North Dakota state Senator Heidi Heitkamp is running for re-election in 2018. If elected, it will her 6th year in the Senate.
Background and Achievements
Senator Heitkamp graduated from the University of North Dakota and attended Lewis and Clark Law School. As an attorney, she worked for the Environmental Protection Agency and the North Dakota State Tax Commissioner. She later went on to become the 20th Tax Commissioner of North Dakota, serving for six years before becoming Attorney General of North Dakota for eight years. As Attorney General, Heitkamp organized a deal between 46 states and the tobacco industry, which made the industry reveal all health-related facts regarding smoking.
In 2012, Heitkamp ran for U.S. Senate and won, becoming North Dakota’s woman to do so. She is a champion for Native American rights, a supporter and fighter for small businesses, and a proponent of making housing more affordable. She opposed Trumpcare. She currently serves on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Committee on Indian Affairs, and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. In March of 2017, Senator Heitkamp was awarded the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Award for her work fighting for small businesses.
Positions on Key Issues
- Worked to strengthen the Affordable Care Act and push reforms that improve the system, as well as fought against Republican attempts to gut Medicare and Medicaid and hurt rural health care providers
- Supporter of women's rights and reproductive rights
- Voted yes on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act
- Advocate for pay equity and raising the minimum wage
- Pro-environment voting record
- Supporter of LGBTQ rights and same-sex marriage
Prospects & Opponents
With North Dakota being heavily Republican and a state that Trump won by a large margin in 2016, the race is expected to be very competitive and tight. Her Republican challenger is Kevin Cramer.