The North Dakota Republican Party will be holding what will be a very interesting event on April 5.

Interesting in the conventional way in that it will be a showcase of (most) of the party's statewide candidates. Interesting also in that there is a divide among Republicans between those who think the party's most ardent activists, the one who fill up the seats at the party's conventions, are increasingly out of touch with not only the larger electorate, but rank-and-file Republican voters as well.

I don't know that this convention will be the answer to that debate, but it will be informative. Talking about that issue on this episode of Plain Talk is NDGOP executive director Andrew Nyhus.

"Rob, sometimes you make us money," he told me and my co-host Chad Oban, referencing my frequent criticisms of the party. "The checks come in," he claims. He also spoke to rumors that there may be an attempt to set aside rules at the convention to allow U.S. House candidate Rick Becker to seek the convention endorsement.

Becker is from the MAGA wing of the NDGOP, and the conventions are his base of political power. In 2022, after losing the convention endorsement to U.S. Senate incumbent John Hoeven, he then challenged Hoeven in the general election as an independent. The NDGOP has a rule stating that any candidate who seeks office as an independent, or the candidate for another party, cannot seek the Republican endorsement for three political cycles.

"If you say you believe in the rule of law, and you have rules...you can't really suspend the rules," he said of potential efforts to get Becker before the delegates.

"Suspending the rules is not possible," he added, and defended the rule barring Becker from the endorsement. His challenge to Hoeven in the general election "could have cost us a win," he said. "A U.S. Senate seat."

Nyhus also discussed divides in the party over the platform, and the role of the party in activism.

Also on this episode, Chad and I discuss the recent polling in North Dakota U.S. House race released by Becker's campaign.

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