North Dakota Democrat launches bid against Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong

A Democrat has entered the race for North Dakota’s only House seat, challenging incumbent Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), who announced his reelection campaign this week. 

Trygve Hammer, a military veteran, is looking to shake up the state’s political landscape with his campaign, running as a “pro-union, pro-choice, and pro-democracy leader.” 

Hammer, who serves as the District 5 chairman for the city of Minot, launched his third campaign for public office on Wednesday. In 2022, Hammer was defeated by Republican Sheri Haugen-Hoffart for the state’s Public Service Commission. Hammer also ran an unsuccessful campaign for state House in 2020. 

“I am running for Congress because it is time to put government to work for all of us. It is time to end the grandstanding and culture-war intrusions into our most personal decisions as persons, parents, and patients,” Hammer said in a statement. 

North Dakota Republicans have supermajority control in the legislature and hold every statewide office. A Democrat hasn’t been elected since 2012, when former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp narrowly defeated former GOP Rep. Rick Berg. Heitkamp was ousted by now-Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) in 2019. 

Armstrong has held North Dakota’s sole House seat since 2013, and he told KFYR he welcomes challengers to the race. 

“We don’t ever take any of this for granted,” Armstrong said. “We always assume we’re going to have an opponent, and we’re gonna run as hard as we can and get out and talk to as many North Dakotans as possible.”

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Hammer told KFYR he was influenced to jump into the race by the disarray in the House under Republican control. 

“They got the majority, but these are not Reagan Republicans. They are controlled by a small portion of the Republican conference that has no reverence for the institution, no desire for dignity, or no affinity for the truth,” Hammer said.