A Jamestown resident who ran across all 50 states to promote healthy living announced she will run for North Dakota’s U.S. House seat for the Democratic-NPL party.
Helene Neville, a cancer survivor and former travel nurse, spent years running across the United States, Puerto Rico and parts of Mexico and Canada, traveling almost 17,000 miles.
She spoke to attendees of the Bismarck-Mandan Democratic Party on Saturday during their district conventions and said she hoped to give back to the state that took care of her during her cancer battle. Neville is in remission after battling stage four Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
“It’s a miracle, truly. We called it a miracle in Bismarck,” Neville said.
Former Dem-NPL U.S. House candidate Trygve Hammer and former state lawmaker Vern Thompson announced their campaigns over the past month. Republican incumbent Rep. Julie Fedorchak and Republican Alex Balazs have also announced campaigns.
Neville said she plans to gather signatures and be on the Democratic-NPL primary ballot if she is not endorsed at the party’s state convention in March.
She has not sought or held public office before. In 2011, Neville said she participated in the Emerge America program, which recruits and trains women to run for office or assist with campaigns.
“It’s not just about North Dakota, but whomever is elected is on the national stage and you’ve got to be nationally astute to what’s going on,” Neville said. “What’s going on in D.C. has got to stop, and our country is normalizing cheating and bribery and all of that.”
Neville, a nurse with 41 years of experience, previously lived in Iowa and worked under multiple federal grants as a public health educator and liaison focusing on Gulf War illness. Neville has been a North Dakota resident since 2020 and lives and trains in Jamestown.
Her strength, she said, is inspiring others to live a healthy lifestyle. She said public policy plays a major role in healthy living. Neville also believes in taxing the rich to benefit those in need and added it’s their “duty” to pay their fair share.
North Dakota Monitor reporter Michael Achterling can be reached at [email protected].
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