In a change of heart, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) will announce on Friday that he will run for the U.S. Senate in 2018, challenging Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), the Bismarck Tribune reported Thursday.
The paper cited a person close to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who spoke to Cramer about the race.
The news would be a boost for the GOP as it seeks to maintain control of the Senate this fall. It currently holds a 51-49 edge.
Cramer’s apparent reversal came only about one month after he confirmed that he would not run and would instead run for re-election in the House.
The congressman had been Republicans’ favorite candidate to challenge Heitkamp, and his decision not to run had been a blow to the GOP’s chances to flip the Senate seat. Cramer is an ally of President Donald Trump, who carried North Dakota 63 to 27 in 2016.
Both Trump and McConnell had urged Cramer to run for the Senate, and it appears McConnell made another appeal since Cramer passed on the race.
I’m FROM North Dakota. With the exception of the white supremacist in Antler, Cramer is the biggest asshole within the borders of the Peace Garden State, which makes him PERFECT for the Republicants
The story makes no mention of a primary. Is there something funny about the North Dakota electoral process that I’m unaware of?
Not sure what you mean. A GOP primary? He will run in the primary, but it’s highly likely that any ND republican that has already filed to run will either get little support or will be convinced to bow out. They would have no chance against him. He’s uber rich, has tons of fund raising from the NRA and oil and gas industry, and he’s been all in on the Trump Train from the start. You can’t get further right, and moderate Republicans aren’t a think in ND anymore.
Heitkamp barely won an upset victory in 2012. She could do it again, but it will be a knock down, drag out fight. She’s bucked the Democratic line a bunch of times, but it’s still ND.
Honestly, Dems keep talking about his blue wave, but Trump’s approvals went from (-21) to (-8) on average over the last 2 months, and the generic dem/gop lead has been cut to almost nothing. I don’t see how this happens when every week there is a scandal, but people are stupid. Also polling could be off. Dems barely eked out a recent victory.
However, Kramer is also a stupid asshole that puts his foot in his mouth whenever he speaks. So we’ll see.
This illustrates the serious consequences of any substantial uptick in Trump’s popularity. When Trump’s polls were at truly historic, mind-boggling lows, it made strategic sense for Cramer to sit this one out, so he did. Now that Trump’s polls have ticked up a bit, that’s enough to change the calculus.
Just shows it’s very dangerous for this President to even temporarily eke out polling numbers in the mid-40s, which is about where he is now. It is bad news for the country and world.
Slightly better generic poll numbers for Republicans are enticing some of these creeps back.