There are 69 state legislative seats up for election this year in North Dakota. Across those, eight incumbents (one Democrat and seven Republicans) did not file to run for re-election. All eight of those retirements came from state senators, while all House incumbents are running for reelection.

Since Ballotpedia began tracking this data in 2010, the average number of retirements per cycle across both chambers of the state legislature is 14.0, with the highest number coming in 2022 (23) and the lowest in 2020 (6). 2024 had the second fewest number of retiring incumbents (8) after 2020 (6).

The total number of contested primaries (with more than one candidate) was 17 – the second most since 2010. In 2024, all 17 contested primaries are Republican primaries, while none are Democratic primaries. This means that out of a possible 94 primaries, 18.1% are contested. That is the highest percentage of contested primaries since 2010. The next highest year was 2022 when 17.9% of primaries had more than one candidate, though there were more overall contested primaries that year (21).

North Dakota has a Republican trifecta and a Republican triplex. This means the Republican party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature.

As of May 6, 2024, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 17 Democratic trifectas, and 10 divided governments where neither party holds trifecta control.

North Dakota’s state legislative primaries are scheduled for June 11.

To learn more about North Dakota’s state Senate elections in 2024, click here. To learn more about North Dakota’s state House elections, click here.