Weighing in on Minot’s Mayoral Election

It is arguable that the recent special election in Minot regarding the mayoral race was a waste of money. The winner will only serve from August 2025 until June 2026. That said, it may well have been worth it as a snapshot into the views of at least those voters who actually weighed in.

First of all, the winner’s political affiliation is not clear. I have never seen him at a Democratic meeting, although it is predictable that he communicated with Dorgan, Conrad, and Pomeroy when he was with the base retention member of the local chamber of commerce. One would also expect that he now communicates with Hoeven, Cramer, and Fedorchak on behalf of Minot.

The other three candidates appeared to be either independents, MAGA enthusiasts, or intergalactic. Two candidates represented gradual change in local government, whereas the other two represented substantial change. The voter turnout for a local special election was pretty good considering golf and walleye fishing were seductive summer alternatives. Of the over fifty-five hundred votes, gradualism received sixty-eight percent of those votes. That is obviously a landslide.

The three-legged stool of politics is the three Ms: the money, the message, and the messenger. The winner was apparently outspent. As that money was targeted against the alleged “good old boy network,” did that level of spending make some voters wonder who the new “good old boys” would be?

What effect did Rob Port of the Fargo Forum have on the election for publishing uncomfortable truths? How did the candidates on the receiving end of those uncomfortable truths handle them? Would the Jelly Roll method of confession and redemption have been better than threats of lawsuits?

In the digital age, are such disclosures surprising? The internet is like the Hotel California: you can check in, but you can never check out.

At the end of the day, a three-on-three deadlock remains on the Minot City Council. Will this result in constant deadlock or adult behavior? The Minot voters will have until next June to observe and vote accordingly. The voters have spoken, and we may have learned something.