2008 North Dakota gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2008 United States gubernatorial elections.

2008 North Dakota gubernatorial election

←  2004 November 4, 2008 2012  →

Nominee John Hoeven Tim Mathern Party Republican Democratic–NPL Running mate Jack Dalrymple Merle Boucher Popular vote 235,009 74,279 Percentage 74.4% 23.5%

County results Hoeven:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Mathern:      50–60%

Governor before election John Hoeven Republican Elected Governor John Hoeven Republican

The 2008 North Dakota gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2008 for the post of Governor of North Dakota. Incumbent Republican governor John Hoeven was easily reelected again, defeating Democratic-NPL challenger Tim Mathern. The primaries took place on June 10, 2008. ^[1] John Hoeven outperformed John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, by about 21%. McCain defeated Democratic nominee Barack Obama 53%–45% in the concurrent presidential election.

In 2022, voters voted in favor of Constitutional Measure 1 to term-limit governors. Doug Burgum, who was in his second term when the measure passed, would have been eligible to run for a third under grandfather clause, but he ultimately chose not to, making this election the last time an incumbent ran for a third consecutive term.

Candidates

Republican

• John Hoeven, Governor of North Dakota

• Running mate: Jack Dalrymple, Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota

Democratic-NPL

• Tim Mathern, State Senator

• Running mate: Merle Boucher, State Representative

Independent

• DuWayne Hendrickson

• Running mate: Dana Brandenberg

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report [2]	Safe R	October 16, 2008
Rothenberg Political Report [3]	Safe R	November 2, 2008
Sabato's Crystal Ball [4]	Safe R	November 3, 2008
Real Clear Politics [5]	Safe R	November 4, 2008

Polling

Source	Date	John Hoeven (R)	Tim Mathern (D)
Rasmussen Reports [6]	September 8, 2008	68%	28%
Rasmussen Reports [6]	July 8, 2008	67%	27%

Results

North Dakota gubernatorial election, 2008 ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Hoeven (Incumbent)	235,009	74.44%	+3.19%
	Democratic–NPL	Tim Mathern	74,279	23.53%	−3.86%
	Independent	DuWayne Hendrickson	6,404	2.03%
Majority			160,730	50.91%	+7.05%
Turnout			315,692
	Republican hold		Swing

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Sioux (Largest CDP: Cannon Ball)

References

1. "Secretary of State" (PDF). Nd.gov. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
2. "2008 Governor Race ratings". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
3. "2008 Gubernatorial Ratings". Gubernatorial Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
4. "THE LAST LAST WORD The Crystal Ball's Final Projections for the 2008 Election". Sabato's Crystal Ball. November 3, 2008. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
5. "Dakota Governor Race". RealClearPolitics. November 4, 2008. Retrieved March 5, 2021.
6. "Rasmussen Reports: The most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a presidential election". Archived from the original on July 11, 2008. Retrieved July 10, 2008.
7. "ND Secretary of State Election Management System – Statewide Election Results". Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2011.

External links

• Elections and Voting from the North Dakota Secretary of State
• North Dakota Governor candidates at Project Vote Smart
• North Dakota Governor race from OurCampaigns.com
• North Dakota Governor race from 2008 Race Tracker
• Campaign contributions ^{[ permanent dead link ]} from Follow the Money
• Hoeven (R-i) vs. Mathern (D) graph of collected poll results from Pollster.com
• Official campaign websites (Archived)
  • John Hoeven, Republican incumbent nominee
  • Tim Mathern, Democratic-NPL nominee
  • Gregg Boyer, Independent candidate