North Dakota's at-large congressional district

North Dakota's At-large congressional district is the sole congressional district for the state of North Dakota. All of North Dakota is contained within one at large Congressional District making it the sixth largest district in the nation. It was first created when North Dakota achieved statehood on November 2, 1889, electing a single member. Following the 1900 census the state was allocated two Representatives who were both elected from the at large district, but when the 1910 census allocated a third the State drew three single-member districts. After the 1930 census eliminated the third district, North Dakota returned to electing two members from an at-large district until 1962 when two single member districts were drawn.

Since the reapportioning of Congressional seats in 1973 following the 1970 census, North Dakota has had only a single Representative. At the 1972 election, this meant that the two North Dakota congressional districts were merged into one, and Mark Andrews (Republican incumbent in the 1st Congressional District) won the newly-merged district with 72.7% of the vote. Arthur Link, Democratic incumbent in the 2nd congressional district, did not run for re-election, but was successful in winning election as the State's Governor.

In the post-Watergate 1974 elections, Andrews was challenged by Byron Dorgan (D) and was re-elected with 55.7% of the vote. In 1976 and 1978 he increased his majority over Democratic challengers Lloyd Omdahl and Bruce Hagen respectively.

Andrews stepped down from the House seat to run (successfully) for the United States Senate in 1980. In his place, Byron Dorgan ran for the open seat and defeated Republican Jim Smykowski by 56.8% to 42.6%. He obtained re-election with his percentage vote never dropping below 70% until 1990 (when Republican Edward T. Schafer, later to be elected Governor of the State, held him to only 65.2%). Dorgan in turn ran for a Senate seat in 1992 and left an open seat which was assessed as leaning Democratic. Republican John Korsmo lost to Democrat Earl Pomeroy by 39.4% to 56.8%.

Pomeroy has seen some close elections when defending his seat. He won only 52.3% in 1994, 52.9% in 2000 and 52.4% in 2002. However in the 2004 elections he won 59.6% of the vote over Duane Sand and in the 2006 elections he beat Matthew Mechtel with 66% of the vote.

Members of the US House

Single member

• November 2 1889 – March 3 1891: Henry C. Hansbrough (Republican)
• March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1899: Martin N. Johnson (Republican)
• March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1901: Burleigh F. Spalding (Republican)
• March 4, 1901 – March 3, 1903: Thomas F. Marshall (Republican)

Two members

Dates	First member	Dates	Second member
March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1909	Thomas F. Marshall (Republican)	March 3, 1903 – March 3, 1905	Burleigh F. Spalding (Republican)
		March 4, 1905 – February 2, 1911	Asle J. Gronna (Republican)
March 4, 1909 – January 7, 1913	Louis B. Hanna (Republican)
		March 4, 1911 – March 3, 1913	Henry T. Helgesen (Republican)

1st Congressional District

• March 4, 1913 – April 10, 1917: Henry T. Helgesen (Republican)
• July 20, 1917 – March 3, 1921: John M. Baer (Republican)
• March 4, 1921 – March 3, 1933: Olger B. Burtness (Republican)

Two members

Dates	First member	Dates	Second member
March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1935	James H. Sinclair (Republican)	March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1941	William Lemke (Republican)
January 3, 1935 – January 3, 1945	Usher L. Burdick (Republican)
		January 3, 1941 – January 3, 1943	Charles R. Robertson (Republican)
		January 3, 1943 – May 30, 1950	William Lemke (Republican)
January 3, 1945 – January 3, 1949	Charles R. Robertson (Republican)
January 3, 1949 – January 3, 1959	Usher L. Burdick (Republican)
		January 3, 1951 – January 3, 1953	Fred G. Aandahl (Republican
		January 3, 1953 – January 3, 1959	Otto Krueger (Republican)
January 3, 1959 – August 8, 1960	Quentin N. Burdick (Democrat)	January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1963	Don L. Short (Republican)
January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1963	Hjalmar Nygaard (Republican)

1st Congressional District

• January 3, 1963 – July 18, 1963: Hjalmar Nygaard (Republican)
• October 22, 1963 – January 3, 1973: Mark Andrews (Republican)

Single member

• January 3, 1973 – January 3, 1981: Mark Andrews (Republican)
• January 3, 1981 – December 14, 1992: Byron Dorgan (Democrat)
• January 3, 1993 – : Earl Pomeroy (Democrat)

Election results

At large

Year	Candidate	Party	Votes	%
October 1, 1889 (51st Congress)	Henry C. Hansbrough	R	26,077	68.4
	D.W. Maratta	D	12,066	31.6
1890 (52nd Congress)	Martin N. Johnson	R	21,365	59.0
	John D. Benton	D	14,830	41.0
1892 (53rd Congress)	Martin N. Johnson	R	17,695	48.9
	James F. O'Brien	D	11,021	30.5
	Hans A. Foss	I	7,434	20.6
1894 (54th Congress)	Martin N. Johnson	R	21,615	55.4
	Walter Muir	POP	15,660	40.2
	Budd Reeve	I	1,283	3.3
	L.S. Ellis	P	439	1.1
1896 (55th Congress)	Martin N. Johnson	R	25,233	54.0
	John Burke	FUS	21,172	45.3
	A.V. Garver	P	349	0.7
1898 (56th Congress)	Burleigh F. Spalding	R	27,766	60.9
	H.M. Creel	FUS	17,844	39.1
1900 (57th Congress)	Thomas F. Marshall	R	34,887	61.0
	M.A. Hildreth	D & I	21,175	37.0
	Charles H. Mott	P	585	1.0
	J.C. Charest	SD	412	0.7
	Martin S. Blair	People's	122	0.2
1902 (58th Congress)	Thomas F. Marshall	R	32,986	67.6
	Burleigh F. Spalding	R	32,854
	Lars A. Ueland	D	14,765	29.9
	Verner E. Lovell	D	14,392
	Royal F. King	SOC	1,195	2.5
1904 (59th Congress)	Thomas F. Marshall	R	49,111	72.7
	Asle J. Gronna	R	47,648
	N. P. Rasmussen	D	15,622	23.3
	A. G. Burr	D	15,398
	L. F. Dow	SOC	1,734	2.6
	E. D. Herring	SOC	1,697
	B. H. Tibbets	P	971	1.5
	N. A. Colby	P	967
1906 (60th Congress)	Thomas F. Marshall	R	38,923	62.9
	Asle J. Gronna	R	36,772
	A. G. Burr	D	21,350	35.2
	John D. Benton	D	21,050
	K. Halvorson	SOC	1,151	1.9
	W. J. Bailey	SOC	1,129
1908 (61st Congress)	Asle J. Gronna	R	57,357	65.7
	Louis B. Hanna	R	55,610
	T. D. Casey	D	29,426	33.7
	O. G. Major	D	28,448
	Francis Cooper	I	591	0.3
	E. D. Herring	I	533	0.3
1910 (62nd Congress)	Louis B. Hanna	R	51,556	63.9
	Henry T. Helgesen	R	50,600
	Tobias D. Casey	D	25,880	32.0
	M. A. Hildreth	D	25,322
	Arthur Hagendorf	SOC	3,225	4.0
	N. H. Bjornstad	SOC	3,179

1st District

Year	Candidate	Party	Votes	%
1912 (63rd Congress)	Henry T. Helgesen	R	17,156	61.1
	V. R. Lovell	D	9,609	34.2
	Leon Durocher	SOC	1,310	4.7
1914 (64th Congress)	Henry T. Helgesen	R	16,565	56.0
	Fred Bartholomew	D	12,217	41.3
	Leon Durocher	SOC	812	2.7
1916 (65th Congress)	Henry T. Helgesen	R	20,709	59.9
	George A. Bangs	D	13,236	38.3
	V. Gram	SOC	622	1.8
July 10 1917 special election (65th Congress)	John M. Baer	N-PART	13,211	50.9
	Olger B. Burtness	R	8,969	34.6
	George A. Bangs	D	3,276	12.6
	H.H. Aaker	N-PART PROG R	212	0.8
	Frederic T. Cuthbert	R	118	0.5
	Henry G. Vick	R	75	0.3
	Charles Plain	R	72	0.3
1918 (66th Congress)	John M. Baer	R	16,433	55.1
	Fred Bartholomew	D	13,416	44.9
1920 (67th Congress)	Olger B. Burtness	R	43,530	57.6
	John M. Baer	I N-PART	32,072	42.4
1922 (68th Congress)	Olger B. Burtness	R	45,959	100.0
1924 (69th Congress)	Olger B. Burtness	R	44,573	75.4
	Walter Welford	D	14,511	24.6
1926 (70th Congress)	Olger B. Burtness	R	37,326	79.9
	R. E. Smith	D	6,136	13.1
	Donald McDonald	F-LAB	3,246	7.0
1928 (71st Congress)	Olger B. Burtness	R	53,941	77.5
	W. S. Hooper	D	15,646	22.5
1930 (72nd Congress)	Olger B. Burtness	R	42,598	75.0
	J. E. Garvey	D	14,208	25.0

At large

Year	Candidate	Party	Votes	%
1932 (73rd Congress)	James H. Sinclair	R	144,339	65.7
	William Lemke	R	135,339
	William D. Lynch	D	72,659	33.9
	R. B. Murphy	D	71,695
	Pat J. Barrett	I	690	0.3
	Ella Reeve Bloor	I	678
1934 (74th Congress)	William Lemke	R	144,605	49.9
	Usher L. Burdick	R	114,841
	William D. Lynch	D	85,771	31.8
	G. F. Lamb	D	79,338
	James H. Sinclair	PROG N-PART R	46,304	17.8
	Jasper Haaland	COM-W-FG	1,299	0.5
	Effie Kjorstad	COM-W-FG	1,090
1936 (75th Congress)	William Lemke	R	131,117	54.1
	Usher L. Burdick	R	115,913
	Henry Holt	D	100,609	41.7
	J.J. Nygaard	D	89,722
	I.J. Moe	I	3,310	1.4
	P.H. Miller	I	3,273	1.4
	E.A. Johannson	I	2,697	1.2
	Jasper Haaland	COM	540	0.2
	W.D. Webster	COM	461
1938 (76th Congress)	William Lemke	R	153,106	72.3
	Usher L. Burdick	R	149,047
	Howard I. Henry	D	55,125	23.9
	Alfred S. Dale	D	44,691
	J.B. Field	I	8,109	3.9
1940 (77th Congress)	Usher L. Burdick	R	148,227	60.3
	Charles R. Robertson	R	111,125
	R.J. Downey	D	63,662	29.4
	Adolph Michelson	D	63,027
	Thomas Hall	I	23,399	10.3
	John Omland	I	20,845
1942 (78th Congress)	Usher L. Burdick	R	85,936	46.3
	William Lemke	R	65,905
	Charles R. Robertson	I	48,472	29.5
	Halvor L. Halvorson	D	47,972	24.2
	E.A. Johansson	D	31,547
1944 (79th Congress)	William Lemke	R	101,007	50.7
	Charles R. Robertson	R	91,425
	Halvor L. Halvorson	D	56,699	26.9
	J.R. Kennedy	D	45,308
	Usher L. Burdick	I R	39,888	21.0
	George McClellan	I R	3,135	1.4
	A.C. Townley	I R	2,307
1946 (80th Congress)	William Lemke	R	103,205	74.3
	Charles R. Robertson	R	102,087
	James M. Hanley	D	41,189	25.7
	Edwin Cooper	D	29,865
1948 (81st Congress)	William Lemke	R	132,343	69.0
	Usher L. Burdick	R	128,454
	Alfred Dale	D	56,702	30.0
	John M. Weiler	PROG	1,758	0.9
1950 (82nd Congress)	Fred G. Aandahl	R	119,047	70.7
	Usher L. Burdick	R	110,534
	Ervin Schumacher	D	62,322	29.3
	E.A. Johansson	D	32,946
1952 (83rd Congress)	Usher L. Burdick	R	181,218	77.2
	Otto Krueger	R	156,829
	Edward Nesemeier	D	49,829	22.8
	Scattered votes		49	0.0
1954 (84th Congress)	Usher L. Burdick	R	124,845	67.1
	Otto Krueger	R	106,341
	P.W. Lanier	D	64,089	32.9
	Raymond G. Vendsel	D	49,183
1956 (85th Congress)	Usher L. Burdick	R	143,514	62.3
	Otto Krueger	R	136,003
	Agnes Geelan	D	85,743	37.7
	S.B. Hocking	D	83,284
1958 (86th Congress)	Quentin Burdick	D	99,562	48.4
	Don L. Short	R	97,862	51.6
	Orris G. Nordhougen	R	92,124
	S.B. Hocking	D	78,889
1960 (87th Congress)	Don L. Short	R	135,579	53.3
	Hjalmar Nygaard	R	127,118
	Raymond Vendsel	D	120,773	46.7
	Anson J. Anderson	D	109,207

References

• Official election return, 2004