Port: Out-of-state groups flood North Dakota House race with pro-Becker money

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.