Interesting observations of the North Dakota Legislature

A study of the North Dakota Legislature – its history, composition, and the individuals within that governing body – can be fascinating. Throughout the years, frequent relationships between legislators can be found as well as representations from a few different political parties. For this article, I concentrated on some items that were of interest to me, and I hope my findings will be of interest to you also.

North Dakota has had over 3,300 people serve in its state legislature since 1889. Yet, to my knowledge, only two people have been removed from the position of legislator. In 1897, John Ryan of Grand Forks successfully challenged the seating of John Kinan, and replaced him in the House.

In 2021, Luke Simons, a representative from Dickinson, was expelled for repeated offenses of inappropriate behavior

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When North Dakota became a state in 1889, 31 senators and 62 representatives were elected as the first session convened on Nov. 19th of that year. The numbers in both chambers remained the same until the 1902 election, when 40 senators and 100 House members were elected. The 1909 session most closely reflected our current legislative make-up, when there were 47 members in the Senate and 95 in the House.

According to a constitutional amendment, “the Senate may consist of 40-54 members and the House may consist of 80-108 members depending on the number of senatorial districts.” The current number of 47 senators and 94 members of the House has remained unchanged since 2003.

Over 2,650 people have served in the house, and more than 60% have served multiple terms. The person who served the longest was Brynhild Haugland, from Minot, who served 26 terms (52 years) in the House from 1939 to 1990. Bob Martinson, from Bismarck, had a chance of breaking the record held by Haugland. He was a representative from Bismarck from 1972 to 1996, and has served continuously since 2000, for a total period of 47 years. However, a bill was passed in 2023, limiting legislators to two four-year terms.

Of the 830 people who have served in the Senate, over 60% served two or more four-year terms. Two North Dakota senators served over 40 years in the state Senate. Duane Mutch, from Larimore, served in the Senate from 1959 to 1976 and again from 1979 to 2006, for a period of 44 years.

Ray Holmberg, from Grand Forks, served continuously from 1976 to 2022, for a period of over 45 years

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Two legislators took over 30 years away from the House to recharge their batteries. John Anderson was elected to the House from Grand Forks in 1906, and after a hiatus of 32 years, he was elected for a second time in 1938 while living in Minnewauken. However, the longest period between sessions belongs to Steve Swiontek, of Fargo. He served in the House from 1976 to 1984, and after 38 years, he was again elected in 2022.

John Gengler, of Dickinson, holds the record for persistence by serving three broken tenures in the House. He was first elected to the House in 1961 and, after serving one term, was elected again for another term in 1965. In 1971 and 1973 he won back-to-back elections and, after being out of office for one term, won back the seat in 1977.

There have been 257 people who have served in both houses of the North Dakota Legislature. All except seven of these people started out in the House, and two of the seven, after being elected to the House, were later elected back to the Senate. Eighty percent of those who started out in the House were elected to the Senate directly from their position in the House.

David Andahl was elected to the North Dakota House in November 2020, despite the fact that he had died a month earlier. About 144 members had died while in the state legislature. Many others resigned because they were elected or appointed to another position, they relocated, or they became too ill to serve. Many of those who resigned legislative positions ran for and/or were elected to state or national executive positions. Of the 33 governors who have held office, 16 had previously served in the state or territorial legislature. Of the 39 lieutenant governors, 23 had served in the legislature and, of the 45 people who have served in the U.S. Congress from North Dakota, 18 had previously been in the state legislature.

It is also interesting to note that two people who had been members of the U.S. Congress later served in the state legislature. After representing North Dakota’s west district in Congress from 1965 to 1968, Rolland Redlin returned to serve 14 terms in the state Senate. Charles Buttz was a U.S. congressman from 1876 to 1877, and later served in the North Dakota House from 1903 to 1908. What is unusual is that the district that Buttz represented in the U.S. House was in South Carolina. He did not run for re-election and, instead, the following year, moved to Dakota Territory.

The most common surnames of state legislators are Johnson/Johnsen, Olson/Olsen, Nelson, Anderson, and Larson/Larsen. There have been over 25 members of the legislature who share each of those surnames. After getting married, at least three members officially changed their last names while serving in the legislature. They are Bonnie Miller/Heinrich, Terry Irving/Eriksmoen, and Amy Kiniske/Warnke.