Former Miss America Cara Mund is running for this seat as a Republican. She ran as an independent in 2022 and was the de facto Democratic candidate since no D ran, and she put up a respectable performance. Last time around she said her decision to run was based on Dobbs. Wonder what her position on that is now that she's a Republican?
According to an article I read on apnews.com, Mund said that "'I'm a strong believer in limited government. I don't think that they should be controlling women'" and that she's running as a Republican "to give North Dakotans a strong voice in Congress, 'not just a puppet sitting in that seat.'" So I'm guessing she's keeping the same stance on Dobbs and abortion that she had last time she ran.
A beauty pageant contestant could give a more coherent and meaningful answer than that. Oh wait...
Being serious though, she probably will need to pivot to a pro-life stance to win the primary. It's way too easy for her opponents to dispatch her by running a few ads saying she's pro-choice. Otherwise though, I do wonder if she could make a serious play at the nomination. She's far from the most serious or experienced primary candidate, but she has great name recognition in the state and is something of a hometown hero for being the first North Dakota winner of Miss America. Might be why she did surprisingly well in 2022.
