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District 40 newcomers work to get message out

By Jill Schramm 7 min read

District 40 Senate candidate Jose Castaneda is making his first run for legislative office unopposed, but he's not taking anything for granted. Nor is his Republican running mate for the House, newcomer Macy Bolinske.

"It's easy for people to think that, because we're Republicans, that we just want to ride the Republican wave and we're not willing to work hard and talk to constituents," Bolinske said last week. "In fact, we've already knocked on the doors of over 800 households in our district and we're hoping to reach 2,000 this weekend."

Castaneda said they plan to go to the Legislature, if elected, to represent their constituents, even if it requires resisting the pull of the Republican establishment.

Rep. Matt Ruby, a Republican who has represented District 40 since 2016, also is seeking reelection to his seat.

Alexandra Deufel is making her first legislative bid, attempting to capture one of the two House seats for the Democratic-NPL Party with her campaign for change.

"We have these supermajorities and they are never good," she said of Republican dominance in the state, "We need to bring some balance back. We have approximately 11% Democrats in the Legislature. That's not enough to actually raise a voice to say, 'Wait a minute. Are you actually sure you want to go ahead?'"

Deufel, a native of Germany, moved to Canada and eventually Pennsylvania, where she earned her doctorate, before coming to Minot State University to teach biology more than 20 years ago. Now an American citizen, she teaches at MSU, and she and her husband own a small farm and have a hay and honey business.

Ruby, a project manager with the North Dakota National Guard, has been with the Guard since 2010 and is part of the football coaching staff at Bishop Ryan. A Minot native, he also has operated a construction company. During the 2023 legislative session, he served on the House Human Services Committee as the vice chair and on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

"I'm looking to continue the work that we've done in Human Services," he said at a candidate event earlier this month. "I've had a hyper focus on veterans suicide and mental health." He's also involved in addressing those issues through local organizations, he said.

His other priority is ensuring North Dakota is a business friendly state, Ruby said.

Bolinske grew up in Minot, graduated from Bishop Ryan Catholic School and received a degree in psychology from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Her professional experience includes working as a case manager, paraprofessional and financial administrator for local businesses.

Castaneda was born in Mexico City and legally immigrated to the United States at age 7 with his family in 1985. In 1992 he became an American citizen. He was raised in Arizona and graduated as a second lieutenant from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado in 2000. He served as a B-52 pilot in the Air Force, stationed at Minot Air Force Base from 2008 to 2013 and again from 2016 until his retirement in 2020. He now flies medical flights.

Castaneda said conservative values were instilled in him at a young age. He watched his father, an electrical engineer, and mother, a teacher, retrain to continue their practices in the United States and learned about working hard and self reliance.

He said he is running to protect those conservative values that still exist in North Dakota.

"I don't want to see that go away, so the opportunity was ripe for me to run and try to - when I say make a difference - be more of that pushback against the woke Marxism that I think is invading our country," he said. "I like the way North Dakota is, so I just want to keep it the way it is."

Bolinske said she became active in the Republican Party after attending a Turning Point USA event and seeing young people who were excited about getting involved in the government process.

She came back with a desire to inspire more North Dakota young people.

"So many kind of want to shy away from it," she said. "But when you see somebody in that role, it might change your perspective. And, I guess that, for me, was a push to be involved."

Her legislative priorities are property tax reform, preventing foreign property ownership in the state and pro-life issues.

Castaneda shares those priorities.

"It comes down to having less government and less taxes. All come down to having a solid budget that doesn't just keep increasing year by year, just because we can," he said. "Whether Measure 4 passes or not, it's really going to push both houses to work on ways to lower the budget."

Castaneda said he likes that Measure 4 would eliminate taxes that are based on the subjective valuation of property. However, he does not support giving the state responsibility to take over those taxes.

"It starts leaning toward making the state responsible for local issues," he said. "Local government is much better at knowing what local people need."

Measure 4 may be a good first step, Castaneda said.

"But it comes with a lot of financial baggage," he said. "I don't think it is the most fiscally effective way of doing it."

Bolinske said she understands taxpayers' frustrations but also questions the measure's manner of placing those local revenue responsibilities on the state.

Regardless of whether Measure 4 passes or fails, Castaneda and Bolinske said they will study legislative proposals on taxes to identify the best solutions.

They also don't support Measure 5. Bolinske, who agrees with decriminalizing cannabis and medical marijuana, said her concern with legalization of marijuana is the danger of impaired driving and the difficulty measuring impairment.

Deufel said Measure 5 is a freedom issue that surrounds a substance less dangerous than alcohol. Although she called Measure 4 unworkable, Deufel said North Dakotans have sent a strong message that something is broken in the property tax system.

"We need to address it somehow," she said. "It's going to be difficult."

Additionally, rather than waste time on culture wars as the Legislature has done in the past, the focus should be on business development, workplace development and making sure young people are staying in the state by becoming more welcoming, she said.

"Jobs are going unfilled. So, make sure the young people have something to stay here for. Don't drive them away," she said.

Deufel also said the state needs an all-of-the-above energy policy. It needs to address its transmission needs and regulations that hinder solutions, she said.

"We need to address that and talk about how we want to move our energy to market, not just the oil but also the wind energy and potentially even solar," she said, noting there shouldn't be a fear of renewables. "We're just happy to have our oil. I'm so glad we were able to save our coal plants, because without that, we would be in deep trouble. But the transition is coming, and we should be ready and not be behind the eight ball."

Deufel said there's much North Dakotans have in common that transcends political party.

"We all want to keep our rural towns in play. We all have the questions about childcare," she said. She highlighted the need to bring differing voices to the table to work through these problems.

"That's why our slogan is 'bringing balance back to Bismarck,'" she said.

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