MINOT — Weeks ago, U.S. House candidate

Rick Becker

was touting a more than $820,000 haul for his campaign in the Republican primary, though when financial disclosures were filed, it turned out that more than 66% of those funds were in the form of $550,000 in loans from the candidate himself.

Becker raised just $278,495.75 from contributors not named Rick Becker.

How much of his own money Becker would be willing to spend to win on June 11 has always been an open question. Judging by new ad buy numbers in the House race, the answer is “not much.”

Two affiliated Washington, D.C.-based groups — the Club for Growth and Win It Back PAC — have made enormous ad buys in the House race in support of Becker. Win It Back PAC has an ad out casting Becker

as a tough-guy border enforcer.

The Club for Growth is running an ad

attacking Becker’s opponent,

Julie Fedorchak,

for getting raises during her tenure on the Public Service Commission and for raising utility rates (for what it’s worth, state lawmakers set Fedorchak’s pay, not that nuance counts for much at this point in an election cycle).

According to public disclosures from broadcasters, those groups have made large ad buys, dwarfing what Becker’s campaign has spent. To date, Becker’s campaign has spent just $141,998 on ads, compared to $663,138 for Club for Growth and $249,717 for the Win It Back PAC. Both groups are based in Washington.

The Protect Freedom PAC, which is affiliated with Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, has also spent $364,143 promoting Becker.

Keep in mind that these numbers don’t include non-broadcast television mediums, such as satellite or streaming.

Fedorchak’s campaign hasn’t been sitting on its hands. They’ve spent $451,179 so far. Meanwhile, the Brighter Future Alliance, a North Dakota-based committee run by longtime political consultant Pat Finken, has spent another $234,717 on ads attacking Becker.

That adds up to $685,896 in pro-Fedorchak/anti-Becker spending to date. Still, the pro-Becker/anti-Fedorchak spending is more than double, at over $1.4 million.

But campaign spending isn’t everything. Remember that in the 2018 election, then-incumbent U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp outspent her challenger, current Sen. Kevin Cramer, four times over.

Her campaign quadrupled

what Cramer’s spent, and Heitkamp had about a $2 million advantage in spending by outside groups, too.

She went on to lose by 10 points.

Becker’s obstacle in this race has always been that he’s a deeply polarizing figure among North Dakota voters. Were this not a five-way race (former Miss America

Cara Mund

as well as newcomers

Alex Balazs

and Sharlet Mohr will also appear on the June ballot), I suspect that Becker wouldn’t be all that competitive.

Can all this spending overcome that disadvantage for Becker? Maybe!

Though it’s also a question of how long this spending advantage for Becker will last. I’m hearing rumblings that outside groups may be coming in to support Fedorchak and attack Becker as well.

The only thing that’s certain is that you and I are going to be seeing a lot of political ads in the coming weeks.

MINOT, N.D. (KMOT) – Members of the Minot City Council discussed community members’ feedback on how to best spend the community development block grant at this week’s regular meeting.

Chris Plank, disaster recovery grant administrator, said they’ve narrowed stakeholders’ suggestions from two public input meetings.

The top five recommended areas were: getting a year-long homeless shelter for families and individuals, increasing transportation options, increasing childcare services, mental health services, and addiction services.

“The main goal is to have sustainable living, sustainable communities and opportunities for those individuals who may be of low to moderate income,” said Plank.

Council members talked about the importance of prioritizing when determining how to use the funds.

The city will receive $331,000.

Copyright 2024 KFYR. All rights reserved.

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – There’s no question, the walleye is the most popular fish in North Dakota, but the walleye is far from the only game fish swimming in our state. In This week’s Pro’s Pointer, Johnnie Candle is talking about one of them.

“There’s a nice eating size crappie, although we are not keeping them today. Let me get this one put back and we’ll talk about them,” began Johnnie Candle, MWC World Walleye Champion & N.D. Fishing Hall of Fame Member. “Crappie are abundant throughout North Dakota. We can find them in the upper reaches of Lake Oahe, south of Bismarck, Lake Tschida to the west, Jamestown Reservoir to the east— loaded with crappies— and today we’re here at Nelson Lake, you can tell by the power plant over my shoulder. Just hammering the crappies, having a blast.”

“They’re fairly simple to catch. A plain hook, a sinker and a lively minnow below a red, white bobber is classic. It gets the kids involved, they have a lot of fun and if you want to go after them with artificials, a jig with a spinner and plastic tail— maybe a small hair jig, a small tube— usually is all it takes to catch them,” continued Candle. “And you want to remember, crappies are predators as well. Today while we were fishing for bass, we caught more than a handful of crappie on what would be traditionally referred to as a walleye style crankbait. So there’s not always about walleyes. Get out there, have fun, get the kids involved, catch a nice mess of eating-sized fish and hopefully have a crappie day! I’m Johnnie Candle and that’s this week’s Pro’s Pointer.”

Next time, Candle will show us something that’s almost entirely used by women that may be found in your boat, after you see his Pro’s Pointer one week from today.

Copyright 2024 KFYR. All rights reserved.