Port: Republican traditionalists get legislative leadership spots as routed populists fail to mount challenges

MINOT — North Dakota Republicans have chosen their legislative leaders for the upcoming 2027 session, according to multiple legislative sources, with a new majority leader in the House and a new nominee for speaker, while Senate Republicans opted for no changes. Nearly all of the candidates ran unopposed, which is surprising given the deeply divided nature of the North Dakota Republican Party. The new leadership is very much from the traditional Republican faction. That the populists didn't mount a substantive challenge for leadership is a product of the terrible election cycle they just had. Their candidates for various legislative and statewide offices were routed in the June primary. The North Dakota Republican Party, which the populists control, ended the political cycle cash-poor and irrelevant. Rep. Robin Weisz, a Hurdsfield Republican who served as House speaker during the 2025 session, was elected House majority leader Wednesday evening, Nov. 11. He ran unopposed.

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