The new at-large congressman from North Dakota is Rick Berg, a Republican who upset Democratic Rep. Earl Pomeroy in 2010. Berg was born in southwest North Dakota, one of four children. His father was a large-animal veterinarian and his mother was a writer. When Berg was young, he would accompany his father on his medical visits to local ranches. Berg thought about following in his father’s profession, but his dad encouraged him to become a doctor or a dentist instead. In the end, Berg decided that his passion was business, not medicine. He attended community college on a wrestling scholarship and graduated from North Dakota State University with a degree in agricultural economics. Read More

The new at-large congressman from North Dakota is Rick Berg, a Republican who upset Democratic Rep. Earl Pomeroy in 2010. Berg was born in southwest North Dakota, one of four children. His father was a large-animal veterinarian and his mother was a writer. When Berg was young, he would accompany his father on his medical visits to local ranches. Berg thought about following in his father’s profession, but his dad encouraged him to become a doctor or a dentist instead. In the end, Berg decided that his passion was business, not medicine. He attended community college on a wrestling scholarship and graduated from North Dakota State University with a degree in agricultural economics.

After college, Berg co-founded a real-estate management company called Goldmark, which later became Goldmark Schlossman Commercial Real Estate Services. The company originally managed apartment buildings, but after 1987, Berg focused on buying and selling commercial real estate. He married his wife, Tracy Martin, in 1987, and they have one son.

In 1984, a college friend who was the executive director of the county Republican Party encouraged Berg to run for the state House. Berg won the election at age 25, saying his goal was to create a business-friendly economic environment.

In North Dakota, the legislature meets for only about 80 days every two years. In 1993, Berg became speaker of the House, an honorary post that rotates among the members of the majority party. In 2002, he was elected majority leader, a position more powerful than that of speaker. He pushed to set aside 10% of the state budget in a “rainy day fund” for fiscal emergencies, and in 2004, he helped create the North Dakota Trade Office, a public-private partnership that advocates for increasing international exports.

Berg said that he decided to run for Congress soon after the House passed the health care overhaul bill in November 2009. His wife is a doctor who runs a small clinic, and he said that her concerns about the legislation persuaded him. “She saw this as really putting government between her and her patients,” he told National Journal. In March 2010, Berg won the Republican state convention’s nomination to challenge Pomeroy, a nine-term incumbent who had become increasingly vulnerable as the state became more Republican.

Berg focused his campaign on criticizing Pomeroy’s vote in favor of the health care law. He highlighted the law’s changes to Medicare, and one of his ads cited a poll finding that 70% of North Dakotans opposed the changes. Pomeroy addressed the issue head-on in his ads, arguing that in supporting the bill, he had made sure that it protected North Dakota hospitals and doctors.

Most of Pomeroy’s advertising focused on attacking Berg’s 26-year record in the legislature. He accused Berg of supporting GOP proposals to privatize portions of Social Security. A television ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee called Berg “the Big Banks’ best friend” and charged that he tried to allow banks to sell customers’ personal information. Pomeroy outpaced Berg in fundraising, hauling in $3 million to Berg’s $2 million. But Berg won convincingly, 55% to 45% for the incumbent. Pomeroy later joked that he knew he was in trouble when, while talking with a 102-year-old constituent in his hometown of Valley City, the elderly man confided he would not be voting for Pomeroy. “If the 102-year-olds think you’ve been around too long, you got a real problem,” he said.