Falsehoods following Capitol riot final straw for North Dakota senator

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The Jan. 6 insurrection wasn’t the reason North Dakota Democratic Sen. Erin Oban won’t run for reelection next year. It’s the increased divisiveness in politics that has followed, she said.

“It wasn’t the insurrectionists storming the U.S. Capitol — it’s watching so many elected officials downplay and downright lie about what happened. I’m so disgusted by the rhetoric,” said Oban, one of only seven Senate Democrats in the North Dakota Legislature, the smallest minority in the chamber in 50 years.

Oban said many of her Republican colleagues at the state and national level continue to advance a false narrative that the election was stolen.

“I can’t watch smart people cave and cower to people who they know are wrong,” Oban said. “They’re cowards.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/elections-legislature-bismarck-north-dakota-congress-67e38a32e1ae5b3fbee7e0cb2f363bf2