Incumbent Sen. John Andrist, R-Crosby, secured another term in the North Dakota Senate for District 2 against state House of Representative Dorvan Solberg, D-Ray.

"I'm really kind of excited now," Andrist said in a phone interview early Wednesday morning after facing a challenge in Tuesday's general election.

This is Andrist's fifth consecutive victory as state senator for the district, to which he commented, "it's kind of nice to think people would give me this as kind of an opportunity."

"What really excites me is working for my community and giving back to my community, particularly now that I'm well into my retirement and that I no longer have a wife in the house with me," he said.

Andirst, 77, recently lost his wife Elaine to a five-year battle with cancer. Andrist took that tragic event and turned it into his driving force to seek re-election. "it's just exciting to think that I'll be able to have a continuing focus in getting things done for the people," he added.

Andrist won by a wide margin at his precinct of Divide County, with 57 percent of the votes, and across District 2, with 56 percent. In contrast, Solberg received 42 percent in Divide County and 43 percent in District 2.

In Williams County, Andrist had 1,698 votes against Solberg's 1,467. Williams County 15 precincts were West Pairie Lutheran Church, Ernie French Center, Beaver Creek Lutheran Church, Trenton Township Hall, Ray City Hall, Tioga Sr. Citizens Center, Wildrose Sr. Citizens Center, Grenora Sr. Citizens Center, Williston Community Library, National Guard Armory, Epping City Hall, Rickard School, Williston State College and Hagan School.

The North Dakota Secretary of State Web site reported 6,214 votes were cast for the District 2 Senate race and overall voter turnout stood at 63.59 percent.

Andrist's only agenda is to continue being a Senate activist.

"I'm not one to sit and watch things happen, I like to make things happen," he said.

The immediate challenge Andrist foresees and hopes to address in his next term relates to the possibility of over spending the state's surplus, which he believes can become as big of a challenge as having a deficit.

"I hope we can handle our large state surplus wisely, so we don't build ourselves into a really bad overspending situation. I'd like to put some of that money away and preferably give quite a bit of it back," he said.

Andrist congratulated his opponent for running a tough race.

"I don't think that in any of my other races we've had to deal with opponents who were so energized and worked so hard. I tip my hat to him for the amount of work that he did," he said.

Calls to Solberg Wednesday morning were not returned.