Cara Mund says North Dakota's U.S. House representative needs to not be dependent on Donald Trump

Apr. 22—GRAND FORKS — Cara Mund says she's running for the U.S. House of Representatives because the other candidates don't represent her.

"I typically vote in the Republican primary, but I did not feel like any of the candidates, at the time there were

three because two of them filed on the last day

, I didn't feel like any of them represented me," Mund said. "I didn't feel comfortable voting for any of them."

Mund is running against four others for the Republican nomination for North Dakota's U.S. House seat. Mund is the only candidate to have run for the seat before, having run as an independent candidate in 2022. In the last election,

Mund won 37.6%, but lost to incumbent Kelly Armstrong.

Armstrong is not running this year, instead choosing to run in North Dakota's open governor race.

Mund said other Republicans in the House are too dependent on former President Donald Trump's opinions on legislation.

"Being the best representative is not caving to what the former president tells you," Mund said. "For example, the border bill, I would have supported the bipartisan legislation to the border. ... It is rare that this opportunity would ever come up and then at the last second (Republicans) decided not to secure the border but now they're using it as a talking point in campaigning."

The bill, which was supported by both parties, was squashed by disagreements within the Republican conference. The bill was intended to help cut back illegal border crossing. This episode and others also stretch into this North Dakota race, according to Mund.

"(The other candidates) worship former President Donald Trump. I do not," Mund said. "I may have to work with him and I understand that, but I think there's a big difference between working with someone and worshiping someone."

Mund also said the four other candidates are very similar, very conservative and that they're not representative of all of North Dakota.

"We have one seat, you are a single-vote voice," Mund said. "You're not just a voice for the party, you're a voice for the entire state. I'm the only moderate in this race on the Republican side."

For Mund, she said securing the border is a huge issue for her and North Dakota, along with tamping down inflation.

"We're seeing the trafficking of fentanyl that impacts our communities so I do think the border is crucial for North Dakota," Mund said. "We all see inflation as an issue, I mean groceries are outrageous. ... It is so difficult to afford just living right now."

She continued by saying that helping the economy would positively impact the ability of the state to keep young residents who will contribute to the state's growth and prosperity. She is worried about what policies, especially those regarding abortion, could mean as she thinks about starting a family.

"I'm 30 years old, I'm childbearing age and probably going to have children relatively soon within this decade and I am terrified of what that could mean having children in North Dakota," Mund said. "If for some reason I didn't have a healthy pregnancy I should not have to be at the hospital looking through case law wondering how my health decisions are going to be made."

She said the position of the Republican Party on issues of reproductive health, like criminalizing abortion and in vitro fertilization, goes against the conservative values of less government oversight.

"The party prides itself in being limited government, and I don't want the government in my health care decisions; If I don't have a healthy pregnancy, I don't want to wonder 'what does the government say I can do?'" Mund said.