Incumbent Democratic-NPL Senator Kent Conrad decided to retire instead of running for reelection to a fifth term.

[3] Heitkamp outperformed President Barack Obama by 20.5%, the latter having lost North Dakota by 19.6% in the concurrent presidential election.

[4] Heitkamp's very narrow winning margin made it the closest race of the 2012 United States Senate elections.

In contrast to state political tradition, declared candidate Duane Sand did not seek the party endorsement, trying instead to defeat Berg on the June primary ballot.

[20] Individuals Organizations [43] [44] In early October 2012, Crossroads GPS announced that it would launch a $16 million advertising buy in national races, of which four were this and three other Senate elections.