Challenger Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) prompted an angry and emotional response from Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) when he said that #MeToo is a move towards “victimization,” according to a Monday New York Times report.
Of his female relatives, he said: “They cannot understand this movement toward victimization. They are pioneers of the prairie. These are tough people whose grandparents were tough and great-grandparents were tough.”
Heitkamp, who voted against Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation despite polls showing her down in her red state, reacted angrily when a reporter told her of Cramer’s comments.
“Did he really say that?” she asked.
“I think it’s wonderful that his wife has never had an experience, and good for her, and it’s wonderful his mom hasn’t,” she said. “My mom did. And I think it affected my mom her whole life. And it didn’t make her less strong.”
“And I want you to put this in there, it did not make my mom less strong that she was a victim,” she added, reportedly welling up with tears. “She got stronger and she made us strong. And to suggest that this movement doesn’t make women strong and stronger is really unfortunate.”
According to the New York Times, at a Sunday festival in her home state, Heitkamp acknowledged the stress that the confirmation process has inflicted on her.
“It has been a tough week for me,” she said. “Ray and Doreen Heitkamp didn’t raise me to vote a certain way so that I could win, they raised me to vote the right way,” she added, invoking her parents.
According to Real Clear Politics, Heitkamp is currently trailing Cramer in the polls by about eight points.
