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Republicans retain Minot-area legislative seats

By JILL SCHRAMM 5 min read

Unofficial election results on Tuesday, Nov. 3, showed Republicans holding on to the Minot-area legislative seats on the general election ballot.

District 3 voters sent back Sen. Bob Paulson and elected Blaine DesLauriers and Tim Mihalick to the House. District 5 voters supported Rep. Jay Fisher in his attempt to move to the Senate and reelected Rep. Scott Louser to a fifth term in the House. They also elected former legislator Roger Brabandt to the House.

In District 3, Paulson led Democratic-NPL challenger and Surrey mayor Mike Thiesen 2,349-1,373 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 2019-2022 and the Senate since 2023. Thiesen is employed in the construction industry.

In the House race, DesLauriers, with 2,250 votes, and Mihalick, with 2,243 votes, led Democrats Natalie Mclaughlin, with 1,148 votes, and Tara Hiatt, with 1,125 votes. All four candidates were newcomers to legislative races.

Natalie Mclaughlin of Minot 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, works in the School of Business, Math and Technology at Minot State University.

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.

Mihalick and DesLauriers had 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, claiming petition discrepancies and asking for election results to be voided if they won.

DesLauriers said it was a long campaign season, but along with relief as it comes to an end, there's excitement in looking ahead.

"Just getting assigned to a committee and knowing where I'm going to be at, and roll my sleeves up and get to work," he said. "I'm still passionate about the property tax credit. That’s the number one thing I continue to hear from District 3 and residents of the state is we need to continue to work on property tax relief."

Mihalick also said the property tax issue is top of mind. He also is looking ahead to funding of K-12 and higher education.

"I'm excited about getting to Bismarck and seeing what we can do to help not only the state but the district," he said.

In Minot's District 5, the House race’s top vote-getter was Louser, a 16-year legislative veteran 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.

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 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 who was making his first run for public office.

Louser has served as the House 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.

Louser said he plans to pursue the legislation he indicated during the campaign that he would work on. That includes continued property tax reform and relief and school meals funding.

"I do have a school lunch proposal that is different than anything we've tried before, that I'm going to discuss with some of my colleagues," Louser said. The proposal would increase the income level using a dollar amount as the threshold rather than percentage of poverty level.

"Those that don't qualify, their lunch bill would be tax deductible off their state income tax," he said. "I'm going to look for an appetite or willingness to support something like that because that vote was really close to the 3,000 vote margin. So, I think something needs to be addressed there."

Measure 2, which would have provided free meals to all students, fell just short of a majority with 49.4%. The unofficial tally showed a 2,889-vote spread with 235,415 votes cast.

Louser also said he wants to work on an insurance pool concept for K-12 employees to see if it can generate lower premiums and take pressure off the school districts.

The District 5 Senate race saw Fisher advance to the Senate to replace retiring Sen. Randy Burckhard. Fisher, who has served in the House since 2019, was unchallenged and garnered 3,269 votes in the unofficial tally.

An agronomist, Fisher 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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