Vice President Mike Pence took a multiple digs at Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., on her home turf on Tuesday, saying the state could “do better” than the incumbent as she gears up for the 2018 midterm election.
“Sen. Heitkamp voted no on tax cuts, no on repealing and replacing Obamacare, no on cracking down on sanctuary cities, no on repealing the anti-energy methane rule — she voted no on a 20-week abortion ban,” Pence said at a private fundraiser for Heitkamp’s challenger in Fargo, a source at the event told NBC News.
“I mean, it’s time that North Dakota voted no on Heidi Heitkamp’s re-election,” Pence added as he voiced support for her challenger, GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer.
“North Dakota could do a whole lot better than Sen. Heidi Heitkamp,” he said. “Heidi’s nice. I’ve got a great relationship with her. I’d just like her to have a little more free time.”
According to Pence, the race is important to President Trump because Cramer was an early supporter of him and has been supportive of him in Congress. Pence also said that Trump would be visiting the state in the near future.
Pence expressed similar sentiments at a public event staged by America First Policies later in the day Tuesday, where he said he believed Heitkamp “hasn’t been putting North Dakota first.”
In response, Heitkamp’s campaign pointed out that Pence has previously lauded the senator for her leadership.
“It wasn’t too long ago that Vice President Pence came to North Dakota and praised Heidi as a ‘strong leader,’ touting the ‘great relationship’ both he and President Trump have with her — and it sounds like not much has changed,” said Heitkamp campaign spokeswoman Julia Krieger, according to NBC News.
“That’s because she’s earned respect from both sides of the aisle by putting partisan politics aside and putting North Dakota first — standing up for working Americans by fighting against tax hikes and health insurance premium increases, protecting access to quality health care for seniors and families, and voting for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch,” Kreiger added. “And she’ll keep working with Republicans, Democrats and with the White House — no matter who is in office — to get real results for North Dakota.”
Republicans view North Dakota are fertile ground to take a seat away from Democrats in the midterm elections. Trump received 63 percent of the state’s vote during the 2016 election.
