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Democratic incumbent Heitkamp knew she was vulnerable in her red state but opposed Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court in spite of it. Â
North Dakota Democratic incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp knew it was a risk to come out against accused sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the Supreme Court, but she put politics aside and did it anyway. On Tuesday she lost to far-right religious extremist Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer, according to Politico.
Heitkamp was expected to face fierce competition even before the Kavanaugh hearings, considering Donald Trump won North Dakota by 36 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election.
Cramer opposes abortion and birth control but believes it's OK to use chain-link fences to hold children of immigrants at the border. Regarding LGBTQ rights, he believes that marriage is defined by scripture and that the state definition of marriage should trump the federal definition.
During the Kavanaugh hearings last month, Heitkamp, who was already vulnerable as Democrat in that heavily Republican state, unequivocally said that she would oppose his confirmation in an emotional video.
"Countless North Dakotans and others close to me have since reached out and told me their stories of being raped or sexually assaulted -- and expressed the same anguish and fear," Heitkamp said last month. "I'm in awe of their courage too. Some of them reported their abuse at the time, but others said nothing until now. Survivors should be respected for having the strength to share what happened to them -- even if a generation has since passed. They still feel the scars and suffer the trauma of abuse."
