U.S. House Candidate Julie Fedorchak Had a Tough Week

Fedorchak Debate — U.S. House candidate Julie Fedorchak answers a question during a debate televised on The Flag 1100AM. (Photo via screenshot.)

In some people’s minds, Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak was the frontrunner for North Dakota’s lone U.S. House seat. But in the course of just seven days, she proved that just isn’t so.

In February, Fedorchak announced that she would challenge former State Representative Rick Becker for the Republican Party’s nomination to replace outgoing Congressman Kelly Armstrong (R). Armstrong, as you’re likely aware, is looking to become the next Governor of North Dakota. Becker was the first to announce his intentions to run for U.S. House.

One nuance in this race is the reality that Becker was prohibited from running for the Republican Party endorsement at their recently held state convention. Not because he isn’t a Republican — he is, and he was at the NDGOP convention as a delegate — but because he ran an independent campaign against Senator John Hoeven in 2022. As a result, Rule 10 of state party rules prohibits him from running for the endorsement of any statewide office for a period of six years. His only path to the June ballot, as a Republican for U.S. House, was via petition.

With Becker being sidelined as a candidate for state convention, this left Julie Fedorchak and political unknown Alex Balazs as the only candidates seeking the Republican endorsement on April 6th. And let’s just say that things got interesting.

For attendees, it quickly became evident that Fedorchak was not only seeking the endorsement, but she expected that she would win it. The initial evidence of this was on full display with her floor demonstration as she was introduced. If you have difficulty envisioning the event, perhaps this will help— imagine a raucous group of supporters dressed in pink (seriously) parading around the convention floor. It’s since been dubbed by many who witnessed it as the “Barbie Brigade”. It was arguably obnoxious.

When vote tallies started rolling in after Round 1 of balloting, whispers of a movement by some Becker supporters suddenly became a reality. That movement involved casting a write-in ballot for Rick Becker— which resulted in spoiled ballots. Per the rules though, these votes counted towards the ballots cast, which meant it was possible for Becker Backers to prevent Fedorchak or Balazs from obtaining the necessary votes to have a majority. And that’s exactly what happened. While Fedorchak had the most votes after Round 1, she didn’t have enough.

Julie Fedorchak – 611
Alex Balasz – 403
Spoiled Ballots – 382

Prior to Round 2, Rick Becker took to the microphone and asked supporters to cease casting spoiled ballots and to either vote for one of the candidates or abstain from voting. When Round 2 tabulations were reported, Balazs had gained over 200 votes and edged Fedorchak 605 – 599, but he too was just a few votes short of the majority due to some spoiled ballots that had still come in.

As delegates expected another round of voting, Julie Fedorchak took to the microphone. And let’s just say that she wasn’t happy. After expressing her thanks to Alex Balazs, Fedorchak not only chastised Becker but wrongly accused him of breaking the rules, admitted she was going to the primary anyhow, and withdrew her candidacy for the endorsement. This automatically made Balazs the endorsed candidate.

While hardcore supporters of Fedorchak somehow thought her comments showed class, they arguably didn’t. In fact, one might argue that in the course of just a few minutes at that microphone Julie Fedorchak proved why she’s not cut out for the work that needs done in Washington, DC. After all, if she can’t handle the silent protest of some spoiled ballots from her leading opponent, how on earth will she handle being in the nation’s Capitol with the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer?

As it turns out, the convention was just the beginning of Fedorchak’s woes. Not only had Rick Becker come out as the de facto winner of the convention (for reasons I previously explained here), but in its aftermath additional Republican candidates entered the race— political unknown Sharlet Mohr and former Miss America Cara Mund. Then just four days later Fedorchak participated in the first U.S. House debate with Rick Becker and Alex Balazs. And her performance wasn’t pretty.

Fedorchak often came across as bitter and angry towards Becker. The vitriol was palpable. At one point, she even hit the point of ridiculous by accusing him of being sexist. Not surprisingly, she misrepresented his record on issues like funding for veterans and abortion.

When pushed by Becker on statements she had made while blogging about abortion in 2009, Fedorchak channeled her inner Hillary Clinton, claimed she couldn’t recall what he was talking about, and refused to address the question. In that blog post — which you can see here — Fedorchak called for a “new conversation” that involved taking Roe v. Wade “off the table”— meaning pro-lifers should have quit trying to get it overturned. Becker simply wanted to know if she regretted those comments.

There’s more issues that could be mentioned and specifics to be covered — CO2 pipelines and Ukraine funding to name a couple — but suffice it to say things didn’t go well for Fedorchak. I encourage you to watch the debate and see for yourself.

In the course of just seven days, Julie Fedorchak displayed — on two separate occasions — why she’s not built for Washington, DC. It’s clear that she represents more of the same that we’ve come to expect from milk toast Republicans. If North Dakotans want change, it’s evident that Fedorchak isn’t the one to lead out in demanding it.

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