MINOT — Dustin McNally was chosen by Republicans in District 42 to replace former state Rep. Emily O'Brien, who resigned her seat to take a position in Gov. Kelly Armstrong's administration. But despite emerging from that process the winner, he called it a "clown show" and a "bad faith effort all around" on this episode of Plain Talk, describing it as something that doesn't serve the people well.

Under North Dakota law, legislative vacancies are filled by the local committee for the political party to which the vacating lawmaker belonged. This means the new lawmaker is picked in a small room where the populist faction of the NDGOP has shown it can win, often by controlling who gets to participate.

That was the case in District 42, according to McNally, though the tactic backfired. An

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