Brynhild Haugland was a North Dakota Republican Party

North Dakota Republican Party

The North Dakota Republican Party is the North Dakota affiliate of the United States Republican Party. The party platform is generally conservative.The North Dakota Republican Party is strongly in control of the state's politics...

 politician who was well-known for being one of the first female legislators in the North Dakota Legislative Assembly

North Dakota Legislative Assembly

The North Dakota Legislative Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of North Dakota. The Legislative Assembly consists of two chambers, the lower North Dakota House of Representatives, with 94 representatives, and the upper North Dakota Senate, with 47 senators...

, as well as for being the longest serving state legislator in the history of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 because of her continuous 52-year tenure in the North Dakota House of Representatives

North Dakota House of Representatives

The North Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and is larger than the North Dakota Senate....

.

Biography

Haugland was born in 1905 near Minot, North Dakota

Minot, North Dakota

Minot is a city located in north central North Dakota in the United States. It is most widely known for the Air Force base located approximately 15 miles north of the city. With a population of 40,888 at the 2010 census, Minot is the fourth largest city in the state...

, the daughter of Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 immigrants Nels and Sigurda Haugland, who were dairy farmers. She taught in Ward County

Ward County, North Dakota

-National protected areas:*Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge *Hiddenwood National Wildlife Refuge *Upper Souris National Wildlife Refuge -Demographics:...

 from 1923 to 1925 and received her teaching certificate in 1928 from what is now Minot State University

Minot State University

Minot State University is a four-year institution of higher learning in Minot, North Dakota. Founded in 1913 as a normal school, Minot State University is the third-largest university in North Dakota, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs.Minot State University was founded in 1913...

. Her political career began in 1936 when she first ran a Minot district House of Representatives seat, however, she was unable to win because a broken leg kept her from campaigning. She tried again in 1938 for the same seat, and this time was successful. She held the same seat without ever losing an election until her retirement in 1990 at age 85. During her tenure, she even was dropped from the Republican Party in 1962, but still won the primary as an independent, however two years later she was accepted back into the party. Haugland missed very few votes during her time in office, and voted an estimated 22,000 times in all during her service. Haugland died at the age of 93 in 1998.