If you're a Republican on the ballot in North Dakota you're probably going to win.

It wasn't always that way, and it won't always be that way, but it is that way now, and it makes a problem within the NDGOP, where a certain faction is playing games with the rules to control which candidates appear on the ballot as Republicans, all the more acute.

"What's going on is we have some gamesmanship at the district level where the districts are basically telling the state party that they are autonomous and they can do their own thing and they don't have to answer to the state committee or the state Republican party," Robert Harms said on this episode of Plain Talk.

What this means, as a practical matter, is that if you want to get involved in local politics, as a candidate or a district-level leader, or even as a just a rank-and-file party member, you may get locked out by political shenanigans.

Harms is a former NDGOP chairman, who as served as legal counsel to multiple governors, and he is trying to get a law changed that prohibits political parties from setting uniform rules for their constituent districts.

He said the status quo, which sees some district leaders trying to keep meetings and rules a secret, is alienating people.

"I mean, we have former elected officials, statewide elected officials, long-time, lifelong Republicans saying, 'I'm done. I've had it. I'm not going to any more conventions, whether it's at the state level or the endorsing convention,'" Harms said. "I've had friends tell me, 'Harms, there is no way I'm going to engage with the Republican party any longer because of all the nonsense that's going on.'"

Also on this episode, co-host Chad Oban and I talk about the status of property tax reform in Bismarck, the local impact of the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) cuts, and what the last weeks of the legislative session may look like.

This episode is presented by Bakken Backers. Bakken Backers is a coalition of businesses, leaders, workers, and citizens who support energy production from the Bakken formation and its many benefits for North Dakota. Learn more at BackTheBakken.org.

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