WILLISTON — District 23 Republicans have announced endorsements for Todd Beard for State Senate and Scott Dyk and Nico Rios for State House. All three candidates were endorsed via a unanimous vote by local party members at the district convention held on April 5 at the NDSU Extension Center.
Todd Beard grew up on a cattle farm in Moffit, southeast of Bismarck. He’s been married to his wife Debra for 38 years, and together they have two daughters and grandchildren. Beard moved to Williston in 1991, and started in the oilfield doing wireline jobs. He has been working in oilfield safety for 21 years.
“I want to ensure a future for my children and grandchildren by restoring fiscal sanity to the government,” said Beard. “We need to limit overspending by our state government and especially limit federal government overreach into the sovereignty of our state. I’m in favor of school choice, opposing all illegal federal mandates, and developing a solid plan to cut property taxes with responsible budgeting.”
Scott Dyk is from Platte, and he owned and operated a family dairy farm in South Dakota for 20 years. Since moving to North Dakota, he has owned a gravel and concrete business, serving the oil field here in North Dakota for 8 years. Dyk is married to his wife Beth of 41 years, and they have 3 children and 12 grandchildren.
“I love our North Dakota family values,” said Dyk. “We need leaders to be a voice for taxpayers, and particularly our agriculture and oilfield workers. I will do my best to represent District 23 and fight for our interests in Bismarck. Conservative values have been eroded over the last 40 years. It’s time to stand up and fight back. Young families have an incredible opportunity to start their lives here in Williston, we should welcome them with open arms, and make sure our revenues provide what our community needs.”
Nico Rios was born and raised in the south side of Chicago, but moved to North Dakota 8 years ago to pursue a career in the oil industry. He’s been married to his wife Caroline for 5 years. Rios has been active in Republican politics here in the state for many years. Prior to coming to North Dakota he worked in the D.C. office for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. He currently works as a wireline operator here in Williston.
“I came to North Dakota, because it’s a place where you can be free to live your life and raise your family as you see fit,” said Rios. “I knew I could make a decent living without uncontrollable government interference at every paycheck and purchase. Watching other parts of our country fall apart culturally and economically really showed me what’s possible if we elect weak people who fail to stand up for our communities. The type of medical and economic tyranny we saw across the country due to COVID made me want to do something.”
“District 23 is going to be extremely well represented by these patriotic, conservative Republicans,” said District 23 Republican Chair Cole Kratochvil. “Most Williston area voters believe in our Christianity based conservative Republican principles. Unfortunately, for many years prior to redistricting, these conservative views have been underrepresented in Bismarck by our now-neighboring officials. Turnout at our convention was strong, and our endorsed candidates have been carefully vetted with tough questions by our local party membership.”
District 23 is the newly-formed legislative district from the legislative redistricting process, which took place after completion of the 2020 U.S. Census. The district captures the fast-growing portions of north and west Williston, as well as rural areas around Hardscrabble, Trenton, and Buford.
