Fedorchak ranks border security as top issue in US House race

North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Julie Fedorchak speaks during a live taping of the Lignite Energy Council podcast at the organization's annual meeting in Bismarck on Oct. 3, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

This is the first in a two part-series about candidates for U.S. House.

Republican U.S. House candidate Julie Fedorchak ranked addressing southern border concerns as her top focus if voters send her to Washington as North Dakota's first female House member.

Fedorchak is running against Democratic-NPL candidate Trygve Hammer during the 2024 election for North Dakota's at-large House seat. Republican U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong is running for governor.

Fedorchak has served on the North Dakota Public Service Commission since being appointed in December 2012. She was reelected to the position in 2014, 2016 and 2022 and also serves as president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.

In an interview with the North Dakota Monitor, she ranked her other main priorities as increasing the development of federal lands for energy production and passing a farm bill. Fedorchak also talked about reducing inflation and her stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

Southern border

Fedorchak said many of the policy changes she believes are needed involving the southern border should be done through the executive branch.

"I view the border crisis being largely a crisis of neglect," she said. "We need, not necessarily new ideas, but we need new leadership, and I believe President (Donald) Trump will provide that leadership."

She added she believes this is the No. 1 issue for North Dakotans and it affects public safety, which includes combating drug trafficking.

Fedorchak also said immigration and visa program changes are a top priority for businesses that are struggling to fill open workforce positions.

"There are lots of people in this world who want to move to America, so let's provide an orderly process for that to happen," she said. "But it starts with securing the border."

Energy production

On energy production, Fedorchak said third-party regulators of the country's electric grid have warned that a majority of the nation is in danger of not having enough power, especially during extreme weather.

"The generation capacity is shrinking and the demand is increasing and that is an unsustainable path," she said. "There's no excuse for us running short. We're gonna have storms and we're gonna have outages of course, but not having enough supply to meet demand, that is avoidable and that's a leadership issue."

Having reliable energy provides security for the country, Fedorchak said, and having more power generation would reduce the overall cost for energy and provide relief for businesses and people who have seen their costs increase in recent years.

"Those energy prices are baked into the costs of everything that we consume," she said. "I support increasing, not decreasing, energy development on federal lands and developing the resources that are owned by citizens of the state."

Farm bill

The third top issue facing North Dakotans, Fedorchak said, is passing a farm bill to support the state's agriculture interests.

She added Congress may pass a new farm bill during the lame duck period before new lawmakers are sworn in, but, if they don't, she would address it as one of her first priorities.

Fedorchak also said she would continue to look into reducing inflationary pressures on farmers after a new farm bill is passed.

Reducing inflation

Fedorchak said walking out of the grocery store with two bags that cost $75 is difficult for families that struggle to make ends meet.

Lowering energy costs, tackling the country's spending and overall debt would start reducing costs for Americans, Fedorchak said.

"We've seen significant growth in a lot of the regulatory agencies under the Biden administration," she said.

The Environmental Protection Agency workforce has ballooned to more than 18,000 people, Fedorchak said, which is thousands more compared to the agency size during President George W. Bush's administration.

"Those folks are out there writing rules like the greenhouse gas rules that are completely disconnected to science and reality, and causing a great deal of potential harm to our electricity industry," she said.

She also said car dealerships should not be forced to buy electric vehicles via clean energy mandates. Fedorchak added the mandates force companies to spend countless hours and money trying to comply with new regulations.

"Just think about that, 300 million hours that they are spending complying with federal regulations rather than trying to make money, trying to increase their wages, trying to employ more people or keep their costs down," she said. "Those things contribute to inflation as well."

Israel-Hamas war

Fedorchak said the country should "stand firm" on its support for Israel during its continued war against Hamas.

"Iran is at the heart of all of this," she said. "It comes back to a failure of leadership by the Biden administration, who's been weak on Iran since day one."

She also said she believes in former President Trump's foreign policy position of "peace through strength."

"It'll provide some motivation for these bad actors to start behaving better," Fedorchak said.

She said she wants the U.S. to continue in its support role in the conflict and looks forward to taking a more nuanced position once she begins receiving intelligence briefings, if she is elected.

During a between the U.S. House candidates in August, Fedorchak said her anti-abortion stance reflects the values of North Dakotans.

She said she believes abortion policy is best decided by individual states; however, she also favors a nationwide gestational limit.

"That would be set around 15 or 16 weeks," Fedorchak said.

She said her position would allow states to set stricter abortion policies underneath the gestational limit.

defeated four other Republican candidates during the primary election in June.

As of Sept. 30, Fedorchak has raised more than $1.8 million in donations during the 2024 election cycle with more than $409,000 raised in the last three months.