MINOT — Leadership of the North Dakota Republican Party has been taken over by a political faction that doesn't represent anything approaching a majority of North Dakota voters, or even our state's Republican voters.

How did they get in charge?

Because the tiny back rooms where party decisions are made are easily manipulated by those acting in bad faith. Efforts to control the room by locking out certain voters have often been successful. I would argue that current NDGOP Chair Matthew Simon — whose term in that position was launched with two censures for the party's own Gov. Kelly Armstrong — owes his position to that sort of chicanery.

But it doesn't always work. The process to appoint a replacement for state Rep. Emily O'Brien in Grand Forks-area District 42 shows that those acting

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