US House Candidate in North Dakota Files Complaints About Deceptive Text Messages in Primary Election

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — An attorney for the Republican primary winner for North Dakota’s only U.S. House seat has filed complaints with federal authorities about text messages that falsely claimed she had dropped out of the heated GOP primary contest on election day June 11. His lawyer said the messages could be a test run for a broader effort this fall.

Julie Fedorchak, a former utility regulator, was the topic of the messages. Attorney Shane Goettle said Tuesday that he recently filed complaints on behalf of his campaign with the Federal Election Commission and the Federal Communications Commission and alerted the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He alleged election interference and fraudulent use of text messages to deceive voters.

The messages portrayed Fedorchak’s withdrawal by misrepresenting media headlines and an interview segment, Goettle said. Fedorchak withdrew from a controversial endorsement process in April convention, but she continued in the five-person race and won.

Thousands of North Dakotans across the state appeared to receive misleading messages, Goettle said.

The nature of the race in North Dakota — five candidates in a small-population state — could have presented a smaller market to potentially test messages before a larger effort, he said.

“I think whoever is behind this is probably testing this in the primary elections and could very well use this as a tool to disrupt elections across the country if they are successful,” Goettle said.

He said the campaign does not have specific information about who is behind the messages, but has made an effort to identify some of the phone numbers involved, all with the 701 North Dakota area code.

He declined to share the complaints, saying the campaign doesn’t want to release names when it’s unclear whether those people or entities still have the numbers.

Fedorchak Republican opponents denied involvement. The state Democratic-NPL Party denounced the messages and others like them urging Democrats to vote for former state Rep. Rick Becker, who ran in the GOP House primary.