Sandi Sanford, new leader of the NDGOP, fights off ‘extreme’ label from outside and within party

BISMARCK — The way Sandra Sanford is perceived, by people both inside and outside of the North Dakota Republican Party, is not how she sees herself.

Sanford, 51, who goes by Sandi, has been cast as part of an ultra-right faction that recently “took over” the party when she was elected as state GOP chairwoman.

Wife of the former Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford, she defeated incumbent party Chairman Perrie Schafer on June 16 in Fargo by a single vote.

She’s been labeled a “culture warrior” which she once called a “badge of honor,” but she also told The Forum she’s simply doing what most moms would do.

“As a culture warrior, am I a mom that has asked questions about what’s happening? Yes, I have and I am not going to apologize for the questions that I’ve asked,” she said.

The labels come from her stands against the COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates, books with certain sexual content in school libraries and her belief that gay marriage threatens the sanctity of “biblical marriage.”

“I questioned the agenda … and that is what has now created this narrative of being extreme,” she said.

Nick Hacker, former NDGOP treasurer, was among the slate of five party leaders ousted in the June internal party election.

He said the move represents a further-right alignment, particularly on cultural issues.

“I can’t determine whether or not the underlying citizens of North Dakota have moved for the right or not, but the leadership definitely has,” Hacker said.

Sanford said some Republican colleagues think she’s too conservative and some think she’s too liberal, while she considers herself as being right down the middle.

She was warned that serving as state GOP chair would be “harsh and difficult,” but she wasn’t fazed, she said, because she has the necessary organizational and leadership skills.

“I work circles around most people,” she said, and has the desire to set up the party for success beyond her term.

Sandi Sanford and her husband live in Bismarck and have two daughters and a son; Sydney, 23, Nicolas, 15, and Erin, 12.

She grew up on a family farm near Minot, which she now owns, and was involved in health care for 30 years, working as a respiratory therapist. She’s been involved in state politics for more than 25 years.

Sanford said she was approached twice to run as state GOP chair and declined both times.

As the election drew near, she sat down with “the right people” who convinced her to run.

“They believed that I could assist in bridging the gap to a kind of fractured party that has been in place for many years,” she said.

In addition to Sanford’s election as chairwoman, John Trandem was elected first vice chairman, Jennifer Benson as second vice chairwoman, Andrew Bornemann as secretary and Stephen Hillerud as treasurer.

Sanford said she’s heard fearful and angry dialogue from certain people about those results, some of it “inappropriate.”

“They feel that the North Dakota Republican Party was taken over and … the foundation of what makes it great has been lost to five people,” she said.

Sanford said there was no takeover, as she didn’t even know several of the people in those new leadership positions until election day.

She was a good friend beforehand to Benson, who is executive director of American Experiment North Dakota and a former Fargo School Board member.

Benson said Sanford is approachable, kind and experienced, and can work with other Republicans who’ve swayed from party principles, voting too closely with Democrats.

“She’s standing for the party principles as they are stated … individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government. That doesn’t make her an extremist,” Benson said.

John Odermann, former first vice-chair of the NDGOP, said while Sanford might not be a “far-right radical” or think of herself in those terms, that is the faction of the party that elected her as chair.

He said he’d like to ask Sanford this question: “The people that you would say you’re closely aligned with politically are not the ones who voted for you. So how do you square that?”

Sanford describes herself as a Ronald Reagan kind of Republican, a reference to the U.S. President from 1980-1988 often cited for championing smaller government, tax cuts and a strong military.

But her views on certain cultural and social issues are where she draws the greatest criticisms from Democrats and even a fair number within her own party.

She said she’s always been considered “too far right” because of her religious beliefs and anti-abortion views.

But that perception intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, when she spoke out against vaccines and mask mandates, even quitting her job when told she was told she had to be vaccinated.

With several other women, Sanford created the North Dakota Conservative Advocate, now called North Dakota Can, to push back against mask requirements for school children.

She also was particularly concerned about “extreme overreach” relating to shutdowns, especially in senior long-term care.

Regarding LGBTQ issues, Sanford said she has friends and family in that community.

“I think that’s a difficult place to be for them, and it’s a difficult walk,” she said.

Though she believes only in “biblical marriage” between a man and a woman, she knows people who live outside of that and still loves them, she said.

North Dakota lawmakers took on numerous LGBTQ bills this past legislative session,

passing one that prohibits transgender K-12 students from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, and that bars schools from adopting policies relating to a student’s preferred gender pronouns.

Sanford cited a new law in Michigan that expands that state’s hate crime legislation.

She claimed under the law, a person can be charged with a felony crime in Michigan if they call someone by the wrong pronouns, an interpretation repeated by a number of conservative critics.

Others point out the word “pronoun” does not even appear in the Michigan bill, which focuses more on threatening conduct than speech.

Sanford doesn’t necessarily consider that a “hate crime” bill, she said. She has her own convictions and values and won’t compromise them because someone else believes differently, she said.

Culturally, there’s a lot happening quickly, and people are unsure how to adjust, she said, citing incidents during the recent Pride Month, during which a group rode bicycles naked in a parade in Seattle where children were present.

“The left agenda and what that is is getting so bold,” she said.

She also got in the middle of an issue involving what she said is a sexually explicit, inappropriate book in a Bismarck high school.

Titled “This Book is Gay,” by Juno Dawson, the book offers help in coming out, how to meet others who may be LGBTQ and the ins and outs of gay sex.

She met with the president of the school board and the book was removed, she said.

Sanford believes in school choice; of her two youngest children, her son attends public school while her 12-year-old daughter goes to a private Christian school.

For her “littler one,” Sanford said private school seemed a better place, because “she didn’t have as many opinions as my son did.”

Some may wonder whether Sandi Sanford and husband Brent Sanford are lockstep in their political beliefs, the answer to which she said is “no.”

“We’re people and we’re human. I have my own brain and he has his own brain,” she said, adding that she feels more strongly about certain issues than he does.

“We make a good team because he’s really quiet and I’m really not,” she said with a laugh.

He tells her she’s been through “the meat grinder” of politics even more than he has during his time as lieutenant governor and, previously, as mayor of his native Watford City, North Dakota.

Sandi Sanford said she has no aspirations for any other political office — her only goal being elected NDGOP chair and helping other Republicans get elected.

Odermann said he sees two paths forward for the state party: airing grievances in knee-jerk fashion on social media, or continuing the 30 years of dominance of the party by relationship building.

He said the latter is something the former NDGOP executive committee excelled at. When there were disagreements, they sat down and hashed things out behind closed doors.

He’s somewhat concerned that certain party donors asked for refunds after Sanford and the rest of the new executive committee were elected.

“We have to get back to being the happy warriors,” Odermann said. “I think we’ve leaned a little too much into the Donald Trump approach to things and that’s not good for our politics.”

Any feedback or pointed criticism from fellow Republicans, columnists and bloggers doesn’t offend Sandi Sanford because she said she has “tough skin.”

“It’s only kind of helped me. I’m a lady. I’m gonna just stay in my lane,” she said. “I’m not gonna apologize for being conservative.”