Heidi Heitkamp
Mary Kathryn "'Heidi" Heitkamp' is an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States senator from North Dakota from 2013 to 2019. A member of the North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party, her 2012 victory made the first woman elected to Congress from North Dakota, where served as the 20th tax commissioner from 1986 to 1992 and as the 28th state attorney general from 1992 to 2000., she is the last Democrat to have won or held statewide office in North Dakota.
Heitkamp ran for governor of North Dakota in 2000 and lost to Republican John Hoeven. She considered a bid for the Democratic nomination in the 2010 U.S. 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, Heitkamp declared her candidacy to replace the retiring Kent Conrad as U.S. senator from North Dakota in the 2012 election. She narrowly defeated Republican Congressman Rick Berg on November 6, 2012, in that year's closest Senate race. Heitkamp was North Dakota's second female senator, after Jocelyn Burdick, and the first woman to be elected to the Senate from the state. On November 6, 2018, Republican congressman Kevin Cramer defeated Heitkamp in her bid for reelection. After leaving the Senate, Heitkamp became a CNBC contributor and visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics. In April 2019, with Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana, she launched One Country Project, an organization aimed at helping Democrats reconnect with rural voters. In January 2023, Heitkamp became the director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, serving until November 2025.
Early life and education
Heitkamp was born in Breckenridge, Minnesota, the fourth of seven children of Doreen LaVonne, a school cook, and Raymond Bernard Heitkamp, a janitor and construction worker. Her father was of German descent, her mother of half Norwegian and half German ancestry. Heitkamp was raised in Mantador, North Dakota, attending local public schools. She adopted the nickname "Heidi" in first grade to distinguish herself from two other classmates named Mary and Kathy. She earned a B.A. from the University of North Dakota in 1977 and a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School in 1980.Early career
Heitkamp interned for the United States Congress in 1976 and in the North Dakota Legislative Assembly in 1977.Practicing attorney and politics
In 1980 and 1981, Heitkamp worked as an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency. She next worked as an attorney for North Dakota State Tax Commissioner Kent Conrad.She also became active in politics, joining the North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party. In 1984, Heitkamp ran for state Auditor and lost to incumbent Republican Robert W. Peterson. In 1986, Kent Conrad resigned as tax commissioner after his election to the U.S. Senate. North Dakota Governor George A. Sinner appointed Heitkamp tax commissioner before she ran for the office and was elected with 66% of the vote against Republican Marshall Moore. She served in that position until 1992.
North Dakota attorney general
In 1992, the incumbent North Dakota attorney general, Nick Spaeth, retired in order to run for governor. Heitkamp ran for attorney general and won with 62% of the vote. She was reelected in 1996 with 64% of the vote.As attorney general of North Dakota, Heitkamp became known for leading the state's legal efforts to seek damages from tobacco companies, eventually resulting in the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.
2000 gubernatorial election
In 2000, incumbent Republican governor Ed Schafer decided not to seek a third term. Heitkamp ran unopposed in the Democratic primary. On the Republican side, John Hoeven, CEO of the Bank of North Dakota, also ran unopposed. During her campaign for governor, it was announced that Heitkamp had been diagnosed with breast cancer, which later went into remission. Hoeven defeated her, 55% to 45%. Heitkamp won 12 of the state's 53 counties.Business
From 2001 to 2012, Heitkamp served as an external director on the Dakota Gasification Company's Great Plains synfuels plant's board of directors. She now serves on the advisory board of the Canadian American Business Council.Heitkamp's brother, Joel, is a radio talk-show host and former North Dakota state senator. 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.
U.S. Senate
Elections
2012
In January 2011, incumbent Democratic U.S. senator Kent Conrad announced he would not seek reelection in 2012. On November 8, 2011, Heitkamp announced that she would seek the open seat. She vowed to be "an independent voice".Heitkamp won the November 6, 2012, Senate election by 2,936 votes, less than 1% of the ballots cast. Berg conceded the race the next day, though he could have asked for a "demand recount" under North Dakota law.
In 2014, The Daily Beast suggested that Heitkamp might be a presidential contender in 2020, writing that she had come to Washington "personifying traditional values of the Old West: candor, consistency, hard work, and a sense of good faith and fair play."
In December 2016, it was reported that President-elect Donald Trump was considering Heitkamp for Secretary of Agriculture. In response, Heitkamp said on the radio that she would likely refuse any such offer. "I'm not saying 'never, never,' but I will tell you that I'm very, very honored to serve the people of North Dakota and I hope that no matter what I do, that will always be my first priority...The job that I have right now is incredibly challenging. I love it." Trump eventually nominated former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue for the job.
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.
2018
On September 13, 2017, a day after dining at the White House with several other senators and Trump, Heitkamp announced she would seek a second term. She spoke of the importance of legislation regarding infrastructure, tax reform, and energy and farm policy. Representative Kevin Cramer won the Republican primary to challenge Heitkamp.In October 2018, Heitkamp apologized after her campaign ran a newspaper advertisement that "included names of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or rape without their permission."
On November 6, 2018, Cramer defeated Heitkamp with 55.4% of the vote, despite raising $22 million less than her.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
- *Subcommittee on Commodities, Markets, Trade and Risk Management
- *Subcommittee on Livestock, Marketing and Agriculture Security
- *Subcommittee on Jobs, Rural Economic Growth and Energy Innovation
- Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
- *Subcommittee on Economic Policy
- *Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
- *Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance
- Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- *Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
- *Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management
- Committee on Indian Affairs
- '''Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship'''
Caucus memberships
- Afterschool Caucuses
- Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
Later career
In 2021, 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. The lobbyist John Breaux recruited her to advocate against taxation of large inheritances.
In October 2022, 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. In January 2025, announced she would step down at the end of the year. On October 20, 2025, John Kirby was named as her successor.
Heitkamp is a board member for American Edge, a lobbying organization for the technology industry, and Norfolk Southern.
Political positions
Heitkamp has been described as a moderate Democrat. She was considered a centrist and often supported bipartisan legislation. The National Journal has given her a composite rating of 53% liberal and 47% conservative. The American Conservative Union gives her a lifetime 13.67% conservative rating. The fiscally conservative group Americans for Prosperity gives Heitkamp a lifetime score of 26% and a higher score of 70% in 2016. Americans for Democratic Action, which supports liberal positions, gave her a score of 45% liberal in 2016 and 60% liberal in 2015. According to FiveThirtyEight, Heitkamp voted in line with Trump's positions over 54% of the time. Congressional Quarterly published a study finding that she voted with Trump's position 67% of the time. The Associated Press found that she voted with his positions more than 68% of the time. In 2018, GovTrack placed Heitkamp near the center of the Senate as the third-most moderate Democrat, to the right of moderate Republican senator Susan Collins.In March 2018, Heitkamp co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which would have made it a federal crime for American contractors to encourage or participate in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories if protesting actions by the Israeli government.
In June 2018, Americans for Prosperity, which is backed by the Koch brothers, ran digital advertisements thanking Heitkamp for her vote to pass legislation loosening financial regulations on banks.