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.Hillary Clinton lost North Dakota, the same state that elected Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp four years earlier, by a resounding 36-point margin. That's created something of a vulnerability for Heitkamp, who's confronting the same problem as Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, another vulnerable Trump Country Democratic incumbent fighting to keep her seat in November: she enthusiastically endorsed Clinton. McCaskill's connection to the unpopular Democratic nominee has already been exploited by her likely Republican opponent, state Attorney General Josh Hawley. Hawley seized on McCaskill's Clinton ties after the former secretary of state disparaged states that voted for President Trump in a March...

The U.S. Air Force lost a box of grenade rounds in northwest North Dakota that fell off a Humvee earlier this month, and now is seeking the public’s help in locating the explosives. A 91st Missile Wing Security Forces team from the Minot Air Force Base lost the ammunition container on May 1 while traveling between missile sites in Mountrail County, according to a news release the Air Force issued late Friday. The team was traveling on rough gravel roads about four miles west of Parshall when the back hatch of the vehicle opened, and an ammunition container fell out,...

Sen. Dean Heller is the only Republican running for re-election in a state Hillary Clinton won in 2016. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo) Senate Democrats are still defending 10 states that President Donald Trump won in 2016, but six months out from Election Day, the most vulnerable senator remains a Republican. Nevada Sen. Dean Heller no longer faces a primary threat, but he’s the only Republican up for re-election in a state Hillary Clinton won, and in this national environment that’s a tricky place to be. The Democrats’ odds of flipping a few GOP-held open seats in Arizona and...

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) said on Monday that he will vote for CIA Director Mike Pompeo to be the next secretary of State, making him the second Democrat to support Pompeo's nomination. "After meeting with Mike Pompeo, discussing his foreign policy perspectives, & considering his distinguished time as CIA Director & his exemplary career in public service, I will vote to confirm Mike Pompeo to be our next Secretary of State," Manchin said in a tweet. Pompeo likely already had the votes to be confirmed by the full Senate. With Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) expected to oppose him, Pompeo needed...

When the news broke on Tuesday night that CIA Director Mike Pompeo had met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, I was not surprised. Pompeo had long ago established his importance to this administration and his understanding of geopolitics. Pompeo’s skills are precisely why the president nominated him to be the next Secretary of State—and why it’s so absurd that Democrats are reluctant to confirm him.Considering the increasing gridlock in the Senate over President Donald Trump’s nominees, this is a good time to remind our Democratic friends of Pompeo’s many qualifications—qualifications that have only increased since he earned Democratic support to become CIA...

On paper, of the juiciest targets was North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp. Donald Trump carried her state by a 63-27 margin in 2016, and Heitkamp has done Chuck Schumer's bidding on some big votes, from Obamacare to tax reform (about which she lied), to judicial nominations. Nevertheless, senior Republicans I spoke to in recent months were nervous about the lack of a formidable challenger to take her down. That all changed a few weeks ago, however: ...... I'd heard consistent reports from GOP sources that if Cramer decided to get into the race, he'd enter the contest in a strong polling...

BISMARCK, N.D. - The first of what is expected to be many polls looking at the U.S. Senate candidates for North Dakota was released Tuesday, showing incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., with a narrow lead over Rep. Kevin Cramer, R, N.D. Heitkamp leads Cramer 43 to 40 with 17 percent of voters still undecided, which is unsurprising as the election is still months away. The poll was conducted online by Gravis Marketing with 385 respondents and a margin of error of 5 percentage points. Heitkamp trails among Trump supporters by a wide margin but has a lead among white voters....

appears that Republican At-Large U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer might have just been playing hard to get when he announced in January that he would not challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in November. Today, he has reversed himself, putting the race into the Toss Up column.

A new interview with Mitch McConnell this week showed the first cracks in the wall of his optimism about the midterms. While not going down a path of gloom and doom, he no longer sounds positive of breaking a long-standing trend of the party in power losing ground in such scenarios. He’s not coming out and saying the GOP’s majorities in both chambers are toast, but he seems to think they’ll be losing seats. (The Hill) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says in a new interview that he expects to see GOP majorities in the House and Senate shrink...

Rep. Kevin Cramer has signaled to confidants that he will reverse course and run against Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., in what promises to be one of the nation's most hotly contested Senate elections, two GOP sources familiar with his plans told NBC News. Cramer, the state's lone House member and a close ally of President Donald Trump, has long been considered the blue-chip recruit for Republican. He announced in January that he wouldn't challenge Heitkamp, but White House officials, party leaders and Cramer's home-state supporters continued to pressure him to jump in. One of the other two candidates in the...

Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) will challenge Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), according to a GOP candidate who announced on Tuesday that he’s dropping out of the North Dakota Senate race. Gary Emineth, a former state GOP party chairman, sent an email to supporters that he’s withdrawing from the Senate race, citing Cramer’s entry. But Cramer, who passed on a high-profile Senate bid last month, has yet to officially announce his plans. He told a regional news service Friday that he’s “mildly reconsidering” the race, amid reports that GOP leaders are urging him to take on Heitkamp.

On Oct. 11, 2016, Michael Foster and two companions rose before dawn, left their budget hotel in Grand Forks, N.D., and drove a white rental sedan toward the Canadian border, diligently minding the speed limit. As the driver, Sam Jessup, and a documentary filmmaker, Deia Schlosberg, recorded events from the back seat. For months, he’d imagined his next actions: He would snip the padlock that secured the gate and approach the blunt length of vertical pipe in the center of the enclosure — the stem of a shut-off valve for the 2,700-mile-long Keystone Pipeline. What neither the sheriff’s department nor...

One of the country's largest pro-life groups has launched a campaign targeting Red State Democratic senators who helped kill legislation that would have cut down late term abortions.The Susan B. Anthony List, a group that supports pro-life politicians, has launched a digital campaign tying Democratic senators facing re-election in states that President Donald Trump carried in 2016 to support for late term abortions. On Monday, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.), Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D., N.D.), and Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mt.) voted to block a 20-week abortion ban, while Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wis.) and...

Well, if you’re a red state Democrat, I just don’t get how you can give Shutdown Chuck Schumer a high-five, or whatever was captured on C-Span after the cloture vote to ban abortion after 20 weeks. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) voted with her Democratic colleagues to block the legislation (via Politico): The Senate on Monday blocked a bill, backed by President Donald Trump, to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The procedural vote, designed to put pressure on red-state Democrats who are up for reelection this fall, fell significantly short of the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster....

Though federal employees won’t get a paycheck during the governmment shutdown, members of Congress will — unless they specify otherwise. Ten Democratic senators on Friday introduced a bill that would withhold pay for members of Congress during the government shutdown. The legislation comes from Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), along with Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.). “It’s wrong that members of Congress would still get paid in...

My group of respondents is made up of people I have met over the course of the last year while reporting from eight counties that were pivotal in the 2016 presidential election. Some I met through friends or political or activist organizations, but most I encountered at county fairs or festivals, churches, bars or restaurants. My sample skews somewhat toward Trump voters and supporters, but there are also plenty of Democrats. As I expected, most of my respondents had either only good or bad things to say about the president’s first year. Among the positive one-word responses were: “diligent,” “decisive,”...

Rep. Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota Republican, announced Thursday he will not challenge sitting Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in the Senate race this fall. During an interview with KFYR radio, Cramer said he and his family decided the best decision was for him to just run again for his House seat. The move is seen as a blow to Republicans who hope to pick up the seat in the traditionally deep red state. 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2018 Senate candidate: Obama's birth certificate is a 'phony document' Joe Arpaio, controversial sheriff pardoned by Trump, enters Arizona...

When hearing about invaders streaming across our border, often with a sense of entitlement, we should be filled with righteous anger motivating us to robustly defend the homeland. We’re not. Or not enough of us are. In fact, a good percentage of the country works against the common good, passionate about the wrong things and acting as traitors would. Too many of the rest are comfortably numb. This is why invasion has been tolerated (and often encouraged), why we talk about amnesty for people who should be unceremoniously shipped south, and why there isn’t yet funding for a border wall...

Tax reform is done. It’s about to be law. It’s the largest revamp in three decades, but not a single Democrat voted for it. Not even Democrats from states that Trump won by wide margins. It’s a big gamble for both sides. If it doesn’t produce the economic results the GOP has been pushing, they’re sunk. If it does maintain economic growth, and any patriotic American should hope so (we’re booming at four percent right now), then Democrats have to explain why they voted against the middle class, working families, more money in Americans’ pockets, and just overall relief. Why...

Congressional Republicans say they reached agreement on a final tax bill that will provide a new 20-percent deduction for pass-through income from farms and small businesses. The agreement, which the House and Senate are expected to take up early next week, also calls for doubling the estate tax exemption and will include key expensing provisions that farm groups sought to preserve and expand, lawmakers said. They said the agreement also would allow deduction of state and local taxes, including income and property taxes, up to $10,000, a concession to lawmakers in high-tax states that could also benefit farmers. Senate Agriculture...