Mangnall said he was pleased to see the needle beginning to move for the party. All five candidates surpassed his 6.39 percent in his race for tax commissioner in 2014, the highest achieved by the party at that time.

He said there’s an undercurrent in North Dakota of those frustrated with big government, over-regulation and infringement on private property rights. Mangnall said the party is primed to further capitalize on people’s reception to their message.

“For the next election, we’re going to backfill our party structure. That’s going to be our big effort in the off year,” said Mangnall, indicating the party will focus on better organization, such as setting up precinct or district officials and having more groundwork in place prior to the election cycle.

Mangnall said the party also intends on pushing various ballot initiatives to keep visibility and momentum going. One main push would be for the legalization of marijuana ballot measure. Libertarians were unable to get an adequate number of signatures for it to be on the ballot this year, but might in the near future. Another effort would be to change the ballot access rules, which he said is a barrier to parties, such as the Libertarians.

(Reach Nick Smith at 701-250-8255 or 701-223-8482 or at nick.smith@bismarcktribune.com.)

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