FARGO, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota Republican activists believe this year’s race for governor will be the most expensive single campaign in state history, due to an intraparty primary contest that will pit the GOP nominee against a wealthy Fargo businessman who has promised to keep fighting - and spending money.
Longtime North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem won the party’s endorsement on Saturday during the GOP convention in Fargo. Doug Burgum, a philanthropist and former Microsoft Corp. executive, came in a distant third, behind Bismarck state Rep. Rick Becker.
Still, Burgum has vowed to stay in the race until the June 14 primary. Burgum, who spent more than $500,000 ahead of the convention on television advertising, said he didn’t expect to win the GOP endorsement and was instead focusing on attracting voters beyond the convention hall.
Stenehjem’s campaign knows it must boost fundraising to compete against Burgum’s deep pockets.
“I’m prepared to be competitive,” Stenehjem told The Associated Press.
Burgum announced his gubernatorial bid in January, and his TV ad spending included a commercial in which he promised to refuse a salary and a state pension if he’s elected governor.
His first campaign disclosure statement will be the pre-primary report due on May 13. He hasn’t disclosed how much he has already spent, either of his own money or funding from supporters.
Stenehjem had nearly $240,000 on hand in his bid to be the state’s next governor, according to his last financial report filed in February.
GOP activist Pat Finken, who said he is a volunteer for Stenehjem, estimated that Burgum has likely spent at least $1 million on advertising so far. Finken is president of the Odney agency, an advertising, marketing and public relations firm with North Dakota offices in Bismarck, Fargo and Minot.
“This will be the most expensive campaign in state history,” Finken said.
He noted that campaign costs will likely taper off once the primary is over and the GOP favorite moves on against Democratic challenger Marvin Nelson, a state representative from Rolla who is seen as a longshot in the conservative state. North Dakota has not had a Democratic governor since 1992.
Stenehjem picked Bismarck state Sen. Nicole Poolman on Sunday as his running mate. Nelson earlier chose New Rockford Sen. Joan Heckaman as his Democratic running mate.
Burgum built Great Plains Software in Fargo from a startup to a billion-dollar company, serving as the chairman and chief executive. Microsoft bought Great Plains in 2001 for $1.1 billion in stock, and Burgum worked for Microsoft until 2007.
The 59-year-old native of Arthur, a town of about 400 in southeastern North Dakota, is a longtime Republican supporter but has been critical of the GOP-led Legislature’s stance on social issues, including its failure to pass a bill that would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Stenehjem, a former Grand Forks lawyer and longtime state legislator, was first elected in 2000 and has been easily re-elected ever since. Stenehjem is a native of Mohall who grew up in Williston and has a wide geographic base, having lived in western, eastern and central North Dakota.
“He’s had a chance to shake just about every hand in the state,” Burgum said of his GOP foe.
Robert Harms, a Burgum adviser, also would not say how much the campaign has spent or is willing to spend in the race for governor.
“The nice thing is we have resources and we’re going to start using them,” said Harms, a Bismarck attorney who has represented Govs. John Hoeven and Ed Schafer.
Burgum also has hired those former governors’ media consultant, Wilson Grand Communications of Alexandria, Virginia. Shafer and Hoeven, who were both successful in their gubernatorial bids, used the firm to promote their business experience during their campaigns. Burgum is taking a similar approach in his advertising.
While Burgum’s personal bank account is undeniably stronger for the primary home stretch, Stenehjem also has the backing of the North Dakota Legislature, said Fargo Republican Rep. Al Carlson, the House majority leader.
“He has the proven ability to win and we will be fully behind our man,” Carlson said.
A party endorsement only means the candidate has a guaranteed spot on the primary ballot. The candidate must win the primary to get the Republican or Democratic nomination to run in the November general election.
In most elections, that has not been an issue because the political parties’ respective statewide candidates have run unopposed in the primary.
One recent exception was four years ago, when Kevin Cramer - a congressman who holds North Dakota’s lone U.S. House seat - bypassed the Republican state convention and allowed five Republican rivals to fight it out for delegates’ endorsement. Their choice, Public Service Commissioner Brian Kalk, lost to Cramer in the June Republican primary.
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