North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp could become the first Democratic lawmaker to join the Trump administration, as she is reportedly the president-elect’s top choice for secretary of agriculture.
Heitkamp met with the incoming Republican president in New York City earlier this month and later described their conversation as “thoughtful and wide-ranging.”
“We … discussed my background as I’m from a town of just 90 people from a rural state and my upbringing as the daughter of a seasonal construction worker and a school cook,” she said in a statement at the time.
According to Politico, the North Dakota Democrat is at the top of Trump’s list to head the Department of Agriculture in his administration. Should he offer her the position, Heitkamp’s Senate seat would be subject to a special election.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has met with Congressman Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who would likely be the Republican candidate for Heitkamp’s seat if she agrees to serve in Trump’s Cabinet. Cramer had already said he planned to challenge Heitkamp in 2018, but getting in the Senate two years earlier would give Republicans a greater majority for the first two years of Trump’s presidency.
A source close McConnell told The Hill that the GOP leader’s message to his colleagues has been “52 [seats] is a good number, but 53 or 54 is a lot better number. And the sooner the better.”
