Early life, education, and early career

Dalrymple was born on October 16, 1948 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Mary Josephine (Knoblauch) and John Stewart Dalrymple, Jr. He grew up in Casselton, North Dakota on his family's farm, which was established in 1875 as the state's first large-scale wheat farm. He graduated with honors from Yale University, with a B.A. in American Studies. He then returned to North Dakota to manage the farming operations.

He served on the Casselton Jobs Development Commission, and helped to found Share House, Inc., a Fargo residential treatment program for those recovering from alcohol or drug dependencies. He is a former chairman of the Board for Prairie Public Television, and he was named the Outstanding Young Farmer of the United States of America in 1983.

North Dakota legislature

Elections

In 1984, he won a seat in the North Dakota House of Representatives. He won re-election in 1986, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1998. He represented rural Casselton, Cass County.

Committee assignments

He served as chairman of the House Appropriations committee for four years. In the 1999-2000 interim, he also chaired the Budget Section, the legislative panel charged with reviewing spending issues between sessions.

U.S. Senate elections

1988

Main article: United States Senate election in North Dakota, 1988

In December 1987, he announced he would run for the U.S. Senate. He lost the Republican nomination to State House Majority Leader Earl Strinden. Strinden lost the general election to incumbent Democrat U.S. Senator Quentin Burdick.

1992

Main article: United States Senate special election in North Dakota, 1992

On September 8, 1992 Burdick died, leaving a vacant seat. Governor George Sinner appointed Burdick's widow Jocelyn Burdick to fill the vacancy until a special election was held. She was not a candidate for election to the rest of the term. On September 17, 1992 Dalrymple announced he would run in the special election. In October 1992, he won the Republican nomination. U.S. Senator Kent Conrad, of North Dakota's other senate seat, defeated Dalrymple 63%-34%. Dalrymple only won three counties in the state: Billings, McIntosh, and Sheridan.

Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota

Dalrymple was elected with John Hoeven as Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota in 2000. He is a major figure at Dakota Growers Pasta Company, Inc of Carrington, North Dakota.

Governor of North Dakota

Then-Lt. Governor Dalrymple became governor following the resignation of John Hoeven, who was elected to the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2010 (in accordance with the gubernatorial succession provisions of the Constitution of North Dakota). Two days later, on November 4, 2010, Dalrymple designated now-former U.S. Attorney for North Dakota Drew Wrigley as his successor once his transition to the governor's office was completed.

On December 7, 2010, Hoeven officially tendered his resignation as governor to Alvin Jaeger, the North Dakota secretary of state. Later that day, in front of a joint session of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and before a statewide television audience, Dalrymple was sworn in as governor, and then Wrigley was sworn in as lieutenant governor.

On November 1, 2011, Governor Dalrymple announced on a multi city tour of North Dakota that he would run for a full four-year term as Governor, with Wrigley as his running mate. In 2012, Dalrymple handily defeated Democratic challenger Ryan Taylor in the General Election to serve a full term as governor.

North Dakota places no term limits upon either the governor or the lieutenant governor, meaning that an individual may be elected to and serve for any number of terms.

Personal life

Dalrymple married Betsy Wood in 1971, and has four daughters.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]