Plain Talk

The 2026 midterms delivered a stark contrast for North Dakota Republicans. While the national GOP suffered an across-the-board collapse, statewide Republicans at home swept to victory. On the latest episode of Plain Talk, my co-host Chad Oban and I were joined by newly re-elected U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak and Attorney General Drew Wrigley to sift through the national wreckage and confront the political firestorms brewing in North Dakota. Fresh off her own decisive victory, Fedorchak didn't sugarcoat the grim reality awaiting her in Washington, where Democrats swept into a commanding House majority. "I'm losing a lot of really great colleagues," Fedorchak said, acknowledging that heading into the minority means Republicans no longer drive the agenda. Her diagnosis of why Republicans lost so catastrophically nationwide was unvarnished. "I think that Republicans nationally — and I heard this from my own kids — like, we're just disconnected from what average Americans wanted and were concerned about," Fedorchak said. She claimed that when Donald Trump proposed questionable economic ideas during the campaign, she pushed back. "When Trump came out with the beef stuff, I was immediately saying, 'This doesn't work. This is a bad idea, it doesn't solve the problem, it's hurtful to our people,'" Fedorchak said. "And I was pushing back on that... on the trade stuff." Looking ahead to incoming Democratic committee gavels, Fedorchak warned against turning the Capitol into a continuous courtroom. "We've already heard the potential new chair of oversight say, 'Lawyer up,'" she noted. "I don't think that American people want to see just two years of just impeachment proceedings and no work on solutions. What American citizens want, what North Dakotans want, is results." If Fedorchak was measured about Washington, Attorney General Drew Wrigley was characteristically blunt about both the national fallout and controversy back home. He recounted walking back from the Secretary of State's office after learning every single statewide Republican in Texas had lost. "I've never seen anything like the width and breadth of this butt-kicking," Wrigley told us. "It was a choice." Turning to state government, Wrigley directly confronted the uproar over the North Dakota Department of Commerce and the state Development Fund following recent legislative audit hearings. Critics and lawmakers have publicly demanded criminal probes, but Wrigley pushed back aggressively against what he described as weaponizing prosecutors without facts. "None of your listeners, and none of the people who voted for me yesterday, think Drew Wrigley is afraid to investigate things," Wrigley said. "It would be completely unethical to launch a criminal investigation without any evidence of criminal wrongdoing." "Just because something might look like self-dealing, or be self-dealing, is not the same as illegal," Wrigley he continued, explaining that if statutes don't criminalize a practice, prosecutors have no standing to bring charges. He also issued a warning to lawmakers tossing around allegations of stolen taxpayer cash. "Mishandled money, or money that you wish that there were more constraints on, is very different from missing money," Wrigley said. "Boy, they're probably lucky they're in public life. Slander's a real thing, so is defamation." If you want to participate in Plain Talk, 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. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below. Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts | Episode Archive

The 2026 midterms delivered a stark contrast for North Dakota Republicans. While the national GOP suffered an across-the-board collapse, statewide Republicans at home swept to victory. On the latest episode of Plain Talk, my co-host Chad Oban and I were joined by newly re-elected U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak and Attorney General Drew Wrigley to sift through the national wreckage and confront the political firestorms brewing in North Dakota. Fresh off her own decisive victory, Fedorchak didn't sugarcoat the grim reality awaiting her in Washington, where Democrats swept into a commanding House majority. "I'm losing a lot of really great colleagues," Fedorchak said, acknowledging that heading into the minority means Republicans no longer drive the agenda. Her diagnosis of why Republicans lost so catastrophically nationwide was unvarnished. "I think that Republicans nationally — and I heard this from my own kids — like, we're just disconnected from what average Americans wanted and were concerned about," Fedorchak said. She claimed that when Donald Trump proposed questionable economic ideas during the campaign, she pushed back. "When Trump came out with the beef stuff, I was immediately saying, 'This doesn't work. This is a bad idea, it doesn't solve the problem, it's hurtful to our people,'" Fedorchak said. "And I was pushing back on that... on the trade stuff." Looking ahead to incoming Democratic committee gavels, Fedorchak warned against turning the Capitol into a continuous courtroom. "We've already heard the potential new chair of oversight say, 'Lawyer up,'" she noted. "I don't think that American people want to see just two years of just impeachment proceedings and no work on solutions. What American citizens want, what North Dakotans want, is results." If Fedorchak was measured about Washington, Attorney General Drew Wrigley was characteristically blunt about both the national fallout and controversy back home. He recounted walking back from the Secretary of State's office after learning every single statewide Republican in Texas had lost. "I've never seen anything like the width and breadth of this butt-kicking," Wrigley told us. "It was a choice." Turning to state government, Wrigley directly confronted the uproar over the North Dakota Department of Commerce and the state Development Fund following recent legislative audit hearings. Critics and lawmakers have publicly demanded criminal probes, but Wrigley pushed back aggressively against what he described as weaponizing prosecutors without facts. "None of your listeners, and none of the people who voted for me yesterday, think Drew Wrigley is afraid to investigate things," Wrigley said. "It would be completely unethical to launch a criminal investigation without any evidence of criminal wrongdoing." "Just because something might look like self-dealing, or be self-dealing, is not the same as illegal," Wrigley he continued, explaining that if statutes don't criminalize a practice, prosecutors have no standing to bring charges. He also issued a warning to lawmakers tossing around allegations of stolen taxpayer cash. "Mishandled money, or money that you wish that there were more constraints on, is very different from missing money," Wrigley said. "Boy, they're probably lucky they're in public life. Slander's a real thing, so is defamation." If you want to participate in Plain Talk, 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. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below. Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts | Episode Archive

The morning after an election that reshaped national politics, Gov. Kelly Armstrong joined Plain Talk for a blunt debrief on a midterm had a couple of surprises, but largely left the status quo in place in North Dakota. While Democrats swept into comfortable majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate, Armstrong didn't sugarcoat the national drubbing for Republicans nationally. "People say blue wave, people say tsunami—it was a bloodbath last night," Armstrong said. "There's no other way to describe it. You lose a ton of your thought leaders. You lose your policy leaders, you lose your political minds." He pointed to economic pain and widespread fatigue with political noise. "Turns out the polls were wrong," he said. The bias, though, was in favor of Republicans in that it understated the breadth of support for Democrats. "When you control all three branches of government, the midterms aren't particularly great," Armstrong noted. "When you put the president involved in that, you turn the volume up to 11. A lot of Republicans stayed home, and Democrats across the country were very, very motivated to vote." Yet while states like Texas saw major Democratic shifts, the wave missed North Dakota, where statewide Republicans won by about the same margins they usually do. We asked Armstron why. "One, because I don't think North Dakota lives on outrage culture the same way everywhere else does, which is really a great, positive thing," he said. "When you try and tell everybody that the world in North Dakota just absolutely sucks, I don't feel that on the ground." On ballot measures, Armstrong reflected on the defeat of Measure 1, which he championed to raise the constitutional amendment threshold to 60%. Despite the loss, the governor said he was glad he pursued it. "The best advice I ever got when I was a starting lawyer was from my law partner's father in Dickinson," Armstrong said. "He said, 'If you're winning every case you're taking to trial, you're not trying enough cases.'" He also argued the fight over Measure 1 helped sink Measure 2's universal school meals mandate. "Measure 1 helped Measure 2 go down, so we don't have any constitutionally mandated spending yet, is the way I would put it," Armstrong said. He threw cold water on lawmakers passing it in statute this winter: "The laws of political gravity don't go away...I'd be hard-pressed to see a ton of motivation to move something this session on that." Armstrong also took aim at far-right legislative candidates backed by the Citizens Alliance who lost on election night. "I am not particularly upset when Citizens Alliance has a bad night," Armstrong said bluntly, "because I think they're bad for the Republican Party and bad for North Dakota." For Congresswoman-elect Julie Fedorchak entering a Democratic-controlled House, his advice was pragmatic. "The math is the math in the House," Armstrong said. "Any bill that the Democrats want to move through in D.C. is going to move. You're trying to get a semicolon changed to a comma in a CR so you can just survive." And his warning to incoming congressional Democrats? Don't spend the next two years impeaching cabinet members instead of tackling permitting and costs. "Listen to your Democratic governors that are begging for infrastructure reform," Armstrong said. "They need to walk and chew gum at the same time." After the interview, Chad and I briefly reviewed our election predictions. While we both correctly forecast the defeat of Measures 1 and 2, the sheer scale of the national Democratic wave blew past our expectations. If you want to participate in Plain Talk, 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. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below. Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts | Episode Archive

The morning after an election that reshaped national politics, Gov. Kelly Armstrong joined Plain Talk for a blunt debrief on a midterm had a couple of surprises, but largely left the status quo in place in North Dakota. While Democrats swept into comfortable majorities in both the U.S. House and Senate, Armstrong didn't sugarcoat the national drubbing for Republicans nationally. "People say blue wave, people say tsunami—it was a bloodbath last night," Armstrong said. "There's no other way to describe it. You lose a ton of your thought leaders. You lose your policy leaders, you lose your political minds." He pointed to economic pain and widespread fatigue with political noise. "Turns out the polls were wrong," he said. The bias, though, was in favor of Republicans in that it understated the breadth of support for Democrats. "When you control all three branches of government, the midterms aren't particularly great," Armstrong noted. "When you put the president involved in that, you turn the volume up to 11. A lot of Republicans stayed home, and Democrats across the country were very, very motivated to vote." Yet while states like Texas saw major Democratic shifts, the wave missed North Dakota, where statewide Republicans won by about the same margins they usually do. We asked Armstron why. "One, because I don't think North Dakota lives on outrage culture the same way everywhere else does, which is really a great, positive thing," he said. "When you try and tell everybody that the world in North Dakota just absolutely sucks, I don't feel that on the ground." On ballot measures, Armstrong reflected on the defeat of Measure 1, which he championed to raise the constitutional amendment threshold to 60%. Despite the loss, the governor said he was glad he pursued it. "The best advice I ever got when I was a starting lawyer was from my law partner's father in Dickinson," Armstrong said. "He said, 'If you're winning every case you're taking to trial, you're not trying enough cases.'" He also argued the fight over Measure 1 helped sink Measure 2's universal school meals mandate. "Measure 1 helped Measure 2 go down, so we don't have any constitutionally mandated spending yet, is the way I would put it," Armstrong said. He threw cold water on lawmakers passing it in statute this winter: "The laws of political gravity don't go away...I'd be hard-pressed to see a ton of motivation to move something this session on that." Armstrong also took aim at far-right legislative candidates backed by the Citizens Alliance who lost on election night. "I am not particularly upset when Citizens Alliance has a bad night," Armstrong said bluntly, "because I think they're bad for the Republican Party and bad for North Dakota." For Congresswoman-elect Julie Fedorchak entering a Democratic-controlled House, his advice was pragmatic. "The math is the math in the House," Armstrong said. "Any bill that the Democrats want to move through in D.C. is going to move. You're trying to get a semicolon changed to a comma in a CR so you can just survive." And his warning to incoming congressional Democrats? Don't spend the next two years impeaching cabinet members instead of tackling permitting and costs. "Listen to your Democratic governors that are begging for infrastructure reform," Armstrong said. "They need to walk and chew gum at the same time." After the interview, Chad and I briefly reviewed our election predictions. While we both correctly forecast the defeat of Measures 1 and 2, the sheer scale of the national Democratic wave blew past our expectations. If you want to participate in Plain Talk, 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. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below. Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts | Episode Archive

It is easy for politicians and voters to talk about education from thirty thousand feet, but the view from the front of a classroom looks a whole lot different. On the latest episode of Plain Talk, we were joined by Frannie Tunseth, a reading and math teacher at Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg and the 2026 North Dakota Teacher of the Year. She brought a grounded, candid perspective on what educators and kids are actually dealing with. Tunseth has spent the past year inviting decision-makers into her classroom—including Sen. Kevin Cramer, Lt. Gov. Michelle Strinden, and local lawmakers. "Advocacy without a relationship is simply noise," Tunseth told us. "It's not come and watch me teach. That's not what this is about at all. Come and talk to my students. Come and have conversations and see what are their lived experiences." The conversation quickly turned to the state's mounting teacher shortage. In an informal survey of more than 1,000 teachers over the past year, Tunseth found that 86% have actively looked for jobs outside of education. "That number should make us all pause and have some very serious conversations," she said. When asked to quantify the cumulative weight driving educators away, her response was simple: "We're tired." She pointed to rising health insurance deductibles, stagnant pay scales, and students arriving with complex social and mental health needs. "Teachers don't leave jobs that they're happy in," she added. Addressing the proposed "STAYS" initiative to provide recurring retention bonuses, Tunseth called it a "historic, long-overdue legislative acknowledgment" of the crisis. But she warned against viewing bonuses as a cure-all. "The thing that gives me just a little bit of pause is I think we can't let that be like a band-aid where then we don't talk about base pay," she said. "It cannot be a substitute for raising the fundamental base salaries, because that's very critical for pension calculations, for mortgage approvals, for just basic economic stability." Tunseth also made a forceful case for Measure 2, the initiated measure to fund universal school meals. "My mind doesn't go to the statistics or to the state budget; it goes straight to my classroom," she said. "There's one obstacle that no amount of teaching can overcome, and that's an empty stomach. In my eyes, Measure 2 comes down to a very simple truth: You cannot teach a hungry mind. A hungry kid is not going to learn." "In education, we provide textbooks, technology, bussing, because they are essential to learning, and I don't see nutrition any different," she noted. After the interview, Chad and I reflected on why schools cannot keep functioning as "Batman"—expected to swoop in and single-handedly solve every societal issue that starts at home. Then, with Election Day just around the corner, we laid our official election predictions on the line. We went through the entire ballot, breaking down the national fight for the U.S. House and Senate, North Dakota's congressional and statewide races, key legislative matchups in Fargo and Grand Forks, and the high-stakes showdowns on Measures 1 and 2. Chad and I didn't see eye-to-eye on several of the biggest races and ballot questions. If you want to know which way we think the chips will fall on Tuesday night, you'll have to tune in to the episode to find out. If you want to participate in Plain Talk, 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. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below. Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts | Episode Archive