À PROPOS DE CET ÉPISODE
What happens when the good people don't show up — and the wrong people do? That's the question host Patrick Hart puts front and center in this episode of Open Range, a show bringing grounded, working-class perspectives to North Dakota politics.
Patrick sits down with two Democratic candidates running for the State House and Senate in District 3 (Minot Rural East): Natalie McLaughlin and Mike Thiesen. Both are everyday North Dakotans — a longtime paramedic and a small-town mayor turned electrician — who decided complaining wasn't enough. It was time to show up.
The conversation covers the issues hitting North Dakotans hardest right now:
🏠 Attainable Housing — Not affordable housing, attainable housing. Mike breaks down why starter homes have disappeared and how a patchwork of local, state, and federal programs — plus high school construction programs — could bring prices back to earth.
🚑 Rural Healthcare & EMS — Natalie draws on 15 years as a paramedic to paint a stark picture of ambulance deserts, closing critical access hospitals, and insurance companies blocking medically necessary care. The fix isn't throwing more money at a broken system — it's training people and holding the right players accountable.
🌾 Keeping Small Towns Alive — From trade workforce pipelines to local control over land use, both candidates push back against corporate-first politics and champion the people actually doing the work.
Their message? Stop fighting each other. Talk to everyone — even those on the other side. Because the problems facing North Dakota don't care about party affiliation, and neither do the solutions.
"We're not here for special interests. We're here for our neighbors."
Tune in to Open Range — real people, real issues, North Dakota strong.
