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Senate Republican leaders pressed on Tuesday to wrap up the confirmation of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, seizing on word from the F.B.I. that it would complete its investigation into allegations of sexual assault and sexual misconduct as early as Wednesday. “We’ll have an F.B.I. report this week, and we’ll have a vote this week,” an emphatic Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, told reporters after the Republicans’ weekly policy luncheon. But Mr. McConnell’s promise was as much about bluffing as it was about confidence, giving the nomination an air of inevitability even as five...

Midterms: Democrats expecting to blow out Republicans during the midterms in six weeks should take stock of this sobering fact: It’s likely their party will remain in the minority and even lose ground given what we’re seeing in key states and on the campaign trail. Right now, Real Clear Politics has some races — Arizona and Nevada — leaning Democratic, which seems odd given that Sen. Dean Heller in Nevada is running a good campaign and Arizona is a red state. But other races Democrats have been hyping for months are good news for Republicans.

n June, NBC North Dakota News teamed up with Mason-Dixon, now we've teamed up with Strategic Research Associates (SRA) to conduct a survey on certain issues and candidates involved in the upcoming midterm election. We start out with the latest numbers for the race for Senate. According to SRA, it surveyed 650 likely voters last month. And, Republican challenger Rep. Kevin Cramer leads incumbent Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp by 10 percentage points; 51 percent to 41 percent. Eight percent have yet to make up their mind. Not comparing our information from the last poll done in June with Mason-Dixon to...

A new poll released on Monday by Valley News Live, the NBC-TV affiliate in Fargo, North Dakota, and Strategic Research Associates, shows that Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) has jumped to a ten point lead over incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) in the North Dakota Senate race. The poll of 650 likely voters in North Dakota conducted between September 17 and September 27 shows that Cramer now leads Heitkamp 51 percent to 41 percent, with eight percent undecided. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percent. Cramer has increased his lead over Heitkamp by six points in the past...

FARGO, ND (Valley News Live) Republican candidate Kevin Cramer is ahead in the latest polling by Valley News Live on the U.S. Senate race in North Dakota. The poll, conducted by Strategic Research Associates of Austin, Texas, has Cramer in front of the incumbent Democrat Heidi Heitkamp by 10 percentage points, 51-41. The difference is in male voters, where Cramer garners 56.% to Heitkamp's nearly 35%. Females are virtually tied (46.6%-46.5%). A total of 650 likely voters were surveyed between September 17-27th on both landline and cell phones. In another question that VNL asked, 60% of the likely voters in...

In June, NBC North Dakota News teamed up with Mason-Dixon, now we've teamed up with Strategic Research Associates (SRA) to conduct a survey on certain issues and candidates involved in the upcoming midterm election. We start out with the latest numbers for the race for Senate. According to SRA, it surveyed 650 likely voters last month. And, Republican challenger Rep. Kevin Cramer leads incumbent Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp by 10 percentage points; 51 percent to 41 percent. Eight percent have yet to make up their mind. Obviously a hot topic lately is the pending confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court nominee...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is moving to set up a Judiciary Committee vote on Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, likely next week. Grassley's office on Monday sent out an agenda for a business meeting the committee will have on Thursday. Kavanaugh's nomination is included as one of roughly two dozen judicial nominations that could get a vote. The move means Kavanaugh's nomination could get a vote as soon as this week. But Democrats are expected to delay the vote until next week, meaning Kavanaugh's nomination will likely be taken up by the committee on Sept. 20. Under committee rules, any...

Red-state Democrats are embracing one of Obamacare’s most popular provisions to help them win re-election in November. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota unveiled ads this week slamming GOP opponents for trying to gut Obamacare’s protections for people with pre-existing illnesses, such as diabetes or cancer. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., did the same in a Twitter video. Each of the candidates is seizing on actions by congressional Republicans and the Trump administration to unravel Obamacare. But instead of highlighting the law in general, they are centering on its rules obligating insurers to cover...

Billionaire conservative businessman Charles Koch’s political network is freezing out Republicans that it believes have violated its fiscally conservative principles, and is, at least for now, only supporting four Senate GOP candidates in the fall. The Koch network is backing GOP Senate candidates in Wisconsin, Missouri, Tennessee and Florida, signaling it will be selective in where it engages as Republicans seek to retain or grow their narrow 51-49 majority. At a Monday presentation to about 500 of the network’s top donors at a five-star resort in the Rocky Mountains, Americans for Prosperity president Tim Phillips made an example out of...

Judge Brett Kavanaugh is going to be a weeks-long torment for some on the Hill—and I’m talking about red state Democrats. Senate Republican moderates Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have been very receptive to Kavanaugh’s nomination, easing pressure from the right that they could sink this SCOTUS nominee if they defect. That could be the case, but for now, pressure has ramped up on Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), and maybe Bill Nelson (D-FL). Nelson needs help. Republican Gov. Rick Scott is outworking him on Hispanic outreach, and he’s beating Nelson...

A trio of red-state Democratic senators have turned down invitations to attend President Trump's announcement of his nominee to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) were invited but declined to attend the event at the White House at 9 p.m. Monday. Donnelly said in a statement that he declined so that his first meeting with Trump's pick will be "in a setting where we can discuss his or her experience and perspectives." "I appreciate the President inviting me to attend tonight's announcement at the WH. I look...

WASHINGTON — Democratic senators running for re-election in red states where President Donald Trump remains popular face an agonizing choice over his coming Supreme Court nominee: Vote to confirm the pick and risk demoralizing Democratic voters ahead of the midterm elections, or stick with the party and possibly sacrifice their own seats — and any chance at a Democratic majority in 2019. The actions of a handful of Senate Democrats struggling to hold their seats in those states — notably Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia — will have broad implications...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The opening on the Supreme Court has created a dilemma for Democratic senators up for re-election this year in the states that President Donald Trump won in 2016. The choice on whether to support the upcoming nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy will be a test for several Democrats in tough races. It could be particularly difficult for Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and West Virginia's Joe Manchin.

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...

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...

Every day on the football field or the baseball diamond, kids and grownups give each other a high-five to celebrate the victory or a good play. But Democrats in the United States Senate used the fun move to celebrate camaraderie and a job well done on something dark and disgusting. After the vote to defeat the bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks, Democrats on the Senate floor gave each other a high-five. How members of the Senate can explain their actions is beyond most Americans — as fully two-thirds of Americans believe late-term abortions on viable unborn babies ought...

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....