Bachmeier, Foss advance to November in superintendent race

Stutsman County voters helped narrow North Dakota’s top education race to Levi Bachmeier and Tracy Layne Foss, setting up a November contest that could affect staffing, classroom resources and school oversight in Jamestown and across the county. Unofficial results from the June 9 primary showed Bachmeier with about 56% of the vote, Foss with about 29% to 30%, and Republican Charles Tuttle with about 14% to 15%.

The race for superintendent of public instruction is nonpartisan, but the field was cut to two finalists because the top two vote-getters advanced to the Nov. 3 general election. In Stutsman County, early voting ran June 1-5 at the Stutsman County Courthouse in Jamestown. On Election Day, polls were open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Jamestown Civic Center and at the American Legion in Medina for one precinct, with absentee ballots due by 7 p.m. June 9.

Bachmeier became superintendent in fall 2025 after Kirsten Baesler was appointed to the U.S. Department of Education. He has said his focus is teacher retention and recruitment, student performance and reducing bureaucracy, priorities that could matter in counties like Stutsman, where principals and school boards often struggle to fill classrooms and keep experienced staff. Before taking over the office, Bachmeier worked as business manager for West Fargo Public Schools, served as an education policy adviser under former Gov. Doug Burgum and began his career as a high school social studies teacher.

Foss brings more than two decades of teaching experience to the November ballot. She has taught at the elementary, middle, high school and college levels, worked as a paraprofessional and now teaches technology and engineering education at Valley Middle School in Grand Forks. Foss has said she would start by listening to teachers, families, administrators and others in the school system, and she has said she is open to revisiting the K-12 funding formula and supports universal school meals, positions that could hit home for districts weighing staffing, lunch costs and uneven access to resources.

The North Dakota Democratic-NPL endorsed Foss at its state convention in March, while Bachmeier, a Republican, did not seek a North Dakota Republican Party endorsement letter. State election officials said the primary results remain unofficial until certified by the North Dakota State Canvassing Board.