1980Flipped from DemocraticFinal results
1980 election for North Dakota Governor
Governor · North Dakota
Allen I. Olson (R) won with 53.6% of the vote, defeating Arthur A. Link (D) by 7.2 points, a seat Democrats won last time.
Allen I. OlsonRepublican · winner
53.6%162,230
Arthur A. LinkDemocrat
46.4%140,391
302,621 votes
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1980
Races before and after
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET