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Judy Estenson

Republican Party

Prior offices:

North Dakota State Senate District 15

Years in office: 2022 - 2024

Predecessor:Dave Oehlke (R)

Successor:Kent Weston (R)

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Contact

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Judy Estenson (Republican Party) was a member of theNorth Dakota State Senate, representingDistrict 15. She assumed office on December 1, 2022. She left office on December 1, 2024.

Estenson (Republican Party) ran in a special election to theNorth Dakota State Senate to representDistrict 9. She lost in the special general election onNovember 5, 2024.

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Committee assignments

2023-2024

Estenson was assigned to the following committees:

• House Judiciary Committee
• Senate State and Local Government Committee

Elections

2024

See also: North Dakota state legislative special elections, 2024

General election

Special general election for North Dakota State Senate District 9

Richard Marcellais defeated incumbentJudy Estenson in the special general election for North Dakota State Senate District 9 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Richard Marcellais (D)	61.3	3,395
		Judy Estenson (R)	38.6	2,134
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	5

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,534
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Special Democratic primary for North Dakota State Senate District 9

Richard Marcellais advanced from the special Democratic primary for North Dakota State Senate District 9 on June 11, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Richard Marcellais	99.7	696
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	2

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 698
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Jayme Davis (D)

Republican primary election

Special Republican primary for North Dakota State Senate District 9

IncumbentJudy Estenson advanced from the special Republican primary for North Dakota State Senate District 9 on June 11, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Judy Estenson	98.9	847
		Other/Write-in votes	1.1	9

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 856
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

2022

See also: North Dakota State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for North Dakota State Senate District 15

Judy Estenson defeatedCollette Brown in the general election for North Dakota State Senate District 15 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Judy Estenson (R)	65.5	3,417
		Collette Brown (D)	33.9	1,768
		Other/Write-in votes	0.6	33

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,218
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for North Dakota State Senate District 15

Collette Brown advanced from the Democratic primary for North Dakota State Senate District 15 on June 14, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Collette Brown	99.8	587
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	1

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 588
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for North Dakota State Senate District 15

Judy Estenson defeated incumbentDave Oehlke in the Republican primary for North Dakota State Senate District 15 on June 14, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Judy Estenson	57.3	1,602
		Dave Oehlke	42.6	1,190
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	2

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,794
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also:North Dakota State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for North Dakota State Senate District 23

IncumbentJoan Heckaman defeatedJudy Estenson in the general election for North Dakota State Senate District 23 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joan Heckaman (D)	54.4	3,401
		Judy Estenson (R)	45.5	2,842
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	6

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,249
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for North Dakota State Senate District 23

IncumbentJoan Heckaman advanced from the Democratic primary for North Dakota State Senate District 23 on June 12, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joan Heckaman	100.0	1,202

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 1,202
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for North Dakota State Senate District 23

Judy Estenson advanced from the Republican primary for North Dakota State Senate District 23 on June 12, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Judy Estenson	100.0	1,505

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 1,505
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2014

See also:North Dakota down ballot state executive elections, 2014

Estenson ran forelection to the office ofNorth Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture. Estenson was seeking theRepublican nomination in the primary on June 10 but dropped out of the race on April 6 after she came second at the GOP state convention.^[1]

Race background

TheNorth Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture also serves as a member on the state's three-member Industrial Commission. This commission, among many duties, regulates North Dakota's oil and gas industry.^[2] The race for agriculture commissioner featured candidate disagreements over how to deal with the rush to extract oil and gas from the Bakken shale.

The incumbent,RepublicanDoug Goehring, expressed support for an accelerated rate of oil extraction, opposing legislation that might slow down the growth of drilling.^[3] In a speech at the state Republican convention, he said that "the ties between agriculture and energy have never been more important that they are today." The North Dakota Farm Bureau endorsed his primary challenger,Judy Estenson.^[4] Estenson lost the state GOP endorsement and dropped out of the race.^[4][5]

TheDemocratic challenger,Ryan Taylor, expressed concern about the consequences of the oil rush. He said, "You can’t unleash all that oil and then wonder why the train tracks are full of oil tankers and you can’t get grain on from the elevators in North Dakota and get that product to market."^[6] Taylor argued for greater weight on agricultural considerations.^[6]

Campaign finance

Campaign finance disclosures filed by early October showed Goehring with $339,000 in contributions. Taylor raised $285,000 during the same time period.^[7]

Issues background: Fracking

See also:Fracking in North Dakota

Since oil was first discovered in 1951 inNorth Dakota, over 13,000 wells have been drilled. The graph to the right shows how oil production in the state increased from 45.14 million barrels in 2007 to 313.8 million barrels in 2013. A study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute estimated that in 2011, 12 percent of state employment and 13.1 percent of labor income were connected to the oil and gas industry.

The industry's rapid growth has attracted workers from outside the state, leading to increased demand for housing and public services such as police and fire departments. At the same time, environmental groups and local stakeholders expressed concern about the potential ecological effects of the boom. While hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has been used in the United States for decades, some experts have questioned whether regulatory agencies have sufficient resources to consistently enforce environmental protections.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Judy Estenson did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Judy Estenson did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

2016 Republican National Convention

See also:Republican National Convention, 2016

Estenson wasan at-large delegate to the2016 Republican National Convention fromNorth Dakota.

Delegate rules

See also:RNC delegate guidelines from North Dakota, 2016 andRepublican delegates from North Dakota, 2016

Delegates from North Dakota to the2016 Republican National Convention were selected by committee at the state Republican convention in April 2016. North Dakota GOP bylaws did not require delegates to indicate which presidential candidate they prefer at the time of their selection. At the national convention, delegates from North Dakota wereunbound on all ballots.

Delegate allocation

See also:2016 presidential nominations: calendar and delegate rules

North Dakota had 28 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention: 22 at-large delegates, three congressional district delegates, and three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates). Delegates to the state convention were selected at district conventions, where no presidential preference poll was taken. The state's Republican National Convention delegation was selected at the state GOP convention, April 1-3, 2016.^[12][13]

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in North Dakota

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of North Dakota scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

In 2024, theNorth Dakota State Legislature was not in session.

2023

See also

2024 Elections

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External links

Footnotes

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