Merrill Piepkorn (born 1949) is an American entertainer and politician who has served in the North Dakota Senate from the 44th district since 2016. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Piepkorn is a candidate in the 2024 North Dakota gubernatorial election. He has also hosted radio shows on Prairie Public Radio and served as the public address announcer for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks.

Piepkorn was born in 1949.^[1] He attended Concordia College. While he was enrolled there, he began playing music with Gregg Temple, a fellow student, in 1972. He graduated from Concordia in 1974. After graduating, Piepkorn and Temple co-founded a country band called Skunk Hollow.^[2][3]

Piepkorn worked for Prairie Public Radio, hosting "Morning Edition" while he was a graduate student at North Dakota State University. In 1999, he co-created and began hosting the radio show "Here & Now".^[4] Piepkorn became the public address announcer for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks, a Minor League Baseball team, for the 1997 season. He stayed in the role through the 2006 season.^[5] Piepkorn and Temple co-founded a band called the Radio Stars in 2008.^[2][6] He created, hosted, and served as executive producer of "Dakota Air" on Prairie Public Radio, which debuted in 2010.^[7]

Piepkorn ran for the North Dakota Senate as a member of the Democratic Party in 2016. He defeated Tim Flakoll, the incumbent state senator, in the November general election.^[8] Flakoll sought a rematch in 2020, and Piepkorn won reelection.^[9] He won reelection in 2022 with 62% of the vote against Republican Bjorn Altenburg.^[10] In November 2022, Piepkorn was elected to serve as assistant minority leader of the state senate.^[11]

On April 2, 2024, Piepkorn announced that he would run for governor of North Dakota in the 2024 election.^[12] He won the party's nomination at their convention in April. He selected Patrick Hart as his running mate for lieutenant governor of North Dakota.^[13]