2020 North Dakota gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2020 United States gubernatorial elections.

The 2020 North Dakota gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of North Dakota, concurrently with other federal and statewide elections, including the U.S. presidential election.^[1] Incumbent Republican governor Doug Burgum and lieutenant governor Brent Sanford were both re-elected to a second term.

2020 North Dakota gubernatorial election

← 2016 November 3, 2020 2024 →
Turnout	62.65%
Nominee Doug Burgum Shelley Lenz Party Republican Democratic–NPL Running mate Brent Sanford Ben Vig Popular vote 235,479 90,789 Percentage 65.84% 25.38%
County results Precinct results Burgum:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Lenz:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Governor before election Doug Burgum Republican Elected Governor Doug Burgum Republican

Republican primary

The Republican Party held a state convention in the spring to endorse a single gubernatorial candidate. That candidate and his or her running mate were automatically placed on the primary election ballot. Endorsed candidates may or may not face competition from other candidates placed there by petition—as incumbent governor Burgum did in 2016. The winner of the primary appears on the general election ballot. All primary elections in North Dakota are open to all qualified North Dakota electors, regardless of party affiliation.^[1] The 2020 primary election was held on June 9.

Candidates

Nominee

• Doug Burgum, incumbent governor^[2]
  • Running mate: Brent Sanford, incumbent lieutenant governor

Eliminated in primary

• Michael Coachman, former Larimore city councilor and perennial candidate^[3]
  • Running mate: Joel H. Hylden^[4]

Declined

• Wayne Stenehjem, North Dakota Attorney General^[5]
• Drew Wrigley, U.S. Attorney for the District of North Dakota^[5]

Results

Results by county:

  Burgum—>90%

  Burgum—80–90%

  Burgum—70–80%

Republican primary results ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Doug Burgum (incumbent)	96,119	89.51%
	Republican	Michael Coachman	10,904	10.15%
	Republican	Write-In	356	0.33%
Total votes			107,379	100.0%

Democratic-NPL primary

At the Democratic-NPL Party's virtual state convention on March 21, the party endorsed Shelley Lenz for governor and Ben Vig for lieutenant governor.^[7] As a result, they were automatically placed on the primary election ballot, where they did not face competition from other candidates. The primary election was held on June 9, entirely by mail and open to all qualified North Dakota electors, regardless of party affiliation.^[1]

Candidates

Nominee

• Shelley Lenz, veterinarian and former Killdeer school board member^[8]
  • Running mate: Ben Vig, former state representative^[9]

Declined

• Joshua Boschee, minority leader of the North Dakota House of Representatives^[5]
• Heidi Heitkamp, former U.S. senator^[10]
• Erin Oban, state senator^[5]
• Mac Schneider, former minority leader of the North Dakota Senate^[5]

Results

North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party primary results^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic–NPL	Shelley Lenz	34,501	99.33%
	Democratic–NPL	Write-In	231	0.67%
Total votes			34,732	100.0%

Other candidates

Libertarian Party

Nominee

• DuWayne Hendrickson^[11]
  • Running mate: Joshua Voytek^[11]

Results

Libertarian primary results^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Libertarian	DuWayne Hendrickson	705	77.64%
	Libertarian	Write-In	203	22.36%
Total votes			908	100.0%

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[12]	Safe R	October 23, 2020
Inside Elections[13]	Safe R	October 28, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[14]	Safe R	November 2, 2020
Politico[15]	Safe R	November 2, 2020
Daily Kos[16]	Safe R	October 28, 2020
RCP[17]	Safe R	November 2, 2020
270towin[18]	Safe R	November 2, 2020

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Doug Burgum (R)	Shelley Lenz (D)	DuWayne Hendrickson (L)	Undecided
DFM Research[19]	September 12–16, 2020	500 (LV)	± 4.5%	56%	24%	6%	14%

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Doug Burgum (R)	Heidi Heitkamp (D)	Other / Undecided
1892 Polling (R)[20][A]	July 15–17, 2019	500 (LV)	± 4.4%	62%	33%	5%

Hypothetical polling

with Heidi Heitkamp

Debate

The two major party candidates, as well as the Libertarian candidate DuWayne Hendrickson, had a televised debate on October 21.^[21][22]

Results

North Dakota gubernatorial election, 2020^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Doug Burgum (incumbent) Brent Sanford (incumbent)	235,479	65.84%	−10.68%
	Democratic–NPL	Shelley Lenz Ben Vig	90,789	25.38%	+5.99%
	Libertarian	DuWayne Hendrickson Joshua Voytek	13,853	3.87%	−0.03%
	Write-in		17,538	4.90%	+4.71%
Total votes			357,659	100.00%
Turnout			364,251	62.65%
Registered electors			581,379
	Republican hold

By county

By county

County Doug Burgum Republican Shelley Lenz Democratic–NPL DuWayne Hendrickson Libertarian Write-in Margin Total votes # % # % # % # % # % Adams 1,000 79.37 163 12.94 40 3.17 40 3.17 837 66.43 1,260 Barnes 3,775 68.44 1,366 24.76 173 3.14 202 3.66 2,409 43.67 5,516 Benson 1,098 56.25 708 36.27 61 3.13 85 4.35 390 19.98 1,952 Billings 442 70.27 57 9.06 28 4.45 102 16.22 340 54.05 629 Bottineau 2,653 77.01 588 17.07 93 2.70 111 3.22 2,065 59.94 3,445 Bowman 1,254 76.65 171 10.45 53 3.24 158 9.66 1,083 66.20 1,636 Burke 860 75.31 129 11.30 43 3.77 110 9.63 731 64.01 1,142 Burleigh 31,067 62.13 12,064 24.13 2,385 4.77 4,487 8.97 19,003 38.00 50,003 Cass 50,649 59.31 31,055 36.37 2,737 3.21 951 1.11 19,594 22.95 85,392 Cavalier 1,551 77.13 343 17.06 55 2.73 62 3.08 1,208 60.07 2,011 Dickey 1,791 73.95 479 19.78 72 2.97 80 3.30 1,312 54.17 2,422 Divide 918 76.76 200 16.72 40 3.34 38 3.18 718 60.03 1,196 Dunn 1,711 74.07 280 12.12 99 4.29 220 9.52 1,431 61.95 2,310 Eddy 847 67.60 307 24.50 37 2.95 62 4.95 540 43.10 1,253 Emmons 1,375 70.30 225 11.50 98 5.01 258 13.19 1,117 57.11 1,956 Foster 1,317 74.96 290 16.51 58 3.30 92 5.24 1,027 58.45 1,757 Golden Valley 792 78.11 105 10.36 46 4.54 71 7.00 687 67.75 1,014 Grand Forks 19,150 62.77 10,006 32.80 955 3.13 395 1.29 9,144 29.97 30,506 Grant 964 70.26 171 12.46 71 5.17 166 12.10 793 57.80 1,372 Griggs 924 74.46 247 19.90 33 2.66 37 2.98 677 54.55 1,241 Hettinger 923 71.66 153 11.88 65 5.05 147 11.41 770 59.78 1,288 Kidder 928 64.36 215 14.91 75 5.20 224 15.53 704 48.82 1,442 LaMoure 1,666 75.49 391 17.72 69 3.13 81 3.67 1,275 57.77 2,207 Logan 739 69.78 109 10.29 54 5.10 157 14.83 582 54.96 1,059 McHenry 2,211 74.32 447 15.03 136 4.57 181 6.08 1,764 59.29 2,975 McIntosh 1,109 77.12 201 13.98 64 4.45 64 4.45 908 63.14 1,438 McKenzie 4,305 80.60 659 12.34 192 3.59 185 3.46 3,646 68.26 5,341 McLean 3,466 63.67 1,094 20.10 305 5.60 579 10.64 2,372 43.57 5,444 Mercer 3,352 72.65 591 12.81 175 3.79 496 10.75 2,761 59.84 4,614 Morton 10,254 62.73 3,341 20.44 865 5.29 1,886 11.54 6,913 42.29 16,346 Mountrail 2,691 65.27 1,072 26.00 170 4.12 190 4.61 1,619 39.27 4,123 Nelson 1,192 67.08 504 28.36 40 2.25 41 2.31 688 38.72 1,777 Oliver 741 70.84 123 11.76 44 4.21 138 13.19 603 57.65 1,046 Pembina 2,451 74.27 625 18.94 91 2.76 133 4.03 1,826 55.33 3,300 Pierce 1,522 72.20 373 17.69 61 2.89 152 7.21 1,149 54.51 2,108 Ramsey 3,761 70.12 1,239 23.10 181 3.37 183 3.41 2,522 47.02 5,364 Ransom 1,603 65.56 693 28.34 97 3.97 52 2.13 910 37.22 2,445 Renville 1,064 80.97 168 12.79 43 3.27 39 2.97 896 68.19 1,314 Richland 5,458 70.34 1,963 25.30 236 3.04 102 1.31 3,495 45.04 7,759 Rolette 1,496 39.72 2,151 57.12 80 2.12 39 1.04 -655 -17.39 3,766 Sargent 1,414 68.64 571 27.72 53 2.57 22 1.07 843 40.92 2,060 Sheridan 516 64.91 101 12.70 43 5.41 135 16.98 381 47.92 795 Sioux 340 28.89 667 56.67 77 6.54 93 7.90 -327 -27.78 1,177 Slope 329 77.41 40 9.41 16 3.76 40 9.41 289 68.00 425 Stark 10,499 70.84 1,977 13.34 754 5.09 1,590 10.73 8,522 57.50 14,820 Steele 714 65.63 333 30.61 24 2.21 17 1.56 381 35.02 1,088 Stutsman 7,071 72.26 1,992 20.36 395 4.04 327 3.34 5,079 51.91 9,785 Towner 861 73.78 234 20.05 30 2.57 42 3.60 627 53.73 1,167 Traill 2,755 66.84 1,201 29.14 96 2.33 70 1.70 1,554 37.70 4,122 Walsh 3,461 72.96 975 20.55 120 2.53 188 3.96 2,486 52.40 4,744 Ward 20,295 72.51 5,587 19.96 1,262 4.51 847 3.03 14,708 52.55 27,991 Wells 1,606 68.57 356 15.20 98 4.18 282 12.04 1,250 53.37 2,342 Williams 10,548 75.48 1,689 12.09 665 4.76 1,072 7.67 8,859 63.40 13,974 Totals 235,479 65.84 90,789 25.38 13,853 3.87 17,538 4.90 144,690 40.46 357,659

Notes

Partisan clients

1. Poll sponsored by Doug Burgum

General notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear