In a crowded field of five U.S. House candidates, two have emerged as the leaders heading into the June primary— Rick Becker and Julie Fedorchak. Earlier this month, a North Dakota United poll shows a nail-biter with Becker at 29% and Fedorchak on his heels at 26%. Former Miss America, Cara Mund, is a distant third at 14%.
Last month, I wrote about the fact that Fedorchak had a pretty tough week coming out of the North Dakota Republican State Convention. It was there that she lost her bid for the party’s endorsement to political unknown Alex Balazs. Becker — who was a delegate to the convention — was prohibited from seeking the endorsement but ended up the de facto winner of sorts anyhow. Then, like salt to open wounds, Cara Mund announced her candidacy as well. To make matters even worse for herself, four days later Fedorchak turned in an awful debate performance.
In the aftermath of all this, it seems the Fedorchak campaign has made some highly questionable decisions. For weeks now, Pat Finken — the establishment’s longtime henchman — has been perpetrating outright lies about Rick Becker on both radio and political mailers through his PAC called “Brighter Future Alliance”. In other words, he’s doing Fedorchak’s dirty work.
Finken, you might recall, was campaign manager to Senator John Hoeven. That same John Hoeven who has endorsed Fedorchak. Truth doesn’t matter to Finken — or apparently to Fedorchak for that matter — only winning does. If it takes lies to make it happen, then they’re more than happy to spread them. Last week, State Senator Bob Paulson (R – District 3) wrote a letter condemning the PAC’s falsehoods and called upon North Dakotans to file them in the garbage where they belong.
Finken and his PAC of lies isn’t the only thing that has people talking lately though. Included in Fedorchak’s questionable decision-making was her choice not to participate in the second U.S. House debate. Her campaign cited a booked schedule as the reason for her absence, but Cara Mund posted evidence on Facebook that seems to indicate the scheduling conflicts were created by the Fedorchak campaign after she had been invited to the debate. Mund then blasted Fedorchak for her absence.
In light of the fact that Fedorchak did so poorly in the debate that she did participate in, it’s understandable why she may want to channel her inner Where’s Waldo going forward. Yet, this could be problematic for her. After all, if voters can’t trust Fedorchak to show up for a debate, can they trust her to take on the Swamp in Washington, DC? Or will she simply roll over and become a part of it like so many before her have? These are very serious questions. Especially in light of the fact that she seemingly has no problem with political surrogates who seek to help her by spreading lies about others. That’s a swampy kind of thing to do.
North Dakota needs a person in congress who espouses truth and isn’t afraid to show up and take on the tough issues. For many people, Julie Fedorchak is proving not to be that person.
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Sources:
- North Dakota Polls | FiveThirtyEight
- U.S. House Candidate Julie Fedorchak Had a Tough Week – The Minuteman Blog
- Rick Becker Wins the NDGOP Convention – The Minuteman Blog
- Former Miss America Cara Mund announces bid for US House as a Republican (kfyrtv.com)
- (19) Facebook Live | Facebook
- Hoeven endorses Fedorchak for US Congress (kfyrtv.com)
- GUEST POST: Senator Bob Paulson Defends Rick Becker – The Minuteman Blog
- Second NDGOP House candidate debate features more issues than attacks; Fedorchak absent • North Dakota Monitor
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