BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – There are just 56 days until the election. North Dakotans will not only vote for President but will vote for the N.D. Governor and for their U.S. House and Senate representatives.

As the races in North Dakota start to pick up again, candidates for Senate and Governor have already had their first debates, and more are scheduled in just a couple of weeks.

Political analyst Rick Clayburgh said the debates in North Dakota are going to be at a different level than the presidential debate. He said so much rides on all of them, whether it’s our state races or our national ones. Clayburgh said it’s still important for the candidates to get out and define themselves, but with less than two months until the general election, candidates are running out of time.

“We’re not seeing a lot yet in terms of advertising on TV, so then opportunity to come out in a debate and define yourself, and maybe get some talking points will resonate in the media are very important. So far in the two debates that we’ve seen this cycle since Labor Day, the candidates are pretty much as expected, they’ve been laying out their vision and their stances, but nothing is really shaking the ground,” said Clayburgh.

Clayburgh said incumbency is going to continue to be strong in this general election. He said besides the debates, the candidates are going to be getting out and doing public events, fundraising, getting media exposure and making sure their supporters get out to vote.

As far as polls go for our state races, there haven’t been any released lately. But more could come out closer to the election. Clayburgh said most of those polls should be taken skeptically as it’s the candidates’ polling coming out.

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It was a beautiful week to visit South Dakota!

Last Saturday (August 31st), I flew out to Rapid City, South Dakota to meet some of my Michigan family for a little vacation. There were seven adults and one baby, so we rented a cabin on Airbnb in Black Hawk, which was just outside Rapid City. It was the perfect little spot for us!

Over the course of five days, we tried to see as many things as we possibly could. We didn’t get to do everything on our list, but we sure accomplished a lot! Here is a rundown of the places we were able to visit during our trip:

Here are some photos from my awesome family vacation:

I don’t know the next time I’ll visit South Dakota, but I am definitely planning to head west again for more adventures! Glacier National Park in Montana is very high up on the list, as is Yellowstone National Park and Olympic National Park in Washington. Do you have any other state park recommendations for me? Shoot us a message on our station app and let me know!