Former Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford busy with consulting work, but away from hustle of North Dakota Capitol

Jul. 5—BISMARCK — Along with work related to his new consulting business, Brent Sanford spends parts of his days helping out around the house and giving his kids rides to activities.

It's a big change from his days in the

Gov. Doug Burgum

administration, where "the phone doesn't stop, the issues don't stop," Sanford recently told the Grand Forks Herald.

And now?

"I'm having to get used to a pace where it's not as intense."

Sanford

made headlines last winter when he resigned as North Dakota's lieutenant governor

, concluding six years at the Capitol. He emerged from the grassroots onto the state political scene, starting out as a City Council member in Watford City, a community that grew exponentially during the early days of the Bakken oil boom. He later became mayor before being selected to run alongside Burgum, another newcomer to statewide politics.

With Sanford as his running mate, Burgum pulled off an upset that stunned the state. Six years later, on Dec. 20, Burgum announced Sanford's resignation; that same day, Burgum named

Tammy Miller to take Sanford's place

.

"From (Sanford's) leadership on key issues including energy, child care and economic development, to his influential work with the legislative branch as president of the Senate, to his leadership as the governor's designee on multiple state boards, Brent has made a positive impact on North Dakota's citizens, economy and communities far and wide," Burgum said in a statement that day. "It's been an honor to serve with him, and we wish him, Sandi and their children all the best in their future endeavors."

With half of a year to look back on the decision, Sanford acknowledges it was difficult — one that came after an abundance of work on important statewide energy projects.

He had worked on behalf of the state to aid the sale of Coal Creek Station to Rainbow Energy, as well as the startup of the massive soybean crush plant at Spiritwood, which will provide soybean oil to a diesel facility in Dickinson.

Before that, the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the state.

Sometime last year, he looked at his wife, Sandi, and told her he couldn't envision the future. That was bothersome, he said.

"About this time last summer, I told Sandi, 'When I try to look forward and think about what's next I see a blank space.' That is not normal for me. Normally I've got something. It was just like, 'OK, maybe my time is done at this job. Maybe I have done what I need to do here,'" he said. "The governor and I had a couple of conversations about a third term and about me continuing or not. It wasn't like it just came up the last week of December. Those are not things that were shared (publicly) at all. We were in dialogue about how do we respectfully release each other? And how do we make sure everything's lined up and ready to go for (the 2023 session of the Legislature)."

And as Sanford sensed Burgum was considering a third term in 2024 — likely meaning 12 years in office — he figured six years as lieutenant governor was enough.

"Basically, I told Doug it seems a long time to be backup quarterback," Sanford said. "I'm 51, and I need to be paying attention to the financial future for our family."

He also wanted to spend more time with his children, now 22, 15 and 12.

"It's an obsessive job to be lieutenant governor — the phone doesn't stop, the job doesn't stop, 20 hours a day," he said. "I really wanted to have more of my mental capacity for watching (the children) in those last years. And then it turns out our parents need our help, too. We're in that phase of life. The time seemed right and, yeah, it wasn't an easy decision. But here we are. I'm satisfied."

Sanford comes from a family of small-town officeholders. His father served on the City Council in Watford City and his grandfather was mayor for two decades.

He grew up in Watford City, then attended college at UND, graduating in 1994 with a degree in accounting. He worked in finance-related jobs in Fargo, Arizona and Colorado before deciding to return home in 2004 to take over the family's auto dealership.

It wasn't long before he got involved in politics. He successfully ran for City Council in 2006 and — just as Watford City was bursting with growth due to the oil boom — he was elected mayor in 2010 and reelected in 2014.

Two years after starting his second term as mayor, he

was selected by Burgum as a running mate

for a campaign that at one time would have seemed unlikely. Burgum was a longshot in 2016, expected by many to fail in his bid due to the candidacy of Wayne Stenehjem, the attorney general at the time who had been endorsed by Republicans at the state GOP convention. Sanford came on as Burgum's running mate in April of that year.

In the June primary,

Burgum earned nearly 60% of the vote.

Shortly after Burgum's primary win, Forum Communications Co. columnist Mike McFeeley called it "a blowout of ridiculous proportions. You could call it embarrassing proportions for the Republican establishment. ... Burgum rode the anti-establishment wave from the beginning."

Burgum earned 77% of the vote in the 2016 general election, beating Democrat Marvin Nelson. In 2020, Burgum was reelected after earning 66% of the vote, beating Democrat Shelley Lenz.

Now, Burgum is in the midst of another unlikely run, hoping to become president.

He officially began his campaign in June

.

Looking back, Sanford recalls the early days of their administration. Although western North Dakota boomed with the development of the Bakken, it had leveled out and even diminished by 2016. And just before Burgum and Sanford took office, a protest broke out along a quiet area in south-central North Dakota, where American Indians and others gathered in an effort to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline.

"When we ran, we were going to be the commerce administration. The economy was in tough shape, oil was in really bad shape. At the time, the economy in western North Dakota, people forget how bad it was — the oil price was low, the (oil) rig count was low, the revenues were so bad. The DAPL protests were raging. We jumped into some challenging things. ... And the last half of our time basically was under COVID. It was a rough time to be a public official," Sanford said.

Nowadays, Sanford is busy with firms he founded: Sanford Consulting LLC and Sanford Ventures LLC. He's consulting with Minnkota Power Cooperative on its Project Tundra — a venture to capture and store carbon beneath North Dakota soil — and also working with the North Dakota Petroleum Council to bring refugees from Ukraine to work in North Dakota, where thousands of unfilled jobs await.

While Sanford has backed away from politics, his wife, Sandi, has entered it.

In June, she was named the new state Republican Party chairwoman

.

"She's been involved for a long time — she was involved in politics way before me," he said. "What she wants to do is get in there and help save the party. The party is getting to be so large and covering such a wide swath that one side and the other don't see the world the same way. She believes we need to gather around the platform. We need to be there for our kids and future generations and come at this from a conservative and Republican side on all the issues. We shouldn't be each other's enemies here within the Republican Party."

Will Brent Sanford ever re-enter politics? He isn't against the idea, but it isn't top of mind at the moment, he said.

"For the last 17 years, I was in it in some shape or form — City Council, mayor, lieutenant governor. I don't say, 'No, I would never,' " he said. "I do have a heart for it, but I needed a break at this point and was ready for one. ... Who knows what that looks like in the future? Politics is something where you never know what door is going to open, who will decide to move on and what opens up. I'm not going to be 51 and say 'No, never again.'

"I'm not at that point."