FARGO — With Election Day less than a month away, the candidates for North Dakota’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives wrangled over abortion and campaign finance in their final scheduled debate on Tuesday, Oct. 11.
Independent candidate Cara Mund criticized incumbent GOP Rep. Kelly Armstrong’s legislative record and accused her opponent of being “a rubber stamp and a puppet” for the Republican Party and corporate donors.
Armstrong dismissed Mund’s harsh critiques as unfair attempts to “score political points” and said he has promoted the best interests of North Dakotans during his four-year tenure in Washington.
Mund and Armstrong are the only ones left in the race after
endorsed Democratic-NPL candidate Mark Haugen
dropped out in September at the request of influential members of his own party.
Much of the race has been framed around the candidates’ disagreements on abortion, and Tuesday’s debate hosted by KFGO was no different. Right out of the gate, Mund and Armstrong spent nearly 10 uninterrupted minutes quarreling over whether the controversial procedure should be legal.
Mund, a recent Harvard law school graduate from Bismarck, said
the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision
that allows states to outlaw abortion “treats women like second-class citizens” by infringing on their right to bodily autonomy.
The former Miss America titleholder said Congress should codify Roe v. Wade, which would cement the right to have an abortion nationwide.
Armstrong, an attorney and former state senator from Dickinson, said he is anti-abortion, and he supports the high court’s decision to send the issue back to the states. He said the federal government has failed on the abortion issue for more than 50 years, and
he doesn’t favor a federal abortion ban.
In one sharp exchange, Mund said she is the only candidate representing the voice of women who will be affected by abortion bans. Armstrong said he is married to an accomplished woman and the father of a teenage girl, and “to say that I’m not allowed to weigh in on these positions … as the sole representative of North Dakota is not how our democracy works.”
A Bismarck judge has
blocked an abortion ban
from taking effect in North Dakota. However, the state’s lone abortion clinic
moved from Fargo to Moorhead
in August.
Mund alleged that Armstrong is “bought and paid for” by corporate interests, saying
her campaign that began in August
is not accepting donations from political action committees, or PACs. The independent candidate said her next campaign finance filing will show her receiving about $70,000 from individual donors.
The most recent
campaign finance filings
show Armstrong has received more than $930,000 in contributions from PACs this year.
“It would have been a lot easier to go with a party, it would have been a lot easier to take that PAC money, but the easy road is not always the honorable road,” Mund said.
Armstrong said he raises money from all over the spectrum, and many of the PACs that support his campaign are formed by the employees of North Dakota-based companies. The Republican said he expects to spend just under $1 million in campaign funds in the month-and-a-half leading up to the Nov. 8 election.
“I work toward good policy, and I’m proud of the fact we have a good fundraising record,” Armstrong said.
Mund billed herself as an independent thinker who will put North Dakotans first. She painted her opponent as a partisan puppet who allows Republican leaders to tell him what to do.
Armstrong emphatically rejected Mund’s characterization of him, saying he’s proud of his reputation as a conservative who can work across the aisle.
“I’m completely comfortable bucking my own party, and to say I’m a yes man, it’s a great talking point. The problem is it’s just not true,” Armstrong said. “Anyone who’s ever worked with me or against me in the North Dakota Legislature or in Congress knows that.”
Other highlights from the debate include:
- The candidates clashed on a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that
Armstrong did not support.
Mund said the bill, which passed last year, provided millions of dollars in much-needed funding for North Dakota roads. Armstrong said he voted against the proposal because it adds significantly to the federal deficit and financially burdens future generations.
- Mund criticized Armstrong for
voting against Democratic legislation
that aimed to standardize the nation’s election laws and expand voting access. Armstrong said North Dakota already has the most accessible elections in the country, and the voting rights package would have robbed the state of control over its elections.
- Armstrong said the top three issues for North Dakota voters this election cycle are inflation, the economy and protecting the agriculture and energy sectors. Mund said the most important issues are inflation and the economy, upholding democracy and sticking up for women’s rights.
- Both candidates said they haven’t decided how they will vote on
a measure to legalize recreational marijuana
in North Dakota.
Mail-in voting began Sept. 29 in North Dakota. The general election is Nov. 8. Voters can find their polling place at
vip.sos.nd.gov/wheretovote.aspx.
For answers to frequently asked voting questions, go to
www.inforum.com/election-2022-resources.
