Democrat Travis Hipsher Drops Out of the Race for Governor of North Dakota

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — A security guard at a bus manufacturer who was running for governor of North Dakota is no longer in the race.

Travis Hipsher of Neche issued a statement saying he was dropping out.

In a statement, the Democrat says the next governor “needs to represent the working people of North Dakota.”

Hipsher says he plans to run again for public office in the future.

Democratic State Sen. State Senator Merrill Piepkorn of Fargo will make his campaign for governor official next week.

He has stops planned in Fargo and Bismarck on Tuesday.

North Dakota’s Democratic-NPL Party will endorse candidates next weekend at the party convention in Fargo.

A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide election since 2012.

Other candidates for governor include Independent Michael Coachman and Republicans Kelly Armstrong and Tammy Miller.

Read Hipsher’s full statement below:

As of March 29th I have suspended my campaign for governor of North Dakota
I want to thank districts 19, 24, 29 and 40 for inviting me to they’re conventions. A
special thanks to Viper Dynamics for the help they put into my efforts and the
time put into campaigning. I also want to thank the members of the media here in
North Dakota for running my story. It really shows everyone is doing their part to
help make the election process honest.
Our hopes now reside on the next governor to address the rising food costs, help
make rural life more affordable, addressing the behavioral worker shortage issue
and continuing to build a diverse economy that can weather the uncertainty of
market trends of tomorrow. Our next governor needs to represent the working
people of North Dakota. As in past years the working people have very little
representation from those people who were cut from a different cloth. For the
voters, we need to make sure we have our BS detectors on this election year.