Minnesota and North Dakota Voter's Guide

Forum Communications Co., in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Minnesota and of North Dakota, is providing this voter guide to help keep you informed ahead of the 2024 election.

  • Learn where candidates running for office in your community stand on the issues.
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Voter Guide

Rice County Sheriff

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  • Candidate picture

    Nathan Budin
    (NP)

Biographical Information

Why are you the best candidate for this position? (750 characters)

If elected, what will your top three priorities be and why? (500 characters)

What procedures would you implement to improve or maintain transparency in the sheriff’s department’s activities? (500 characters)

How would you describe your leadership style and how that qualifies you for the role of sheriff? (500 characters)

What can the sheriff’s office do to help respond to the need for gun violence prevention and safe communities? (500 characters)

What role, if any, do you think the sheriff’s office should play in immigration enforcement? (500 characters)

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Thank you for not forgetting about me. I am running unopposed and I want to start by saying thank you to the League of Women Voters for still asking me to contribute.

I am running for Rice County Sheriff because of my deep commitment to this community and this office. Having lived in this area my entire life and raised my family here, I have a personal stake in our safety. With over 26 years in law enforcement—25 of those with the Rice County Sheriff’s Office—I have served in nearly every capacity within the office. I take immense pride in what we have accomplished together, and I am dedicated to ensuring we continue moving forward.

Visit budinforsheriff.com for more details
Since I am running unopposed, I have been able to already start working on my vision. Sheriff Thomas has been very supportive and has been a great coach. I want to make sure the Sheriff’s Office transition doesn’t affect the quality of work to our citizens receive.

I have goals related to structure, staffing, public engagement, training, operations, logistics and many more. I believe my goals will be accomplished with steady growth and consideration to the taxpayers.
Transparency is a goal as mine as well. Implementing procedures. I don’t plan on adding any procedures on transparency to our already several hundred-page policy and procedure manual. I believe we can build a culture of information sharing instead.

I have already talked to others on how we can share information in a way that is more engaging. I want the taxpayers to see where their money is going. We have a lot of support and trust in our community, and we want to keep it that way.
I’ve been a supervisor for over 15 years and in an administration role for almost 4 years. I am not a micro manager. I believe my job is to give our staff the ability to do their jobs by providing the training, equipment and support. When the opportunity arises, they need the tools and support to make decisions. We are often alone and back up can be a long way away. We need problems solvers who can make decisions. And we have them.
The Sheriff’s Office issues gun permits and permits to carry. We follow the laws when issuing these permits and deny a permit for any disqualifiers or any concerns of harm to self or others.

We have brave men and women who investigate crimes of violence involving guns. They take their investigations seriously and put themselves in great danger at times to enforce them. We are so lucky to have them serve our community. True professionals.
Immigration crimes are civil violations and not criminal. The Rice County Sheriff’s Office doesn’t enforce civil crimes.
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The League of Women Voters of Minnesota and North Dakota crafted the questions sent to the candidates in the Spring of 2024. They reached out to candidates based on contact information in their public candidate filings. Candidates with email addresses were invited and reminded with emails. Candidates with only mailing addresses were sent a letter. Candidates with phone numbers received a phone call as well.

Candidate responses are published as they responded and have not been edited, except when responses were longer than the given character limit. In those cases, the responses are truncated.

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