Education From 1967 to 2002, Holmberg worked for
Grand Forks Public Schools as a teacher, "child find coordinator" and
school counselor. On November 2, 2023, a
North Dakota Department of Public Instruction panel voted unanimously to suspend his lifetime
teaching license with a plan "to revoke it immediately if he pleads guilty to or is convicted of any charge" in
his 2023 criminal case. He was also previously a chairman of the
Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
Politics Holmberg was first elected as a
Republican to the
North Dakota Senate in 1976 and took office that December 1, representing District 17 ("
Grand Forks south of 32nd Avenue South, neighborhoods along the
Red River and large areas west and south of the city"). He was to have been one of North Dakota's three
electors for certifying the
2020 United States presidential election but got replaced after contracting COVID-19. For many years in office, Holmberg chaired both the senate's appropriations committee (which wrote budgets) and legislative management panel (which handled the legislature's business between biennial sessions). While on a 2021
legislative committee to
redistrict the state, Holmberg rejected a map drawing a
Native American-majority district, saying it was to avoid
gerrymandering. The approved redistricting map was ruled a violation of the
Voting Rights Act in 2023 by Judge
Peter D. Welte in the
United States District Court for the District of North Dakota. After the 2021 retirement of
Fred Risser of the
Wisconsin Senate, Holmberg was tied with
Nikki G. Setzler of the
South Carolina Senate for longest-serving
state legislator in the United States. In 2021, Holmberg was the
Grand Forks Herald person of the year. In 2022, he was chairman of the Senate's Appropriations, Rules and Legislative Management committees while also serving on the interim Budget Section;
The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead called Holmberg "one of the most powerful and popular lawmakers in the legislature". From 2013 through mid-2022, Holmberg spent more state money on travel than any other legislator (). In June 2021, Holmberg raised about for his 2022 reelection campaign. In March 2022, Holmberg announced he would not seek reelection that year due to "health issues including weakened cognitive abilities". After an investigation was published about his communications with an inmate accused of
child pornography crimes, Holmberg resigned from the Senate six months early, on June 1, 2022. He was replaced by
Jonathan Sickler. Despite no longer working in the
North Dakota State Capitol , Holmberg was still active in politics: offering advice and meeting with legislators to share access to his institutional knowledge, soliciting support for Republican candidates and corresponding with
politicos.
Electoral history ==Criminal charges==