Merrill Piepkorn

Merrill Piepkorn is an American entertainer and politician who has served in the North Dakota Senate from the 44th district since 2016. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Piepkorn is a candidate in the 2024 North Dakota gubernatorial election. He has also hosted radio shows on Prairie Public Radio and served as the public address announcer for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.

Early life and career
Piepkorn was born in 1949. He attended Concordia College. While he was enrolled there, he began playing music with Gregg Temple, a fellow student, in 1972. He graduated from Concordia in 1974. After graduating, Piepkorn and Temple co-founded a country band called Skunk Hollow.

Piepkorn worked for Prairie Public Radio, hosting "Morning Edition" while he was a graduate student at North Dakota State University. In 1999, he co-created and began hosting the radio show "Here & Now". Piepkorn became the public address announcer for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, a Minor League Baseball team, for the 1997 season. He stayed in the role through the 2006 season. Piepkorn and Temple co-founded a band called the Radio Stars in 2008. He created, hosted, and served as executive producer of "Dakota Air" on Prairie Public Radio, which debuted in 2010.

Political career
Piepkorn ran for the North Dakota Senate as a member of the Democratic Party in 2016. He defeated Tim Flakoll, the incumbent state senator, in the November general election. Flakoll sought a rematch in 2020, and Piepkorn won reelection. He won reelection in 2022 with 62% of the vote against Republican Bjorn Altenburg. In November 2022, Piepkorn was elected to serve as assistant minority leader of the state senate.

On April 2, 2024, Piepkorn announced that he would run for governor of North Dakota in the 2024 election. He won the party's nomination at their convention in April. He selected Patrick Hart as his running mate for lieutenant governor of North Dakota.