How North Dakota has voted since 1960
North Dakota has 3 electoral votes in 2028. Since 1960 it has voted Democratic once and Republican 16 times. It has backed the national winner in 10 of 17 elections. Donald Trump carried it in 2024 by 36.5 points, 35.0 points more Republican than the nation. In 2024, 63.9% of its eligible voters cast a ballot, ranking 30th among the 50 states and DC (nationally, 64.3%). It has voted Republican in every election since 1968. Its closest result was in 1976, when Gerald Ford won it by 5.9 points.
- 1960Nixon+10.9
- 1964Johnson+16.1
- 1968Nixon+17.7
- 1972Nixon+26.3
- 1976Ford+5.9
- 1980Reagan+38.0
- 1984Reagan+31.0
- 1988Bush+13.1
- 1992Bush+12.0
- 1996Dole+6.8
- 2000Bush+27.6
- 2004Bush+27.4
- 2008McCain+8.6
- 2012Romney+19.6
- 2016Trump+35.7
- 2020Trump+33.4
- 2024Trump+36.5
Each box is one election: the winner in North Dakota and the margin in points. Darker boxes were won by 10 points or more, lighter by under 5.
Election night
8 p.m. ET
Polls close at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. Central); in the southwest (Mountain Time) they close at 9 p.m. ET. Counties set their own hours; some polling places stay open as late as 9 p.m. local time.
Also closing at 8 p.m. ET: AL, CT, DE, DC, IL, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MS, MO, NH, NJ, OK, PA, RI, SD, TN, TX.
Times from the 2024 general election; states rarely change them, and they will be confirmed for 2028.
2028 ratings
- Safe R Electoral Vote Map Sept. 28, 2026
In Congress
Senate
- John Hoeven (R) since 2011
- Kevin Cramer (R) since 2019
House (at large)
- Julie Fedorchak (R)
From Congress.gov, as of Oct. 5, 2026. Vacant seats are not listed.
Margin by election
North Dakota margin National popular vote
By county
Donald Trump won 51 of North Dakota's 53 counties in 2024; Kamala Harris won 2.
Loading the county map…
Largest counties, 2024
| County | Votes | Margin | Shift from 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cass County | 90,851 | R+8.3 | →R 5.6 |
| Burleigh County | 52,263 | R+42.8 | →R 2.6 |
| Grand Forks County | 31,411 | R+18.0 | →R 4.7 |
| Ward County | 28,552 | R+47.0 | →R 2.1 |
| Morton County | 17,036 | R+53.4 | →R 3.0 |
| Williams County | 15,122 | R+67.6 | →R 0.9 |
| Stark County | 15,100 | R+65.2 | →R 1.4 |
| Stutsman County | 10,134 | R+44.3 | →R 1.0 |
| Richland County | 8,261 | R+37.6 | →R 4.8 |
| McKenzie County | 5,521 | R+69.2 | →R 1.5 |
Biggest shifts from 2020 to 2024: toward the Republican, Ransom County (8.7), Eddy County (8.0), Sargent County (6.9); toward the Democrat, Oliver County (4.7), Kidder County (3.8), Cavalier County (1.9) — in points of margin.
County returns from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab (official state data), 2000–2024. Margin is the Democrat's share minus the Republican's, of all votes cast.
Results by year
| Year | Winner | Democrat | Republican | Other | Margin | Nation | Turnout | EV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Donald TrumpTrump | Harris 30.5%112,327 | Trump 67.0%246,505 | 2.5% | R+36.5 | R+1.5 | 63.9% | 3 |
| 2020 | Donald TrumpTrump lost | Biden 31.8%114,902 | Trump 65.1%235,595 | 3.1% | R+33.4 | D+4.5 | 63.1% | 3 |
| 2016 | Donald TrumpTrump | Clinton 27.2%93,758 | Trump 63.0%216,794 | Johnson 6.2% | R+35.7 | D+2.1 | 61.9% | 3 |
| 2012 | Mitt RomneyRomney lost | Obama 38.7%124,966 | Romney 58.3%188,320 | 3.0% | R+19.6 | D+3.9 | 60.5% | 3 |
| 2008 | John McCainMcCain lost | Obama 44.6%141,278 | McCain 53.3%168,601 | 2.1% | R+8.6 | D+7.3 | 63.6% | 3 |
| 2004 | George W. BushBush | Kerry 35.5%111,052 | Bush 62.9%196,651 | 1.6% | R+27.4 | R+2.5 | 64.7% | 3 |
| 2000 | George W. BushBush | Gore 33.1%95,284 | Bush 60.7%174,852 | 6.3% | R+27.6 | D+0.5 | 61.5% | 3 |
| 1996 | Bob DoleDole lost | Clinton 40.1%106,905 | Dole 46.9%125,050 | Perot 12.2% | R+6.8 | D+8.5 | 57.1% | 3 |
| 1992 | George H.W. BushBush lost | Clinton 32.2%99,168 | Bush 44.2%136,244 | Perot 23.1% | R+12.0 | D+5.6 | 68.2% | 3 |
| 1988 | George H.W. BushBush | Dukakis 43.0%127,739 | Bush 56.0%166,559 | 1.0% | R+13.1 | R+7.7 | 66.2% | 3 |
| 1984 | Ronald ReaganReagan | Mondale 33.8%104,429 | Reagan 64.8%200,336 | 1.4% | R+31.0 | R+18.2 | 67.2% | 3 |
| 1980 | Ronald ReaganReagan | Carter 26.3%79,189 | Reagan 64.3%193,695 | Anderson 7.9% | R+38.0 | R+9.7 | 68.0% | 3 |
| 1976 | Gerald FordFord lost | Carter 45.8%136,078 | Ford 51.7%153,684 | 2.5% | R+5.9 | D+2.1 | — | 3 |
| 1972 | Richard NixonNixon | McGovern 35.8% | Nixon 62.1% | 2.1% | R+26.3 | R+23.2 | — | 3 |
| 1968 | Richard NixonNixon | Humphrey 38.2% | Nixon 55.9% | Wallace 5.8% | R+17.7 | R+0.7 | — | 4 |
| 1964 | Lyndon B. JohnsonJohnson | Johnson 58.0% | Goldwater 41.9% | 0.2% | D+16.1 | D+22.6 | — | 4 |
| 1960 | Richard NixonNixon lost | Kennedy 44.5% | Nixon 55.4% | 0.1% | R+10.9 | D+0.2 | — | 4 |
Margin is the Democrat's share minus the Republican's, in percentage points; Nation is the same for the national popular vote. "Other" is everyone else combined, or the leading third-party candidate where one took 5% or more. Vote counts from 1976. Turnout is ballots cast as a share of eligible voters, from 1980 (UF Election Lab; the newest year is preliminary).
Electoral votes
Electoral votes change after each census, when House seats are reapportioned.
- 419601950 census
- 41964–19681960 census
- 31972–19801970 census
- 31984–19881980 census
- 31992–20001990 census
- 32004–20082000 census
- 32012–20202010 census
- 32024–20282020 census
- 32032–2040projected
Projected: North Dakota's share of House seats after the 2030 census if each state's population keeps changing at its pace since 2020, from the Census Bureau's 2024 American Community Survey population estimates (July 1, 2024). If the count were taken today it would have 3. An estimate, not a forecast.
Before 1960
North Dakota cast electoral votes in 17 presidential elections before 1960, the first in 1892. It backed the eventual president in 13 of them.
| Year | Carried by | Electors | Margin | Backed winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican | 4 | +23.7 | ✓ |
| 1952 | Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican | 4 | +42.9 | ✓ |
| 1948 | Thomas E. Dewey Republican | 4 | +9.1 | – |
| 1944 | Thomas E. Dewey Republican | 4 | +8.4 | – |
| 1940 | Wendell Willkie Republican | 4 | +11.0 | – |
| 1936 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic | 4 | +38.3 | ✓ |
| 1932 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic | 4 | +42.6 | ✓ |
| 1928 | Herbert Hoover Republican | 5 | +10.4 | ✓ |
| 1924 | Calvin Coolidge Republican | 5 | +2.5 | ✓ |
| 1920 | Warren G. Harding Republican | 5 | +62.1 | ✓ |
| 1916 | Woodrow Wilson Democratic | 5 | +1.6 | ✓ |
| 1912 | Woodrow Wilson Democratic | 5 | +4.5 | ✓ |
| 1908 | William Howard Taft Republican | 4 | +27.4 | ✓ |
| 1904 | Theodore Roosevelt Republican | 4 | +57.3 | ✓ |
| 1900 | William McKinley Republican | 3 | +27.2 | ✓ |
| 1896 | William McKinley Republican | 3 | +12.0 | ✓ |
| 1892 | James B. Weaver PopulistSplit: Cleveland 1, Harrison 1, Weaver 1 | 3 | +0.5 | – |
Margin: the winner's lead over the runner-up in the state's popular vote, in points. A dash means the legislature chose the electors (common before the 1830s) or no popular vote is on record. Each year links to that election's map and full results.