2022 North Dakota Senate election

2022 North Dakota Senate election
32 of the 47 seats in the North Dakota Senate; 24 seats needed for a majority
	Results:; Republican gain Democratic-NPL gain ; Republican hold Democratic-NPL hold; No election
Majority Leader before election; Rich Wardner; Republican	Elected Majority Leader ; David Hogue; Republican

The 2022 North Dakota Senate elections were held on November 8, 2022, as part of the biennial 2022 United States elections. 32 of the seats in the North Dakota State Senate were up for election. Primary elections were held on June 14, 2022.^[1] The elections coincided with elections for other offices in North Dakota, including the US Senate, US House, North Dakota Secretary of State, North Dakota Attorney General, and the North Dakota House of Representatives.

Following the 2022 elections, Republicans expanded their supermajority by three seats, giving them a 43-to-4 member advantage over Democrats.

Retirements

Democrats

District 23: Joan Heckaman retired.

Republicans

District 3: Oley Larsen retired.
District 7: Nicole Poolman retired.
District 8: Howard Anderson retired.
District 26: Jason Heitkamp retired to run for state representative.
District 37: Rich Wardner retired.

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Sabato's Crystal Ball^[2]	Safe R	May 19, 2022

Defeated incumbents

Primary election

District 15: Republican incumbent Dave Oehlke was defeated in the Republican primary election by Judy Estenson.
District 20: Republican incumbent Robert Fors was defeated in the Republican primary election by fellow Republican incumbent Randy Lemm. Both incumbents had been redrawn into the same district following redistricting.
District 33: Republican incumbent Jessica Unruh-Bell was defeated in the Republican primary election by Keith Boehm.

General election

District 9: Democratic incumbent Richard Marcellais was defeated in the general election by Republican Kent Weston.
District 35: Democratic incumbent Tracy Potter was defeated in the general election by Republican Sean Cleary.
District 43: Democratic incumbent JoNell Bakke was defeated in the general election by Republican Jeff Barta.

Summary of results by State Senate district

Districts not listed were not up for election in 2022.

State Senate district	Incumbent		Elected Senator
1st	Brad Bekkedahl	Rep	Brad Bekkedahl	Rep
3rd	Oley Larsen	Rep	Bob Paulson	Rep
5th	Randy Burckhard	Rep	Randy Burckhard	Rep
6th^[a]	Shawn Vedaa	Rep	Shawn Vedaa	Rep
7th	Nicole Poolman	Rep	Michelle Axtman	Rep
8th^[a]	Howard C. Anderson Jr.	Rep	Jeffery Magrum	Rep
9th	Richard Marcellais	Dem–NPL	Kent Weston	Rep
10th^[a]	Janne Myrdal^[b]	Rep	Ryan Braunberger	Dem–NPL
11th	Tim Mathern	Dem–NPL	Tim Mathern	Dem–NPL
13th	Judy Lee	Rep	Judy Lee	Rep
15th	Dave Oehlke	Rep	Judy Estenson	Rep
17th	Jonathan Sickler	Rep	Jonathan Sickler	Rep
19th	Robert Fors	Rep	Janne Myrdal^[b]	Rep
20th^[a]	Randy Lemm	Rep	Randy Lemm	Rep
21st	Kathy Hogan	Dem–NPL	Kathy Hogan	Dem–NPL
23rd	Joan Heckaman	Dem–NPL	Todd Beard	Rep
25th	Larry Luick	Rep	Larry Luick	Rep
26th^[a]	Jason Heitkamp	Rep	Dale Patten^[c]	Rep
27th	Kristin Roers	Rep	Kristin Roers	Rep
28th^[a]	Robert Erbele	Rep	Robert Erbele	Rep
29th	Terry Wanzek	Rep	Terry Wanzek	Rep
31st	Donald Schaible	Rep	Donald Schaible	Rep
33rd	Jessica Unruh-Bell	Rep	Keith Boehm	Rep
35th	Tracy Potter	Dem–NPL	Sean Cleary	Rep
36th^[a]	Jay Elkin	Rep	Jay Elkin	Rep
37th	Rich Wardner	Rep	Dean Rummel	Rep
39th	Dale Patten^[c]	Rep	Greg Kessel	Rep
41st	Kyle Davison	Rep	Kyle Davison	Rep
43rd	JoNell Bakke	Dem–NPL	Jeff Barta	Rep
44th^[a]	Merrill Piepkorn	Dem–NPL	Merrill Piepkorn	Dem–NPL
45th	Ronald Sorvaag	Rep	Ronald Sorvaag	Rep
47th	Mike Dwyer	Rep	Mike Dwyer	Rep

Primary election results source:^[3]

General election results source:^[4]

Close races

Districts where the margin of victory was under 10%:

District 10, 1.57% (gain)
District 43, 6.07% (gain)
District 9, 7.59% (gain)

Detailed results

District 1 • District 3 • District 5 • District 6 • District 7 • District 8 • District 9 • District 10 • District 11 • District 13 • District 15 • District 17 • District 19 • District 20 • District 21 • District 23 • District 25 • District 26 • District 27 • District 28 • District 29 • District 31 • District 33 • District 35 • District 36 • District 37 • District 39 • District 41 • District 43 • District 44 • District 45 • District 47

Primary election results source:^[3]

General election results source:<^[4]

Note: If a primary election is not listed, then there was not a competitive primary in that district (i.e., only one candidate filed to run).

District 1

General election

North Dakota's 1st Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brad Bekkedahl (incumbent)	2,939	100.00%
Total votes			2,939	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 3

General election

North Dakota's 3rd Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bob Paulson	2,941	100.00%
Total votes			2,941	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 5

General election

North Dakota's 5th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Randy Burckhard (incumbent)	3,795	100.00%
Total votes			3,795	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 6

General election

North Dakota's 6th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Shawn Vedaa (incumbent)	5,677	79.45%
	Independent	Robert Tolar	1,468	20.55%
Total votes			7,145	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 7

General election

North Dakota's 7th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Michelle Axtman	5,386	100.00%
Total votes			5,386	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 8

Republican primary

North Dakota's 8th Senate District Republican primary election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeffery Magrum	1,509	57.18%
	Republican	Dave Nehring	1,130	42.82%
Total votes			2,639	100.00%

General election

North Dakota's 8th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeffery Magrum	5,828	100.00%
Total votes			5,828	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 9

Democratic primary

North Dakota's 9th Senate District Democratic-NPL primary election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic–NPL	Richard Marcellais (incumbent)	651	59.45%
	Democratic–NPL	Loann Jerome	444	40.55%
Total votes			1,095	100.00%

General election

North Dakota's 9th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kent Weston	2,335	53.80%
	Democratic–NPL	Richard Marcellais (incumbent)	2,005	46.20%
Total votes			4,340	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic–NPL

District 10

General election

North Dakota's 10th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic–NPL	Ryan Braunberger	1,575	50.79%
	Republican	Curtis Olafson	1,526	49.21%
Total votes			3,101	100.00%
	Democratic–NPL gain from Republican

District 11

General election

North Dakota's 11th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic–NPL	Tim Mathern (incumbent)	3,627	100.00%
Total votes			3,627	100.00%
	Democratic–NPL hold

District 13

General election

North Dakota's 13th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Judy Lee (incumbent)	4,441	100.00%
Total votes			4,441	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 15

Republican primary

North Dakota's 15th Senate District Republican primary election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Judy Estenson	1,602	57.38%
	Republican	Dave Oehlke (incumbent)	1,190	42.62%
Total votes			2,792	100.00%

General election

North Dakota's 15th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Judy Estenson	3,417	65.90%
	Democratic–NPL	Collette Brown	1,768	34.10%
Total votes			5,185	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 17

General election

North Dakota's 17th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jonathan Sickler (incumbent)	4,025	100.00%
Total votes			4,025	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 19

General election

North Dakota's 19th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Janne Myrdal^[b] (incumbent)	4,369	75.84%
	Democratic–NPL	Travis Hipsher	1,392	24.16%
Total votes			5,761	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 20

Republican primary

North Dakota's 20th Senate District Republican primary election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Randy Lemm (incumbent)	1,543	73.58%
	Republican	Robert Fors (incumbent)	554	26.42%
Total votes			2,097	100.00%

General election

North Dakota's 20th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Randy Lemm (incumbent)	4,262	71.24%
	Democratic–NPL	Paul R. Hanson	1,721	28.76%
Total votes			5,983	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 21

General election

North Dakota's 21st Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic–NPL	Kathy Hogan (incumbent)	2,283	62.57%
	Republican	William Kloubec	1,366	37.43%
Total votes			3,649	100.00%
	Democratic–NPL hold

District 23

General election

North Dakota's 23rd Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Todd Beard	1,518	100.00%
Total votes			1,518	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic–NPL

District 25

General election

North Dakota's 25th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Luick (incumbent)	3,782	63.52%
	Democratic–NPL	Jim Dotzenrod	2,172	36.48%
Total votes			5,954	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 26

General election

North Dakota's 26th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dale Patten^[c] (incumbent)	3,815	100.00%
Total votes			3,815	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 27

General election

North Dakota's 27th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kristin Roers (incumbent)	3,023	59.22%
	Democratic–NPL	Sonja Kaye	2,082	40.78%
Total votes			5,105	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 28

Republican primary

North Dakota's 28th Senate District Republican primary election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert (Bob) Erbele (incumbent)	2,286	64.85%
	Republican	Sebastian (Seabass) Ertelt	1,239	35.15%
Total votes			3,525	100.00%

General election

North Dakota's 28th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Robert (Bob) Erbele (incumbent)	5,633	100.00%
Total votes			5,633	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 29

General election

North Dakota's 29th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Terry Wanzek (incumbent)	4,828	73.01%
	Democratic–NPL	Ben Vig	1,785	26.99%
Total votes			6,613	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 31

General election

North Dakota's 31st Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Donald Schaible (incumbent)	4,192	100.00%
Total votes			4,192	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 33

Republican primary

North Dakota's 33rd Senate District Republican primary election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Keith Boehm	2,196	53.34%
	Republican	Jessica Unruh-Bell (incumbent)	1,921	46.66%
Total votes			4,117	100.00%

General election

North Dakota's 33rd Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Keith Boehm	6,378	100.00%
Total votes			6,378	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 35

Republican primary

North Dakota's 35th Senate District Republican primary election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Sean Cleary	1,300	69.78%
	Republican	Ryan Eckroth	563	30.22%
Total votes			1,863	100.00%

General election

North Dakota's 35th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Sean Cleary	3,644	60.23%
	Democratic–NPL	Tracy Potter (incumbent)	2,406	39.77%
Total votes			6,050	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic–NPL

District 36

General election

North Dakota's 36th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jay Elkin (incumbent)	3,913	100.00%
Total votes			3,913	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 37

General election

North Dakota's 37th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dean Rummel	3,468	100.00%
Total votes			3,468	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 39

Republican primary

North Dakota's 39th Senate District Republican primary election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Greg Kessel	1,907	57.03%
	Republican	Andrew Gene Kordonowy	1,437	42.97%
Total votes			3,344	100.00%

General election

North Dakota's 39th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Greg Kessel	4,421	70.57%
	Independent	Thea Lee	1,844	29.43%
Total votes			6,265	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 41

General election

North Dakota's 41st Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kyle Davison (incumbent)	4,301	100.00%
Total votes			4,301	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 43

General election

North Dakota's 43rd Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeff Barta	1,963	53.04%
	Democratic–NPL	JoNell Bakke (incumbent)	1,738	46.96%
Total votes			3,701	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic–NPL

District 44

General election

North Dakota's 44th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic–NPL	Merrill Piepkorn (incumbent)	2,731	62.39%
	Republican	Bjorn G. Altenburg	1,646	37.61%
Total votes			4,377	100.00%
	Democratic–NPL hold

District 45

General election

North Dakota's 45th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ronald Sorvaag (incumbent)	3,935	100.00%
Total votes			3,935	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 47

General election

North Dakota's 47th Senate District general election, 2022
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Dwyer (incumbent)	5,413	100.00%
Total votes			5,413	100.00%
	Republican hold

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Election for an unexpired 2-year term.
^ ^a ^b ^c Redistricted from district 10 to 19.
^ ^a ^b ^c Redistricted from district 39 to 26.

References

^ DURA, JACK. "Bismarck Republican voters to decide several legislative primary contests". Bismarck Tribune. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
^ Jacobson, Louis (May 19, 2022). "The Battle for State Legislatures". Retrieved May 19, 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Official 2022 Primary Election Results". Secretary of State of North Dakota. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Official 2022 General Election Results". Secretary of State of North Dakota. Retrieved December 24, 2022.

[Even-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Election for an unexpired 2-year term.

[Myrdal-4] Redistricted from district 10 to 19.

[Patten-5] Redistricted from district 39 to 26.

[1] DURA, JACK. "Bismarck Republican voters to decide several legislative primary contests". Bismarck Tribune. Retrieved June 4, 2022.

[Sabato's_Crystal_Ball-2] Jacobson, Louis (May 19, 2022). "The Battle for State Legislatures". Retrieved May 19, 2022.

[res1-6] "Official 2022 Primary Election Results". Secretary of State of North Dakota. Retrieved December 24, 2022.

[res2-7] "Official 2022 General Election Results". Secretary of State of North Dakota. Retrieved December 24, 2022.

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