North Dakota, Attorney General

North Dakota held an election for attorney general on November 6, 2018. The candidate filing deadline was April 9, 2018.

SETTING THE STAGE
Heading into the 2018 election, the attorney general of North Dakota was Wayne Stenehjem (R), who was first elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2004, 2006, 2010, and 2014.
In 2018, North Dakota was under a Republican trifecta. It had held this status since the Republican Party gained a majority in the North Dakota State Senate in 1995. North Dakota was also a Republican triplex.
North Dakota was won by the Republican candidate in the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016. The widest margin of victory was Donald Trump's 35.7 percent margin in 2016, while the narrowest was John McCain's 8.7 percent margin in 2008.

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in North Dakota from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the North Dakota Secretary of State.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in North Dakota every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), North Dakota 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Donald Trump	63.0%	Hillary Clinton	27.2%	35.8%
2012	Mitt Romney	58.3%	Barack Obama	38.7%	19.6%
2008	John McCain	53.3%	Barack Obama	44.6%	8.7%
2004	George W. Bush	62.9%	John Kerry	35.5%	27.4%
2000	George W. Bush	60.7%	Al Gore	33.1%	27.6%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in North Dakota from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), North Dakota 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	John Hoeven	78.5%	Eliot Glassheim	17.0%	61.5%
2012	Heidi Heitkamp	50.2%	Rick Berg	49.3%	0.9%
2010	John Hoeven	76.1%	Tracy Potter	22.2%	53.9%
2006	Kent Conrad	68.8%	Dwight Grotberg	29.5%	39.3%
2004	Byron Dorgan	68.3%	Mike Liffrig	31.7%	36.6%
2000	Kent Conrad	61.4%	Duane Sand	38.6%	22.8%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in North Dakota.

Election results (Governor), North Dakota 2000-2016

Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Doug Burgum	76.5%	Marvin Nelson	19.4%	57.1%
2012	Jack Dalrymple	63.1%	Ryan Taylor	34.3%	28.8%
2008	John Hoeven	74.4%	Tim Mathern	23.5%	50.9%
2004	John Hoeven	71.3%	Joe Satrom	27.4%	43.9%
2000	John Hoeven	55.0%	Heidi Heitkamp	45.0%	10.0%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent North Dakota in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, North Dakota 2000-2016

Year	Republicans	Republicans (%)	Democrats	Democrats (%)	Balance of power
2016	1	100.0%	0	0.0%	R+1
2014	1	100.0%	0	0.0%	R+1
2012	1	100.0%	0	0.0%	R+1
2010	1	100.0%	0	0.0%	R+1
2008	0	0.0%	1	100.0%	D+1
2006	0	0.0%	1	100.0%	D+1
2004	0	0.0%	1	100.0%	D+1
2002	0	0.0%	1	100.0%	D+1
2000	0	0.0%	1	100.0%	D+1

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

North Dakota Party Control: 1992-2019
No Democratic trifectas • 25 years of Republican trifectas

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19
Governor	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

Demographics

Demographic data for North Dakota

	North Dakota	U.S.
Total population:	756,835	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	69,001	3,531,905
Gender
Female:	49%	50.8%
Race and ethnicity**
White:	88.7%	73.6%
Black/African American:	1.6%	12.6%
Asian:	1.2%	5.1%
Native American:	5.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.2%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	2.9%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	91.7%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	27.7%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$57,181	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	12.2%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in North Dakota.

As of July 2016, North Dakota's three largest cities were Fargo (pop. est. 120,000), Bismarck (pop. est. 73,000), and Grand Forks (pop. est. 57,000).