as a freight rail conductor across the state.

Armstrong is an attorney and former North Dakota legislator from Dickinson. He has served in the U.S. House since 2019.

First elected in 2016, Godfread is active with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, including the Health Care Committee, the Artificial Intelligence Working Group and the Innovation, Cybersecurity and Technology Taskforce. He was elected president of the organization for 2025 and currently serves as president-elect.

He is active in Bismarck as president of the Missouri Valley YMCA , serves on the executive board of Special Olympics North Dakota and is a basketball coach for children’s teams.

Baesler was elected president of the Council of Chief State School Officers, the national organization that represents states’ interests in education.

A resident of Mandan and a native of Flasher, she was first elected to her current position in 2012. Before being elected, she spent her career in Bismarck’s public schools as a vice principal, library media specialist, classroom teacher and instructional assistant, and worked briefly for the North Dakota School Boards Association. She also served nine years on the Mandan school board, including seven as its president.