Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., was defeated after nine terms in Congress.
(Josh Lederman for FOX News/KVRR)
Sen.-elect John Hoeven, the popular Republican governor of North Dakota, is filling the seat of retiring Sen. Byron Dorgan. (Josh Lederman for FOX News/KVRR)
There’s about to be a change of lineup for “Team North Dakota,” as they’ve long called themselves.
WASHINGTON — For 18 years, Sen. Kent Conrad, Sen. Byron Dorgan and Rep. Earl Pomeroy have made up the state’s three-person congressional delegation. Conrad has been in the Senate even longer, but previously held the seat currently occupied by Dorgan.
Much of that will change in January when North Dakota’s chorus in Washington goes from all Democrats to two-thirds Republicans. The North Dakotan midterm election results echoed the national Republican and anti-incumbent resurgence in which the GOP gained 63 House seats and six Senate seats.
The Senate seat held by Dorgan, who is retiring, was easily captured by current North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven, who finished with more than 75 percent of the vote. Hoeven, a Republican, is currently the longest-serving governor. He has said he will resign as governor Dec. 7.
Rep.-elect Rick Berg describes getting his congressional office up and running.
Another Republican, state lawmaker Rick Berg, defeated Pomeroy in his bid for a 10th term as the state’s only U.S. representative. Berg capitalized on voter opposition to the Democrats’ health care law, which Pomeroy’s vote was key in passing, to portray him as out of touch with North Dakotans and link him to unpopular Democrats and the Washington establishment.
Pomeroy’s campaign was notable in that instead of defending the accomplishments of his party in Washington, Pomeroy distanced himself and downplayed his record.
“I’m not Nancy Pelosi, I’m not Barack Obama, I’m Earl Pomeroy,” he said in a campaign ad aimed to reintroduce him to the constituents he’d been representing for almost two decades. “I know I’ve disappointed you with a vote here or there, but you can always count on the fact that I do what I do for the right reason, for the people of North Dakota.”
Berg, meanwhile, toured the state in his pickup truck, burnishing his grassroots credentials and talking pro-business and anti-spending.
But despite Pomeroy’s attempts to revamp his image and depict Berg as beholden to corporate interests, he lost his seat by ten points.
Sen. Kent Conrad reacts to the change in his state’s congressional delegation.
Conrad isn’t up for re-election until 2012, but he’ll now be North Dakota’s sole Democratic member of Congress. Conrad considered trading his chairmanship of the Budget Committee for the Agriculture Committee, whose current chair, Democrat Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, lost her seat. But last week Conrad announced he will stay as chair of the Budget Committee, while still working in the Agriculture Committee to develop the Farm Bill, which must be renewed next year.
Both the two new Republicans, Berg and Hoeven, and the remaining Democrat, Pomeroy, say they’re able and eager to work together closely, and point out that they’ve known and worked with one another for years. But Berg has called for a repeal of the health care legislation that Conrad was instrumental in developing, and Conrad is likely to have a different approach to stimulating the economy and cutting the deficit than Berg and Hoeven.
Sen.-elect John Hoeven lists his priorities for the 112th Congress.
If they can’t find common ground on highly partisan, national policy issues, perhaps they’ll have better luck on state-specific issues, like dealing with major flooding problems and supporting the state’s farming and energy sectors.
Voters in North Dakota and observers elsewhere will be watching starting January to see whether the unanimity and comity that led to the “Team North Dakota” moniker can continue despite its new members’ starkly conflicting positions the issues expected to come up in the next Congress.