Cara Mund’s House pitch rides on abortion, outsider appeal

By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — When Cara Mund was competing to become Miss North Dakota, a key part of her platform was increasing the number of women elected to political office. After she went on to win Miss America, she traveled the country to encourage women to use their voice to make an impact. Now, the recent Harvard Law School graduate is taking on the job of candidate herself in a run for North Dakota’s House seat as an independent. Mund is gambling that her primary issue — support for abortion rights — plus her outsider status and her celebrity can win over enough voters to overcome a far-better-funded incumbent, Republican Rep. Kelly Armstrong.