Incumbent Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan announced in January 2010 that he would not seek reelection, leading to the first open seat election since 1992.

Governor John Hoeven won the seat in a landslide, taking 76.1% of the vote, sweeping every county in the state, and becoming North Dakota's first Republican senator since 1987.

Hoeven's 54 point margin of victory was a dramatic and historic shift from the previous election for this seat, when Dorgan won reelection in a 36-point landslide and himself swept every county in the state.

Among those people were Joel Heitkamp, a former North Dakota state senator and current radio talk show host of News and Views on KFGO in Fargo.

Hedger was the Democratic candidate for North Dakota secretary of state in the 2006 general election, which she lost to the incumbent, Republican Alvin Jaeger.