Birch Burdick will remain Cass County state's attorney.
The 47-year-old Burdick, just ending his first term, beat challenger Steve Dawson, 49, in Tuesday's election.
Burdick garnered 56 percent of the vote against Dawson's 44 percent.
With all 67 precincts reporting, Burdick had 22,216 votes and Dawson 17,793.
Burdick wasn't in an analytical mood this morning.
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"When you're running a campaign, you try and tell people what you've done over the last four years and what you hope to do," he said. "In the end, it's hard to know what they hear and how they vote."
Tuesday's vote was the climax to a sometimes bruising campaign. Both candidates trumpeted their backgrounds -- two vastly different kinds of experience.
Burdick was elected state's attorney in 1998 after an often-contentious race against then-incumbent John Goff. That campaign focused on turmoil in the office during Goff's administration.
Part of that turmoil involved Dawson, who also ran against Goff but was eliminated in a primary.
Goff fired Dawson, then an assistant state's attorney, during the primary campaign. Goff said Dawson's performance reviews were substandard, but Dawson claimed it was because he was running to unseat Goff.
Dawson threw his support to Burdick after the primary, and Burdick won the general election with 54 percent of the vote.
For this election, Dawson emphasized his law enforcement experience. A Cass County sheriff's deputy from 1979 to 1989, he was endorsed by the Red River Valley Fraternal Order of Police Lodge. He was with the state's attorney's office from 1990 to 1998 and is now one of Fargo's city prosecutors.
Dawson also tried to convince voters there still was turmoil in the state's attorney's office. He ran advertisements quoting the exit interview of a former employee who was critical of Burdick.
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But that ex-employee publicly disassociated herself from Dawson, saying she did not intend her comments about Burdick to become an election issue.
Burdick said his experience was more varied than Dawson's. Before going to law school, he managed nuclear engineers and, after earning a law degree 10 years ago, was a prosecutor in Minneapolis.
He said he's also practiced civil law, including dealing with contracts, and that has given him experience needed in advising the County Board.
"I thought I brought much better experience to the office," Burdick said. "Steve has done a lot of prosecution, but I don't think that alone is qualification for being a state's attorney."
Dawson could not be reached for comment early this morning.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Tom Pantera at (701) 241-5541
