ICYMI from NDxPlains: Cramer (R-Harold Hamm) Changed His Mind on U.S. Senate Race Only After Out-Of-State Billionaire Pledged Support

So much for draining the swamp…

(BISMARCK, ND) – Yesterday in an interview that aired on WDAY, Kevin Cramer admitted that it wasn’t North Dakotans who got him to reconsider and jump into the U.S. Senate race – it was an out-of-state billionaire worth $19B who pledged to be his national finance chair.

It begs the question – what was Kevin Cramer assured from Harold Hamm? Cramer has a history of using his campaigns to line his own pockets and it’s estimated that he’s nearly doubled his net worth since he was elected to Congress. This just goes to show – once again – that Cramer is in this race for himself, not for North Dakotans.

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NDxPlains: Cramer Admits Oil Tycoon Harold Hamm was Deciding Factor in Senate Run

  • In a locally televised interview, Kevin Cramer admitted to what I speculated early on about his decision to enter the U.S. Senate race. It was billionaire, out-of-state, oil tycoon Harold Hamm that changed his mind. Hamm promised to be Cramer’s finance chairman if he took the political risk. Cramer had rejected other calls for him to jump in. He even publicly announced he wouldn’t run for the Senate because he was “a man of the House.”

  • It wasn’t North Dakotans that convinced Cramer to change his mind. It wasn’t even the President of the United States. By his own admission, it was an out-of-state, multi-billionaire oil tycoon in Harold Hamm that was his deciding factor.

  • As I wrote earlier this year, why was Hamm such a large influence on Cramer taking this risk? Is it simply the offer to help him raise much needed money for the campaign? Was there something more that was “pretty compelling”? We don’t have that answer, but we do have another North Dakota example to reflect upon.

  • With his public admission that it wasn’t even North Dakota residents who convinced him to run for the Senate, but rather Harold Hamm who changed his mind, one can wonder if he is possibly looking to help himself in the long-run.