Fargo mayoral candidates try to set themselves apart in first debate

By April Baumgarten and Ryan McNamara

April 21, 2026 at 9:41 PM

FARGO — Candidates for Fargo mayor took their first shot on a single stage at convincing residents to vote for them less than 50 days before Election Day.

City Commissioners Dave Piepkorn, Denise Kolpack and Michelle Turnberg, along with North Dakota Sen. Joshua Boschee and Fargo Human Rights Commission Chair Sekou Sirleaf, debated each other Tuesday, April 21, in the Fargo Theatre. The five are on the June 9 primary ballot with hopes of succeeding Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney.

The 90-minute event was the first and only debate that has been publicly announced. Candidates expressed their views and visions on a number of issues, including addressing public safety, tightening city revenues, downtown business challenges and a growing homeless population.

Mahoney has been Fargo’s leader since 2014, when he took over for the late Mayor Dennis Walaker. First elected in 2015, Mahoney has hit the three four-year term limit set for elected city officials.

Ahead of the debate, Mahoney told The Forum he would not endorse a candidate in the race. Instead, he will let the five mayoral hopefuls “fight it out,” he said.

“I think the public can decide,” he said.

The five candidates tried to set themselves apart from the others. Boschee, a Democrat, said people are “tired of the status quo,” as well as the fights during Monday night City Commission meetings and “the lack of cohesion and the lack of vision.” He said his record as a lawmaker shows he is willing to work with those who have different viewpoints.

Boschee has set himself up as an outsider who would take the city in "a new direction."

“If you want four more years of the same, you have plenty of options,” Boschee said. “If you are looking for someone who is going to bring change to City Hall, make sure we engage more with the public and deliver on results, then I ask for your vote on June 9.”

Turnberg said she wanted to focus on public safety, core services and lowering the city’s debt. The city is a business, not a nonprofit, she said.

“I humbly ask that you vote for Michelle Turnberg for mayor on June 9 because we are at a turning point to save our city,” she said.

She said she will cut the city budget so it focuses on “our needs, and not wants.” She and Piepkorn attacked funding for the Downtown Engagement Center and the city’s needle exchange program.

Fargo government is “not an endless pot of money" that serves "all the special niche interests of every special interest group,” Turnberg said.

“I want to focus on those core city services, get back to those family values and have our city be safe,” she said.

Kolpack said she wants to be a mayor who residents can be proud of. She said she would have open communications and collaborate with city leaders and department heads.

“It is clear we need more listening and less talking at City Hall,” she said.

In a rebuttal to Piepkorn claiming that liberals raise taxes while conservatives cut spending when solving budgetary problems, Kolpack said the term “liberal” does not apply to her. She said she has turned downed suggestions from Republicans and Democrats to run for state office.

Kolpack said she is all in for the city of Fargo.

“I am a nonpartisan in this nonpartisan job, and I will always be nonpartisan because I work for every citizen,” she said.

Piepkorn said he would focus on public safety and reducing spending. Billing himself as a “fiscal conservative,” he was the only candidate on the debate stage who said he was against the city’s 1% infrastructure sales tax.

He encouraged residents to vote against a primary election measure that would renew the tax for 20 years.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “We cannot do that. The taxpayers deserve a reduction.”

Piepkorn said he is not afraid to speak his mind. He said he would cut spending "across the board," adding there are many city departments that are "ripe for reductions in spending."

People who want to reduce taxes and crime should vote for him, he said.

“The best way is to elect a mayor who is tough on crime,” Piepkorn said when asked how he would address crime. “We currently have a majority on our City Commission that’s been soft on crime for four years.”

Sirleaf said the first step in solving crime is strengthening families through programs for young people, not policing. Like drug addiction, the city needs to determine the cause of crime and prevent it.

“We need strong families,” he said. “People who commit crimes, they come from families. Broken families produce broken communities. Broken communities produce broken cities.”

He said city leaders need to bring people together in making decisions instead of making unilateral decisions.

“Fargo belongs to all of us,” he said. “Fargo can be better than what it is. I think Fargo can go from good to great if we all come together.”

Sirleaf said he would make sure he would listen to residents to find a path forward.

“We are not the bosses,” he said. “We are the public servants, and we need to listen to the people.”