GRAND FORKS -- Mac Schneider, a North Dakota attorney and the former state Senate minority leader, announced Monday, March 5, that he will launch his campaign for the state’s lone U.S. House of Representatives seat.

Schneider will appear Tuesday in Grand Forks, Fargo and Bismarck -- the latter, weather permitting -- to announce his bid.

He served as a Grand Forks state senator from 2009 to 2016, losing a re-election bid the same year that a Republican wave crested around the country, and cost Schneider and other Democratic-NPL colleagues their seats. In recent months, he had said he would not seek office in 2018 -- but as incumbent Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., shifted his sights from re-election to a matchup with incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., the politics of the race have been transformed and a crowd of candidates have now announced bids.

Schneider will be seeking the Democratic-NPL endorsement alongside fellow former state legislator Ben Hanson and Sen. John Grabinger, D-Jamestown. The Republican field has several candidates vying for the party nod: State Sen. Tom Campbell, R-Grafton, Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-Dickinson, U.S. Marine Corps veteran Tiffany Abentroth, DuWayne Hendrickson and Paul Schaffner.