District 20 race at a glance
The State House District 20 contest will appear in North Dakota’s Nov. 3, 2026, general election. Two candidates are running: Republican incumbents Dave Rustebakke and Mike Beltz.
The race is contested, but it does not feature candidates from opposing parties. Both candidates carry the Republican label, and both are incumbents. An incumbent is a current officeholder seeking another term, so neither Rustebakke nor Beltz enters this election as a first-time candidate challenging a sitting lawmaker.
Because the candidates share a party label and incumbent status, those descriptions alone do not distinguish them. The central choice in the listed field is between two current District 20 officeholders running in the same general-election contest.
Dave Rustebakke
Dave Rustebakke is running as a Republican incumbent in State House District 20. His place in the race gives voters one option who already holds the office and is seeking to continue serving in the North Dakota House.
Rustebakke’s candidacy is part of the same Nov. 3 general-election contest as Beltz’s candidacy. He has the same listed party affiliation and the same incumbent status as the other candidate, making the basic ballot descriptions of the two candidates closely matched.
Mike Beltz
Mike Beltz is running as a Republican incumbent in State House District 20. His place in the race gives voters one option who already holds the office and is seeking to continue serving in the North Dakota House.
Beltz’s candidacy is part of the same Nov. 3 general-election contest as Rustebakke’s candidacy. He has the same listed party affiliation and the same incumbent status as the other candidate, making the basic ballot descriptions of the two candidates closely matched.
What is contested
The District 20 race is contested because the general-election field includes both Rustebakke and Beltz. The defining feature of the matchup is not a difference in party affiliation or incumbent status: both candidates are Republicans, and both currently hold office.
That makes the candidate names the clearest distinction in the race as it stands. The party label will not separate one candidate from the other, and neither candidate can be described as the lone sitting officeholder in the contest.
Voters will make their decision in the North Dakota general election scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. Until then, the main process questions are whether the candidate field remains the same and how the candidates are listed on the official general-election ballot. The outcome will be determined through that election; no winner can be identified before voters cast and election officials count the ballots.
