NORTH DAKOTA
      Nov. 3, 2020 Governor

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+Doug Burgum/Brent Sanford (R) i
 235,479
 65.84%
Shelley Lenz/Ben Vig (D-NPL) 90,789
 25.38%
DuWayne Hendrickson/Joshua Voytek (L) 13,853
 3.87%
write-in
 17,538  4.90%

357,659
Eligible voters: 581,379.  Voter turnout: 364,251.
Plurality: 144,690 votes (30.46 percentage points).
 ND Secretary of State


Notes: Gov. Doug Burgum (R) was easily re-elected to a second term as Republicans won all statewide offices by wide margins. 
 
Burgum, who before being elected in 2016, helped build Great Plains Software, was a senior vice president at Microsoft, and subsequently worked in real estate and venture capital, announced his re-election bid on Oct. 24, 2019, again with Brent Sanford as his running mate.  He won the June 9 primary, defeating Michael Coachman, an Air Force veteran who was a candidate for secretary of state in 2018 and lieutenant governor in 2012, and Joel Hylden by 89.51% to 10.15%.  Challenging Burgum were Dr. Shelley Lenz (D-NPL), a veterinarian from Killdeer in Western North Dakota.  Lenz announced her candidacy on Jan. 31, 2020.  The state party endorsed Lenz in a Mar. 21 virtual convention.  She announced Ben Vig, a farmer and former state rep. from Steele Co., as her running mate on Apr. 6.  They did not face a primary contest.  DuWayne Hendrickson (L) of Minot, who has run for U.S. House and ran for governor as an independent in 2008, ran with Joshua Voytek of Fargo.  Additionally, Coachman ran an active write-in campaign emphasizing restoring constitutional principles.
 
Prairie Public hosted a one hour in-studio debate between Burgum, Lenz and Hendrickson on Oct. 21 (>).  In opening remarks Burgum cited his accomplishments "reinventing state government, strengthening our economy and balancing the budget without raising taxes."  Lenz noted she had voted for Burgum in 2016 but said he "wasn't getting the job done."  Hendrickson said his priorities as governor included abolishing property taxes and expunging all low-level, non-violent marijuana crimes.  The first three questions addressed the pandemic.

According to the National Institute on Money in Politics the race was not competitive financially; the Burgum campaign brought in contributions of $2,258,542 of which Burgum contributed $1,343,500 to $341,656 for the Lenz campaign.  Also of note, Burgum put several million dollars into the Dakota Leadership PAC, which worked to successfully defeat one of his legislative antagonists in the June primary and campaigned against Measure 1, to restructure the State Board of Higher Education, on the Nov. ballot.



Campaign Managers:
Doug Burgum: Dawson Schefter
(Oct. 2019)  President of Signature Solutions, LLC in Fargo from Sept. 2014.  Chief of staff at the North Dakota Republican Party, Mar. 2018-Oct. 2019.  Indeependent consultant to the NDSU Extension Service, Apr. 2016-Jan. 2018.  Chairman of ND Young Republicans, May-Dec. 2017. General laborer at Schefter Farms, Sept. 2012-May 2017.

Shelley Lenz:  Melissa Vincett
President of Roughrider Strategies, LLC, a North Dakota consulting firm, since Jan. 2020.  Director of mobilizing for the Green Party of Canada, Nov. 2018-July 2020.  Political and training director for the North Dakota Democratic NPL, July-Nov. 2018.  Organizer for UAW 5810 at the University of California, June-July 2018.  Consultant at Weinman Consulting in Tacoma, WA, June 2012-Mar. 2016.  M.B.A. in global marketing management from City University of Seattle, 2014; B.A. in psychology from University of Manitoba, 2011.


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