Heitkamp Makes N.D. Senate Bid Official
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Former North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp (D) made her campaign for retiring Sen. Kent Conrad's (D) seat official today.
"Today I am formally opening a campaign committee. I will be a candidate to represent North Dakota in the United States Senate," Heitkamp said in a statement, noting that she'll have an "announcement event and kickoff in the near future."
Heitkamp's entrance into the race ends Democrats' search for a candidate in North Dakota. Democratic officials in Washington, D.C., including Conrad, have been pumping her candidacy for weeks, hoping she would get into the race.
Conrad won his last re-election bid easily, but Republicans have dominated North Dakota in national elections. As a result, many political insiders view Heitkamp's bid as an uphill effort.
Freshman Rep. Rick Berg is the likely GOP nominee, but businessman Duane Sand is also running for the party's nod.
Heitkamp served as the state's attorney general in the 1990s before losing to now-Sen. John Hoeven (R) in the 2000 gubernatorial race.
States - North Dakota
North Dakota News
North Dakota, socialist haven?
North Dakota is the very definition of a red state. It voted 58 percent to 39 percent for Romney over Obama, and its statehouse and senate have a total of 104 Republicans and only 47 Democrats. The Republican super-majority is so conservative it recently passed the nation’s most severe anti-abortion resolution – a measure that declares a fertilized human egg has the same right to life as a fully formed person. But North Dakota is also red in another sense: it fully supports its state-owned Bank of North Dakota (BND), a socialist relic...
Les Leopold | Salon.com 31 Mar 2013 Hits:455 North Dakota
Read moreThe Most Serious Threat To Abortion Access In North Dakota Might Surprise You
On Tuesday afternoon, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) signed into law three different abortion restrictions — HB 1305, HB 1456, and SB 2305 — that women’s health advocates say will effectively ban abortion in the state. The extreme legislation that has received the most media attention is HB 1456, an unconstitutional “fetal heartbeat” ban that would outlaw abortions after just six weeks of pregnancy, before many women even realize they’re pregnant. But when it comes to the new laws’ concrete effect on the lives of women in North Dakota,...
27 Mar 2013 Hits:440 North Dakota
Read moreNorth Dakota's Republican Governor Admits He's More Interested in Legal Battles Than Women…
State is first to attempt to outlaw abortion after just six weeks, which basically means altogether. On Tuesday, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple (R) approved a package of strict abortion restrictions, including an unconstitutional six-week abortion ban and a measure intended to force the state’s last abortion clinic to close its doors. In an interview with the Associated Press, the governor admitted that he didn’t sign the legislation based on “any religious belief or personal experience” that compels him to oppose abortion — instead, he’s simply trying to entangle the state in a...
Tara Culp-Ressler | ThinkProgress 27 Mar 2013 Hits:204 North Dakota
Read moreND Gears up for Legal Dispute on New Abortion Laws
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota's governor positioned the oil-rich state Tuesday as a primary battleground in the decades-old fight over abortion rights, signing into law the nation's toughest restriction on the procedure and urging lawmakers to set aside cash for an inevitable legal challenge. Minutes after Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed three anti-abortion measures — one banning them as early as six weeks into a pregnancy — unsolicited donations began pouring into the state's lone abortion clinic to help opponents prove the new laws are unconstitutional. "Although the likelihood of this...
James MacPherson | AP 26 Mar 2013 Hits:192 North Dakota
Read moreFracking-Fueled Land Grab Cheats North Dakota Tribes Out of $1 Billion, Suits Allege
The rush to get access to oil on tribal lands is part of the oil industry's larger push to secure drilling rights across the United States. Native Americans on an oil-rich North Dakota reservation have been cheated out of more than $1 billion by schemes to buy drilling rights for lowball prices, a flurry of recent lawsuits assert. And, the suits claim, the federal government facilitated the alleged swindle by failing in its legal obligation to ensure the tribes got a fair deal. This is a story as old as America itself,...
Abrahm Lustgarten | ProPublica 24 Mar 2013 Hits:387 North Dakota
Read moreWhen it Comes to Women's Health and Rights, South Dakota Is Still in the "Hoghouse"
In North Dakota, activists were happily surprised when Democrat Heidi Heitkamp beat Republican Rick Berg for the state's open senate seat. But in South Dakota, pro-choice activists didn't even have a victory win to revel in. The state not only didn't make any gains when it came to protecting a woman's right to choose, they may have lost ground in the last election. Pro-choice legislators were already a dying breed in the state, and this election made the situation even more dire. The state senate...
Robin Marty, Senior Political Reporter, RH Reality Check 26 Nov 2012 Hits:557 North Dakota
Read moreThe Dark Side to North Dakota's Oil Boom
Oil companies are spilling and dumping drilling waste onto the region's land and into its waterways with increasing regularity. Oil drilling has sparked a frenzied prosperity in Jeff Keller's formerly quiet corner of western North Dakota in recent years, bringing an infusion of jobs and reviving moribund local businesses. But Keller, a natural resource manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, has seen a more ominous effect of the boom, too: Oil companies are spilling and dumping drilling waste onto the region's land and into its waterways...
Nicholas Kusnetz, Special to ProPublica 10 Jun 2012 Hits:507 North Dakota
Read moreHeitkamp Makes N.D. Senate Bid Official
Former North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp (D) made her campaign for retiring Sen. Kent Conrad's (D) seat official today. "Today I am formally opening a campaign committee. I will be a candidate to represent North Dakota in the United States Senate," Heitkamp said in a statement, noting that she'll have an "announcement event and kickoff in the near future." Heitkamp's entrance into the race ends Democrats' search for a candidate in North Dakota. Democratic officials in Washington, D.C., including Conrad, have been pumping her candidacy for...
Shira Toeplitz | Roll Call Politics 08 Nov 2011 Hits:330 North Dakota
Read moreOccupy Fargo-Moorhead: Many Views for One Movement
FARGO – Some are veteran activists; some have never held a protest placard before. Some favor a flat tax; others want to nix the Federal Reserve. Some want to see corporations held accountable for what they call systemic exploitation of workers; some want to end factory farming. Their voices and goals vary widely, but the demonstrators of Occupy Fargo-Moorhead have at least one thing in common: In the words of Prairie Johnson, “All of them are just a little pissed off.” Johnson is among the...
Marino Eccher, INFORUM 18 Oct 2011 Hits:160 North Dakota
Read moreCarrying Signs, Crowd Gathers in Fargo to Rally Against Social, Economic Inequality
One demonstrator came out swinging for “Main St., Not Wall St.” Another pleaded for “People Over Profits.” And another showed up with a sign that simply read: “Mad As Hell.” FARGO - One demonstrator came out swinging for “Main St., Not Wall St.” Another pleaded for “People Over Profits.” And another showed up with a sign that simply read: “Mad As Hell.” Fargo-Moorhead, consider yourself occupied. About 150 people took to downtown Fargo on Saturday afternoon to assemble in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street, the New York-based...
Marino Eccher, INFORUM 18 Oct 2011 Hits:152 North Dakota
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ND Legislators with ALEC Ties
House of Representatives
- Rep. Wesley Belter (R-62)[24], ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
- Rep. Alan Carlson (R-41), ALEC State Chairman[23] and Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member
- Rep. Jim Kasper (R-46)[20][24]
- Rep. Bette Grande (R-41), ALEC State Chairman[23]
- Speaker David Monson (R-10)[20][24], ALEC Education Task Force Alternate
- Rep. Blair Thoreson (R-44), former State Chairman[24][135][23] and Communications and Technology Task Force Co-Chair[136]
- Rep. Dave Weiler (R-30), ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Alternate
- Rep. Dan J. Ruby (R-38), ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Member
- Rep. Lisa M. Meier (R-32), ALEC Education Task Force Member
- Rep. Darrell Nottestad (R-43), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
- Rep. Don Vigesaa (R-23), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force Member
- Rep. Alon Wieland (R-13), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member
- Rep. Chet Pollert (R-29), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member
- Rep. Jeff Delzer (R-8), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member
- Rep. Mike R. Nathe (R-30), ALEC International Relations Task Force Member
- Rep. Patrick R. Hatlestad (R-1), ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member
- Rep. Lawrence R. Klemin (R-47), ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member
- Rep. Craig Headland (R-29), ALEC Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force Member
- Rep. Scott Louser (R-5), ALEC Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force Member
- Rep. Dwight W. Wrangham (R-8), ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Member
- Rep. Kim Koppelman (R-13), ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Member
- Rep. Randy G. Boehning (R-27), ALEC Civil Justice Task Force Member
- Rep. Ken Svedjan (R-17)[20]
Senate
- Sen. Dave Nething (R-12)[24], ALEC Telecommunications and Information Technology Task Force Member
- Sen. Jerry Klein (R-14), ALEC Commerce, Insurance and Economic Development Task Force Alternate
- Sen. Karen K. Krebsbach (R-40), ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Alternate
- Sen. Rich P. Wardner (R-37), ALEC Education Task Force Member
- Sen. Gerald Uglem (R-19), ALEC Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force and Health and Human Services Task Force Member
- Sen. Judy Lee (R-13), ALEC Health and Human Services Task Force Member
- Sen. Dick Dever (R-32), ALEC International Relations Task Force Member
- Sen. Robert Stenehjem (R-30, deceased July 18, 2011[137]), ALEC International Relations Task Force Member
- Sen. John M. Andrist (R-2)[20], ALEC Public Safety and Elections Task Force Member