U.S. House candidate Rick Becker recently took the unusual step of paying internet personality and trans rights activist Dylan Mulvaney to record a message praising the energy record of his primary rival, Public Service Commisisoner Julie Fedorchak.

The message was done tongue-in-cheek -- though it hasn't sat well with some elements of the MAGA movement who take exception to Becker working with Mulvaney in even a joking way -- but Becker used it to attack Fedorchak's record on coal issues.

"What's not a laughing matter is how time and again Julie Fedorchack placed radical green energy proposals above the coal industry here in North Dakota," he wrote.

That may have been a mistake. North Dakota's coal industry noticed Becker's stunt, and it has prompted them to endorse Fedorchak in the race.

"That is a statement I can't even wrap my head around," Jason Bohrer, the president of the North Dakota Lignite Energy Council and chair of Lignite's political action committee, said on this episode of Plain Talk. "I don't understand where that statement comes from," he added.

Bohrer told me and co-host Chad Oban that Lignite doesn't typically endorse in partisan primaries, but they feel this situation is different. "This is a place where we have to be clear," Bohrer said. "We do support Julie."

He made it clear that the organization is endorsing Fedorchak in the race.

Bohrer said he didn't want to spend a lot of time "attacking" Becker's record on coal issues while serving in the Legislature, but he did say that Becker "has never been supportive" of the industry's priorities on research and development.

"We had a group of legislators we would go to for those things," Bohrer added. "He wasn't in it."

Also on this episode, state Rep. Michelle Strinden, who is running for Lt. Governor alongside gubernatorial candidate Kelly Armstrong, took questions about being chosen as a running mate, the state of the race, and top issues like education and property taxes.

Want to subscribe to Plain Talk? Search for the show wherever you get your podcasts, or click here for more information.