The legislative races in the Grand Forks area have gotten ugly. Incumbent state Sen. Scott Meyer, a Republican from District 18, sent his opponent threatening social media messages. Incumbent state Rep. Emily O'Brien from District 42 has been accused of not living in her district. Now Sarah Grossbauer, a Democratic-NPL candidate in District 42 -- one of O'Brien's opponents -- is dodging questions about drug use after a Republican (and former friend) leaked a photo of her allegedly using cocaine in the bathroom of a downtown Grand Forks bar.

Me and Chad Oban talked about it all on this episode of Plain Talk (full disclosure, Oban works for North Dakota United, as does Grossbauer). One complicating factor in all of this is our propensity -- and I really mean "our" because we're all guilty of this -- of being hypercritical of candidates we don't like while rationalizing the behavior of those we do.

It has to stop. We can expect more from our elected officials.

Auditor Josh Gallion also joined this episode to talk about what he's done during his two terms in office to justify voters giving him a third. Among his arguments? He's modernized the office. "We had walls of filing cabinets with paper records," he said. Now, much of that data has been digitized, and is available online.

Gallion also talked about his office's greater efforts to communicate audit information to the public, but at times that's gotten the incumbent in some hot water. His critics in the Legislature, and in local government, have accused him of sensationalizing funding. Gallion responded to those criticisms, and others related to the costs of his office's audits.

Finally, Chad and made our 2024 election predictions. How will North Dakota's statewide races shake out? Which ballot measures will be approved? Will the partisan balance in the Legislature change much? And who is going to win the national election?

You'll have to listen to find out what we think. And, after Tuesday, maybe you can make fun of us for being wrong.

Speaking of which, we have a new way for you to communicate with us. Just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It's super easy—leave your message, tell us your name and where you're from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode.

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