A group affiliated with the Koch brothers network is pressuring Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., to support the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, nominated for the Supreme Court by President Trump.
The grassroots campaign by the North Dakota chapter of Americans for Prosperity isn’t out of the ordinary. Except the Koch brothers’ network of political organizations blacklisted Rep. Kevin Cramer, Heitkamp’s Republican challenger, and a few other Republicans, over policy differences, blocking them the financial and grassroots assistance it planned to invest in the midterm elections.
“No,” said Koch network spokesman James Davis via email, when asked if AFP North Dakota was, in essence, providing Cramer material support. “Just like thanking Heitkamp for Dodd Frank [banking] reforms didn’t mean we were supporting her Senate bid. Sen. Heitkamp should support Kavanaugh, and we’re going to urge her to do so.”
Davis was referring to a digital advertisement from earlier this year in which AFP lauded Heitkamp for supporitng bipartisan legislation to overhaul the Dodd Frank financial reform law enacted by President Barack Obama in the aftermath of the 2008 economic downturn.
And yet, attempting to corner Heitkamp on a key political issue like Kavanaugh’s confirmation, which Republicans believe will move votes in their favor this fall, would seem to be a big help to Cramer. In a statement, an official with the North Dakota chapter of AFP said the group’s “activists” have been knocking on doors to tell voters in the Republican-leaning, pro-Trump state why the president’s nominee deserves to be confirmed.
“Sen. Heitkamp has the duty to meet with and review Judge Kavanaugh’s record, we urge her to reject the political obstruction encouraged by [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer [D-N.Y.] and stand with North Dakotans by offering her full support,” AFP North Dakota state director Mike Fedorchak said.
Heitkamp met with Kavanaugh on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. She told the Washington Examiner in an interview in North Dakota on Aug. 9 that she would decide on his confirmation after the interview process and Senate Judiciary Committee hearings are complete.
