GRAND FORKS — Running as a United States senator is very different from running for the U.S. House of Representatives, according to U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer.

“In the House, we did it all the time, because you’re up for election every two years, so you’re always both campaigning and working,” he said. “The Senate, after six years of not campaigning, it’ll be interesting now just to have a month to do exactly that.”

Cramer, a Republican, is running for reelection for another six-year term. He was first elected to the Senate in 2018, ousting then-incumbent Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp. This year, Cramer faces

Democratic candidate Katrina Christiansen

. The pair will debate on Oct. 2 on Prairie Public.

Cramer won his primary,

competing unopposed during the June primary,

and said that now, with roughly a month to Election Day and voting already underway, he’ll be ramping up his campaign.

“I’ve been very intentional about — and I’ve generally done this throughout my career — setting specific benchmarks and key darts starting when ballots go out,” he said. “I started my advertising on the first day that ballots could go out for absentee (voters).

“Too many candidates that I’ve watched over my career start advertising really early in the year, and they spend a lot of money before Labor Day, which is almost like not spending at all,” he continued.

Ballots for overseas and military North Dakota voters were sent out Sept. 20, but the vast majority of absentee ballots become available Sept. 26. In-person early voting where available generally starts two weeks to a week before the general election, depending on the county.

Cramer said some of his Senate colleagues, like Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who are also running for reelection, have been advertising for well over a year. He doesn’t view that as being as helpful as focusing on the month before the election.

“We’ve got a pretty complete plan that is already fully funded and now in motion for the next six weeks,” Cramer said.

This is Cramer’s first reelection for the Senate seat. Cramer was first elected to federal office in 2012 and served three terms in the House as North Dakota’s sole representative. Being in the Senate allows him to do more work that focuses on the state, he said.

“In North Dakota, we have the great blessing of being a small state with two senators, rather than a very large state with two senators,” he said. “That affords people like me that for six years, you do your job, and if you’re transparent and you’re able to talk to the media and talk to your constituents, it makes campaigning a lot easier.”

Having some competition in the race is a good thing, Cramer said.

“She seems to be better prepared — and you would be,” he said, referring to the fact that Christiansen has run multiple campaigns now. “I lost three elections before I started winning them, and so you do get better each time. She dives real into the deep end, and I think it makes for a much more interesting campaign. I think it’s better for all of us.”

Voigt covers government in Grand Forks and East Grand Forks.

Ella Morrissey is a freelance writer for The Sporting News ‘Watch’ team, covering all major North American sports carried on streaming services such as Fubo, Sling, Paramount+, DAZN, Apple+ and more. She is a graduate of Lehigh University, where she served as the sports editor of her college newspaper. Prior to joining The Sporting News, Ella worked in media relations with the New York City Football Club and currently helps to cover the WNBA for Winsidr. When not writing articles for TSN, Ella enjoys going to concerts, live sporting events and reading mystery novels.

MINOT — Steve Bakken is the former mayor of Bismarck, and the chair of the committee backing Measure 5, which seeks to legalize recreational marijuana in North Dakota.

Pat Finken is a longtime advertising professional and political activist. He’s a part of the coalition opposing Measure 5.

These gentlemen came together on Plain Talk to make their respective cases. The contrasts in their arguments, as you might expect, were sharp.

Bakken says Measure 5 is a “very conservative” legalization that gives state officials plenty of latitude to regulate lawful use of the drug. The measure “gives all the power to the state,” he said.

But Finken painted the measure as exacerbating North Dakota’s existing problems with substance abuse. “The marijuana of today is not safe,” he said. “It’s 10 times more powerful” than what Americans may have been smoking in past decades. He rejected the argument that marijuana legalization is inevitable, saying that even if North Dakota were the last state in the union without legal access for recreational use, he wouldn’t mind it.

“I’m perfectly content for North Dakota to remain an island,” he said.

Bakken, for his part, argued that Finken’s alarmism is out of date. “That reefer madness mentality goes back to the 50s.”

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