Lang, Knudsen advance to general election

State Rep. Mike Lang, R-Malta captured his party’s nomination Tuesday in his primary race for Senate District 17.

Lang, a two-term lawmaker, is looking to represent the Senate district now held by the term-limited John Brenden, R-Scobey. The district spans from north of Havre eastward to the North Dakota border in Sheridan County.

Final results had Lang soundly defeating his challenger former state Rep. Wayne Stahl, R- Saco, by a margin of 60 percent to 39 percent.

After ballots were counted, Lang received a majority of the votes cast in all seven counties that make up the district.

In the fall Lang will face Democrat Douglas Adolphson, a plumber from Glasgow.

Lang said that he is confident that he can pull off a win.

“I think we’ll do fine,” he said. “I have to prove myself.”

Casey Knudsen, a rancher from Malta, pulled off a win in the Republican primary to run for the House District 33 seat occupied by Lang, the western half of the Senate district from Valley County to northeastern Hill County.

Though he lost to Burns, a BNSF Railway conductor from Glasgow, in Blaine and Hill counties, Knudsen, 25, was able to offset those losses with large wins in Phillips and Valley counties.

“It’s a good feeling, a good feeling to know I am moving onto the next step.” Knudson said..

Knudsen will be pitted against former BNSF Railway worker Mike Finley, the Democratic candidate, in November.

Between June and the general election, Knudsen said, he hopes to host listening sessions throughout the district to get a better grasp of the issues that those in the district face.