Drew Wrigley, North Dakota ’88, was appointed by North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum as the state’s next attorney general. Wrigley will serve out the remainder of Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem’s term after his sudden death.
Wrigley served as North Dakota’s US attorney from 2001 to 2009, having been appointed by President George W. Bush, and again from 2019 to 2021 after being appointed by President Donald Trump. Wrigley served as lieutenant governor for six years under former Gov. Jack Dalrymple, having been appointed to the role in 2010 and winning election to a four-year term with Dalrymple in 2012.
Wrigley was born in Bismarck and grew up in Fargo. He earned bachelor’s degrees in economics and philosophy from the University of North Dakota in 1988 and his law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law in 1991. He completed a year-long judicial clerkship in Delaware and served for five years as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia, prosecuting a variety of crimes. After moving back to Bismarck in 1998, Wrigley served as deputy chief of staff for then-Gov. John Hoeven in 2000-01. Most recently, he worked as counsel with his family’s Fargo contracting firms, Wrigley Mechanical Inc. and BDT Mechanical LLC.
The attorney general represents the state in all legal matters where the state is named as a party or the state may have an interest in the outcome of the litigation. The Office of Attorney General also enforces the state’s open meetings and open records laws and issues opinions in response to complaints that a public entity has violated those laws. The office is authorized for 253 full-time team members and has a budget of $91.8 million for the 2021-23 biennium.
