50 Facts About Heidi Heitkamp

Mary Kathryn "Heidi" Heitkamp is an American politician who served as a United States senator from North Dakota from 2013 to 2019.

Heidi Heitkamp ran for governor of North Dakota in 2000 and lost to Republican John Hoeven.

Heidi Heitkamp considered a bid for the Democratic nomination in the 2010 US Senate election to replace the retiring Byron Dorgan, but on March 3,2010, declined to run against Hoeven, who was ultimately elected.

In November 2011, Heidi Heitkamp declared her candidacy to replace the retiring Kent Conrad as US senator from North Dakota in the 2012 election.

Heidi Heitkamp narrowly defeated Republican Congressman Rick Berg on November 6,2012, in that year's closest Senate race.

Heidi Heitkamp was North Dakota's second female senator, after Jocelyn Burdick, and the first woman to be elected to the Senate from the state.

In January 2023, Heidi Heitkamp became the director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

Heidi Heitkamp was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, the fourth of seven children of Doreen LaVonne, a school cook, and Raymond Bernard Heidi Heitkamp, a janitor and construction worker.

Heidi Heitkamp's father was of German descent, her mother of half Norwegian and half German ancestry.

Heidi Heitkamp was raised in Mantador, North Dakota, attending local public schools.

Heidi Heitkamp adopted the nickname "Heidi" in first grade to distinguish herself from two other classmates named Mary and Kathy.

Heidi Heitkamp interned for the United States Congress in 1976 and in the North Dakota Legislative Assembly in 1977.

In 1980 and 1981, Heidi Heitkamp worked as an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency.

Heidi Heitkamp next worked as an attorney for North Dakota State Tax Commissioner Kent Conrad.

In 1984, Heitkamp ran for North Dakota state auditor and lost to incumbent Republican Robert W Peterson.

From 2001 to 2012, Heidi Heitkamp served as an external director on the Dakota Gasification Company's Great Plains synfuels plant's board of directors.

Heidi Heitkamp now serves on the advisory board of the Canadian American Business Council.

Heidi Heitkamp's brother, Joel, is a radio talk-show host and former North Dakota state senator.

Heidi Heitkamp has occasionally filled in as host of his program, News and Views, which is broadcast on KFGO in Fargo and other stations in North Dakota.

On November 8,2011, Heidi Heitkamp announced that she would seek the open seat.

Heidi Heitkamp represented North Dakota in the Senate from January 3,2013 to January 3,2019, alongside Republican John Hoeven, her former opponent in the governor's race.

On September 13,2017, a day after dining at the White House with several other senators and Trump, Heidi Heitkamp announced she would seek a second term.

Heidi Heitkamp spoke of the importance of legislation regarding infrastructure, tax reform, and energy and farm policy.

In 2021, Heidi Heitkamp lobbied against Democratic Party efforts to raise taxes on corporations, large inheritances and the superwealthy to pay for a $3.5 trillion social spending bill.

In October 2022, Heidi Heitkamp was named director of the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago in Chicago, IL, after previously serving there as a Pritzker Fellow.

Heidi Heitkamp was considered a centrist and often supported bipartisan legislation.

Heidi Heitkamp was one of 14 members of the bipartisan Senate group that negotiated the compromise that was the basis of the eventual deal to end the shutdown.

In January 2018, Heidi Heitkamp was one of six Democrats to join Republican senators in voting to confirm Trump's nominee for Health secretary, Alex Azar.

Heidi Heitkamp said she would support a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution "with exceptions" if elected.

Heidi Heitkamp said the exceptions would include wartime spending, Social Security, Medicare, and a ban on tax cuts for those making more than $1 million per year.

Heidi Heitkamp announced in a 2012 campaign press release that she supports the Buffett Rule.

Heidi Heitkamp was described in 2017 as wanting "to use her White House connections to prod Trump to take a softer view on trade".

Heidi Heitkamp was one of the chief architects of a bank deregulation bill that rolled back provisions of Dodd-Frank.

Heidi Heitkamp was one of 17 Democrats who broke with the majority of their party and voted with Republicans to ease bank regulations.

Trump invited Heidi Heitkamp to take part in the signing ceremony after the bill's passage.

Heidi Heitkamp said she supports reforming the filibuster in the United States Senate, but did not endorse the proposal by Senators Ron Wyden and Tom Udall to do so.

Heidi Heitkamp was less enthusiastic about Clinton by 2016, in light of her email controversy and what Heidi Heitkamp perceived as Clinton's turn to the left.

Heidi Heitkamp is plainly chummier with Trump than she was to President Barack Obama.

Heidi Heitkamp heard from approximately 1,400 North Dakotans about Trump's nomination of Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education.

Heidi Heitkamp then announced her opposition to DeVos, attributing her decision to this overwhelming public reaction.

Heidi Heitkamp was the first Democrat to support and one of the handful of Democrats to vote to confirm Trump's nominee Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State.

Heidi Heitkamp had an A rating from the National Rifle Association for her consistent support of pro-gun legislation.

Polling suggested that the majority of North Dakotans approve of prohibiting individuals on the No-Fly list from buying firearms and ammunition, but in June 2016, after the Orlando nightclub shooting, Heidi Heitkamp voted against such a prohibition.

Heidi Heitkamp was the only Democratic senator to do so.

Heidi Heitkamp instead expressed support for a "compromise gun bill" proposed by Susan Collins.

Heidi Heitkamp declined to participate in the Democratic filibuster on gun control in June 2016, leading to harsh criticism by gun control groups such as the Brady Campaign and Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Everytown for Gun Safety.

Heidi Heitkamp has said that many who oppose hydraulic fracturing have been exposed to "junk science" and do not know what it really is.

Heidi Heitkamp was Climate Hawks Vote's lowest-rated Democratic senator on climate leadership in the 113th Congress and remains among the lowest in 2015.

In December 2016, Heidi Heitkamp told CNBC that although the Army Corps of Engineers had refused to approve permits needed to complete the Dakota Access pipeline, that would change under Trump.

In February 2017, Heidi Heitkamp was one of two Democratic senators to vote to confirm Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.