NEW AD: “Empty Promises” Spotlights Cramer’s Empty Health Care Promises

(BISMARCK, ND) – Today the ND Dem-NPL released a new digital ad, “Empty Promises,” to hold Kevin Cramer accountable for his empty promises to protect North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions. The ad will run statewide through Election Day as part of a dedicated five-figure digital buy on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The ad was first reported by National Journal.

WATCH “Empty Promises”

“Kevin Cramer can spout off election-year spin all he wants, but he can’t hide from his record of repeatedly voting to undermine the current health care law and jeopardizing coverage for folks with pre-existing conditions,” said Courtney Rice, Press Secretary for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL. “From voting to gut vital patient protections to accusing folks with pre-existing conditions of abusing the system, Cramer has made one thing clear: he doesn’t care about North Dakotans’ health care.”

Background:

Cramer voted five times to repeal the current health care law without a replacement. This would have gotten rid of vital patient protections and could have caused costs to skyrocket for North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions. [March 21, 2013; May 16, 2013; September 20, 2013; March 25, 2015; February 2, 2016]

Cramer voted for the AHCA which would have increased health care costs for folks with pre-existing conditions, making coverage unattainable for many.

HEADLINE: The Hill: CBO predicts some with pre-existing conditions will lose coverage under GOP plan

The Hill: “A new provision in the GOP healthcare bill would lead to people with pre-existing conditions being charged much more for coverage.”

Politifact: “Insurers would be able to charge people significantly more if they had a pre-existing condition.”

HEADLINE: Kaiser Family Foundation: Analysis: 6.3 Million People with Pre-Existing Conditions Would Be at Risk for Higher Premiums under the House’s Health Bill

Politifact: “[Cramer’s] votes jeopardize coverage as it stands for pre-existing conditions […] coverage for many would be unattainable.”

Washington Post: Three Pinocchios for Cramer claim that the Republican House bill prevented price discrimination against folks with pre-existing conditions.

Cramer accused those with pre-existing conditions of trying to “game” and “abuse” the system. [KVLY, 5/2/17]

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New Eastern Polling Data Demonstrates Heitkamp’s Strength in Tight North Dakota Senate

(BISMARCK, ND) – Today the North Dakota Democratic-NPL released internal polling data of key eastern North Dakota regions which encompass approximately 45 percent of the state’s total electorate, where U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp holds an average 14-point lead over her opponent, Congressman Cramer. In fact, Heitkamp holds an 18-point lead over Cramer in the eastern cities, 4 points higher than her 2012 margin of victory.

This more detailed polling data from Fargo, West Fargo, Grand Forks, and the rural east provides more detail on Heitkamp’s strong lead in these must-win regions – and demonstrate the race’s virtual dead heat statewide.

Toplines: 

  • If The Election Were Held Today: 53 percent of respondents would vote for Senator Heitkamp; 39 percent would vote for Congressman Cramer.
  • Favorability: Senator Heitkamp has a 59 percent favorability rating, while Congressman Cramer is at 43 percent favorability.
  • Job Approval: 62 percent of those surveyed approve or somewhat approve of Senator Heitkamp’s job performance as U.S. Senator. 
  • Who Will Do A Better Job To Ensure Health Insurance Companies Are Required To Cover Pre-Existing Conditions? Respondents chose Senator Heitkamp by a 34-point margin.
  • Who Will Do A Better Job Making Sure Health Insurance Is More Affordable? Respondents chose Senator Heitkamp by a 20-point margin.

“As we’ve always expected, this race will come down to who North Dakotans believe will put their interests first, rather than kowtowing to a political party,” said Scott McNeil, Executive Director of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL. “Senator Heitkamp’s strong independent brand, coupled with her lead on issues like health care and trade put her in a solid position for victory on November 6th.”

Read the polling memo and toplines here.

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Cramer “Plays Defense” on Health Care

(BISMARCK, ND) – Kevin Cramer is running from his health care record. The Hill reports that Republicans are “play[ing] defense” with voters and trying to hide their record of jeopardizing coverage for folks with pre-existing conditions. Cramer’s latest attempt is signing onto not one, but two, toothless resolutions that would take no concrete action to protect folks with pre-existing conditions – protections that would be gutted should the partisan lawsuit, which Cramer supports, succeed.

See key points from The Hill’s analysis below:

  • Republicans in tough reelection races are scrambling to show that they support protections for people with pre-existing conditions.
  • [T]he argument they are making has been complicated by their party’s repeated efforts to repeal ObamaCare, as well as a lawsuit supported by the Trump administration that seeks to overturn protections under the law for people with pre-existing health conditions.
  • A Morning Consult/Politico poll this month found that a large majority of voters, 71 percent, including 66 percent of Republicans, said insurers should be barred from charging people with pre-existing conditions more, a key provision of ObamaCare.
  • Vulnerable Republican lawmakers face headwinds, however, given the Trump administration’s support for the anti-ObamaCare lawsuit brought by 20 GOP-led states.
  • An ad from Sen. Heidi Heitkamp(D-N.D.), facing one of the toughest Senate races in the country, against GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer, features a woman with heart disease saying into the camera: “Mr. Cramer, I don’t know why you voted to let insurance companies go back to denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, but I know Heidi would never do that.”
  • [T]he House’s repeal and replace bill last year, which Cramer, Young, and all but 20 House Republicans voted for, allowed states to get waivers that would enable insurers to spike premiums for people with pre-existing conditions.
  • Larry Levitt, a health policy expert at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said that the House repeal and replace bill last year “opened the door to weakening protections for people with pre-existing conditions.”

Read more about Cramer’s health care record here.

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ICYMI: Dem-NPL Launches Digital Ad Highlighting “Cramer’s Comments on Kavanaugh Allegations, Women”

(BISMARCK, ND) – IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Roll Call: New Digital Ad Highlights Cramer’s Comments on Kavanaugh Allegations, Women
By Bridget Bowman
September 27, 2018

Key Points:

  • The North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party is launching a new digital adThursday featuring women listening to [Cramer’s] remarks [about sexual assault and other remarks relating to women] and reacting to them. The one minute and forty-second-long video is backed by a five-figure digital buy.
  • It will run first on Facebook until Election Day, and a state party source said the buy will likely increase and it will also likely be used on other digital platforms including Twitter, YouTube and Hulu.
  • The ad starts with video of Cramer in a local news interview addressing the allegations from Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while they were both in high school.
  • The digital ad also features other comments from Cramer, including when he said that feale lawmakers who wore white to Trump’s first joint address to Congress “looked silly” and “were being rude.”
  • The ad also uses audio of Cramer comparing being disloyal to Trump to cheating on one’s wife, as well as commenting on reports that the president was favorable towards Heitkamp potentially “because she was a woman.”
  • A woman at the end of the ad remarked, “He doesn’t treat everyone the same.”

Read the full article here.

WATCH the ad:

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100 Days of No Soybean Bids

Cramer’s Political Loyalty Hurting ND Farmers

(BISMARCK, ND) – Today marks the 100th day that no soybean bids have come in from the Pacific Northwest, causing grain companies to seek extra storage, yet Kevin Cramer is still doubling down on his support for the administration’s reckless trade policies, saying the “best way to end the trade war is by winning it.” Why? Because he’s promised to stand with this administration 100 percent of the time. Cramer has even opined that “tariffs are a tax on your own people,” but is still choosing to put his political career first by standing with the administration, rather than with North Dakota.

And Cramer seems ignorant to what’s actually happening on the ground, arguing that negotiations with China are progressing while, in reality, China canceled previously scheduled trade talks for this week.

While Cramer kowtows to the administration, North Dakota farmers are reaping the consequences of his partisan, political loyalty.

“Do you really think these countries will come back to us (to buy U.S. ag products) with open arms? […] We’re not spanking China with these tariffs. We’re not spanking any of these countries. We’re only spanking ourselves.” – Brian O’Toole, former chairman of U.S. Wheat Associates

“North Dakota is kind of the ‘whipping boy’ in my terms because we send 75 percent of our (soybeans) off the PNW (Pacific Northwest) […] Even if the tariffs came off today, we’re backed up enough that we might not see normal grain flows until next year (2019) at harvest time […] This could be a six-plus-month ordeal. – Tyler Stegman general manager, CGI Arvilla 

“It’s our opinion that things are compounding and getting worse. […] Technically, out of the PNW, there are no shuttles going out at this point. And we don’t foresee China coming back into the marketplace until late October/November. If that were the case, we’re at that point already geared up, shipping corn. You put the time it takes to move grain from North Dakota out to the PNW and onto boats, you’re looking at going to China in December.” – Tyler Stegman general manager, CGI Arvilla

Reminder: It’s been more than 27 days since Kevin Cramer missed his self-imposed deadline for when he’d become “concerned” enough to stand with North Dakota against the trade war.

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ICYMI: Stenehjem Hit with Health Care Lawsuit

ND Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is facing a legal challenge over his support of a Texas lawsuit that would strip protections for people with pre-existing conditions

(BISMARCK, ND) — This week, a group of concerned North Dakotans served Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem with a lawsuit over his involvement with Texas-based litigation that would strip away protections for people with pre-existing conditions, end the state’s bipartisan Medicaid expansion, and cause lasting damage to the rural health care system.

Not only is Stenehjem throwing support behind this lawsuit, but he has also refused to answer questions from North Dakotans about the litigation. Well, now he will have to defend his actions in court.

Grand Fork Herald: Group files suit to take N.D. out of Obamacare case

A group of North Dakotans have filed a lawsuit against North Dakota’s attorney general, requesting he withdraw the state from a suit that, if successful, will deem the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem joined 19 other states in February when, representing North Dakota, he signed onto a Texas effort seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act. The suit against Stenehjem, filed by Bismarck attorney Thomas Dickson and signed by five petitioners, argues the attorneys in the Texas case don’t have the authority to represent North Dakotans.

“The North Dakota Supreme Court has consistently held that individuals may not bring litigation on behalf of the state of North Dakota unless they are the attorney general or one of his appointees,” Dickson wrote. “By allowing individuals to purport to act on behalf of the State of North Dakota without appointing them, Respondent Stenehjem has failed to comply with perhaps the most important duty of his office, to appear for and represent the State of North Dakota.”

Nor, Dickson wrote, does Stenehjem have the authority to practice in Texas.

“Wayne Stenehjem is not admitted to practice in the state of Texas or before the Northern District of Texas,” said Dickson.

In an interview Wednesday afternoon, Dickson said Stenehjem “sold” North Dakota to Texas.

“The Texas litigation is asking to throw out the entire Affordable Care Act,” Dickson continued.

“That means people with pre-existing conditions will no longer be protected.”

Stenehjem’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Petitioners include Dr. Eric Johnson, a Grand Forks physician who signed on to the suit, he said, to confirm the medical information lawyers used was accurate.

“But I’m not a lawyer, I’m not the one filing this writ,” Johnson said Wednesday.

Johnson said he signed on the suit as “private citizen” who believes the goal should be to “keep what’s working and fix what’s not.”

“I think we need to do what we can to preserve guaranteed coverage for pre-existing conditions,” Johnson said. “And I think that we need to do everything we can to preserve that part of the law.”

In addition to treating patients with pre-existing conditions, Johnson said he has his own, Type 1 diabetes.

“Before the Affordable Care Act, you could have your insurance dropped for a pre-existing condition,” Johnson said. “And that was always my fear, that, if for some reason or another I was unable to work, I would lose my coverage for my pre-existing conditions.”

A second Grand Forks petitioner obtained insurance coverage through an Affordable Care Act provision enacted in 2013, according to the suit. Other petitioners include a Burleigh County physician, a Burleigh County mother caring for a minor with pre-existing conditions and a 20-year-old resident of Ward County benefiting from a provision that allows him to stay on his parents’ insurance plan.

“I could’ve had a hundred petitioners on this case,” Dickson said, “but I ran out of time. It was just too much paperwork. But seriously, there’s a lot of interest and it’s all on our side.”

Dickson said his petition is in front of a judge now, and he’s waiting for a hearing.

CROOKED CRAMER’S CHRONICLES – NEW DIGITAL AD: “REPRESENTATIVE” – CRAMER IS NORTH DAKOTA’S OWN TODD AKIN – 100 DAYS OF NO SOYBEAN ORDERS

Welcome to Cramer’s Chronicles where, every Friday, we’ll break down the latest and greatest weekly hits about Cramer’s crooked, self-serving, extreme, and gaffe-prone behavior that puts himself and his partisan politics ahead of North Dakotans.

CRAMER DISMISSES SEXUAL ASSAULT AS “ABSURD,” QUESTIONS IF THEY ARE EVEN “DISQUALIFYING.” Cramer’s true character was revealed this week with his belittling, dismissive, and insensitive comments regarding sexual assault. Rather than editorializing, we’ll let you read – and watch – them for yourself:

CNN: GOP Senate nominee: Kavanaugh accusation ‘absurd’ because they were drunk and assault attempt ‘never went anywhere’
TPM: Top GOP Senate Nominee: Kavanaugh Accusations ‘Absurd’ Because ‘They Were Teenagers,’ Assault ‘Never Went Anywhere’
VIDEO: Cramer: “My Point Was That There Was No Type Of Intercourse Or Anything Like That”
VIDEO: Cramer: “Even If It Is All True, Does It Disqualify Him?”
CNN: GOP Senate candidate on Kavanaugh accuser: ‘I mean, how many 15-year-olds handle a lot of alcohol?’
The Hill: Cramer questions if allegations should disqualify Kavanaugh ‘even if it’s all true’
Politico: Cramer questions whether Kavanaugh assault allegation is disqualifying — even if true
NBC News: ‘Even if it’s all true’: GOP Senate candidate questions if Kavanaugh allegations disqualify him
MSNBC: GOP’s Cramer lands in a ditch, finds a shovel, digs deeper
NDxPlains: Cramer Struggles to Clarify Comments

NEW DIGITAL AD: “REPRESENTATIVE.” Yesterday the ND Dem-NPL launched a new digital ad, “Representative,” that highlights Cramer’s long record of derogatory and offensive comments towards and about women from belittling sexual assault and questioning whether it’s even “disqualifying” to mocking their physical appearance. Cramer’s belittling and insulting of women may be representative of his character, but they aren’t representative of North Dakota. The ad, which is backed by a five-figure buy and will appear on various digital platforms, was first reported by Roll Call.

WATCH “REPRESENTATIVE”

NORTH DAKOTA’S OWN TODD AKIN. Remember when Republicans actively searched for another candidate to run because they were worried about Cramer’s “Akin-like tendencies?” This week’s comments proved their fears were spot on.

100 DAYS OF NO SOYBEAN ORDERS. Cramer’s blind loyalty to the administration is hurting North Dakota farmers. Even though he created a self-imposed deadline of September for when he’d become “concerned” enough about the trade war to take a stand, Cramer has kept up his support for these detrimental policies. As one farmer put it, “Do you really think these countries will come back to us (to buy U.S. ag products) with open arms? […] We’re not spanking China with these tariffs. We’re not spanking any of these countries. We’re only spanking ourselves.”

CRAMER PAPERING OVER RECORD ON NATIVE AMERICAN. Now that it’s an election year, Cramer is rushing to paper over his record on Native American issues, putting his name on a new provision in VAWA that allows tribes to prosecute offenders for threatened domestic violence against children and law enforcement on reservations. But, as ThinkProgress points out, “his own record would also seem to contradict his support for this legislation. In 2013, he opposed the tribal provisions in the bill as “inadvertently placing in jeopardy future convictions under the act” because they could violate constitutional due process.”

#FBF: CRAMER GETS THREE PINOCCHIOS FOR FALSE HEALTH CARE CLAIM. Remember when Cramer received three Pinocchios for his false claim that the Republican House bill prevented price discrimination against folks with pre-existing conditions. North Dakotans sure do.

TWEET OF THE WEEK.

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NEW AD: “Representative” Details Cramer’s Long History of Insulting Comments Towards Women

(BISMARCK, ND) – As first reported in Roll Call, yesterday the ND Dem-NPL launched a new digital ad, “Representative,” which highlights Congressman Cramer’s long record of making derogatory and offensive comments towards and about women. While Cramer’s comments belittling sexual assault have garnered recent news, Cramer has a history of such statements. In “Representative,” North Dakota women react to comments made by Cramer and make it clear that his remarks don’t represent them. As one woman in the video states, Cramer “doesn’t treat everyone the same.”

The ad is backed by a dedicated five-figure digital buy and will run on Facebook and various digital platforms.

WATCH “REPRESENTATIVE”

“Congressman Cramer’s remarks belittling and insulting women are representative of his character, but they aren’t representative of North Dakota,” said Courtney Rice, Press Secretary for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL. “In November, folks across North Dakota will make one thing clear: Kevin Cramer doesn’t represent them.”

Background:

On Sexual Assault
Washington Post: GOP Rep. Cramer questions whether accusation against Kavanaugh should disqualify him, even if true
CNN: GOP Senate nominee: Kavanaugh accusation ‘absurd’ because they were drunk and assault attempt ‘never went anywhere’

On Women’s Appearances
Grand Forks Herald: Kevin Cramer: Women wearing ‘bad-looking white pantsuits’ have a ‘disease’

On Voting the Party Line
USA Today: GOP candidate for Senate compares opposing Trump agenda to cheating on wife 

On Defending a Convicted ‘Peeping Tom’
The Forum: McFeely: Cramer calls window-peeping Gardner ‘a very good man’
Mike Jacobs, Grand Forks Herald: “[Cramer] rushed to Gardner’s defense, calling him a good man and suggesting that he could be a candidate in another election some other time.” 

On Defending former Alabama Senate Candidate and Alleged Sexual Predator
Mike McFeely, The Forum: “Cramer downplayed Moore’s alleged sexual pursuit of teenagers as being ‘40 years past.’”

On Violent Remarks at Tribal Council Meeting on Domestic Violence
The Forum: Cramer Accused of Tirade at American Indian Meeting
Last Real Indians: North Dakota Congressman Kevin Cramer Verbally Attacks Native Victim’s Assistance Program Director at State Meeting, Threatens to [W]ring Spirit Lake Tribal Council’s Necks

On Senator Heitkamp
Washington Post: ‘It’s obscene’: GOP candidate seethes as Trump embraces Democratic senator
“‘I do think there’s a little difference in that she’s a woman,’ Cramer said. ‘That’s probably part of it — that she’s a, you know, a female. He doesn’t want to be that aggressive, maybe. I don’t know.’

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“With Kevin Cramer, North Dakota has its own Todd Akin”

(BISMARCK, ND) – Kevin Cramer continues to make headlines with his insensitive comments on sexual assault.

WDAY: With Kevin Cramer, North Dakota has its own Todd Akin
By Mike McFeely

  • It took six years, but North Dakota finally has its own Todd Akin. Um … congratulations?
  • Akin was a Missouri Republican who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012 and had a good chance to win. That is, until he tried to mansplain his views on why he opposed abortion even in the case of rape. He said doctors told him women rarely get pregnant when they’re raped and anyway, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
  • Akin was skewered. Republicans were embarrassed. He lost. The voters spoke: Rape is rape. Todd, meet Kevin. That would be Kevin Cramer, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from North Dakota. Cramer is locked in a tight race against incumbent Heidi Heitkamp, and he believes undying support for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh will win him votes.
  • Kevin has spent the past several days saying that even if Kavanaugh did sexually assault the woman who made the first accusation against him, meh, what’s the big deal? […] And, in a coup de grace to his empathy to women, Cramer implied that a good girl wouldn’t have been at the party where she says Kavanaugh assaulted her.
  • Cramer’s first Akin-like moment came on a radio show last week when he called the accusation “absurd” because, “These are teenagers who evidently were drunk, according to her own statement. Again, it was supposedly an attempt or something that never went anywhere.”
  • On Berg’s show, Cramer dismissed the accusation because “there was no type of intercourse or anything like that.” Naive man, Kevin. He’s blissfully unaware of attempted rape or other types of sexual assault. Sexual assault in Cramer’s world, apparently, must be done by a sober adult male who penetrates a sober adult female with his penis. If those involved are teenagers or drinking or the assault doesn’t include intercourse, that doesn’t count.
  • Kevin, meet Todd.

See more:

CNN: GOP Senate candidate on Kavanaugh accuser: ‘I mean, how many 15-year-olds handle a lot of alcohol?’

MSNBC: GOP’s Cramer lands in a ditch, finds a shovel, digs deeper

  • As for the bigger picture, let’s not forget Cramer’s rhetorical history. As we discussedyesterday, it’s a record that includes making derogatory comments about Democratic women’s attire and an unfortunate defense of Alabama’s Roy Moore.
  • In April 2017, CNN quoted a Senate GOP campaign veteran who saidat the time, “On paper, it looks like he could win, but he also appears to have a few Akin-like tendencies that make a lot of people nervous.”
  • A year and a half later, perhaps those concerns were well grounded?

NDxPlains: Cramer Struggles to Clarify Comments

  • Rather than apologizing for his lack of empathy for the alleged victim and others like her, Cramer has more than doubled down. Instead, he blamed others for diminishing the seriousness of the allegations. Given the chance to say he perhaps misspoke and acknowledge – at the very least- that he could see how his word choice created an uproar, he blamed media for using his exact words directly in spoken form.
  • Though Cramer’s latest remarks are the most jaw-dropping, they aren’t out of character. In 2013, he made headlines for his comments at the Spirit Lake Reservation regarding the recently reauthorized Violence Against Women Act. Last year, he said “there is a disease associated” with women members of Congress wearing white suites. Months later, he called a female TV talk show host a “snob.” This pattern demonstrates why he is struggling to clarify his comments because he may have meant what he said in the first place.

The Hill: Cramer questions if allegations should disqualify Kavanaugh ‘even if it’s all true’

Politico: Cramer questions whether Kavanaugh assault allegation is disqualifying — even if true

NBC News: ‘Even if it’s all true’: GOP Senate candidate questions if Kavanaugh allegations disqualify him

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Cramer Papering Over His Record on Native American, Women Issues

(BISMARCK, ND) – Once again, Kevin Cramer is attempting to paper over his disastrous record on Native American issues and the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Now that it’s an election year, Cramer is rushing to put his name on a new provision in VAWA that allows tribes to prosecute offenders for threatened domestic violence against children and law enforcement on reservations. The original 2013 tribal provision allowed tribal courts to prosecute non-Indian defendants accused of violence against American Indian women.

But back in 2013 when the tribal provision was first included in VAWA, Cramer had a completely different attitude. He bitterly complained about the provision he now seeks to expand, calling it unconstitutional, and said he would feel unsafe as a non-Native man going onto a reservation. Apparently that wasn’t offensive enough to show his displeasure with the provision. At one tribal council meeting, Cramer grew violent and allegedly said he would like to “wring the tribal councils’ necks and slam them against the wall” as he addressed a domestic violence survivor.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

ThinkProgress: Republican congressman dismisses Kavanaugh claims while pushing for tougher anti-abuse laws
By Josh Israel

  • Kevin Cramer (R-ND), his party’s nominee against incumbent Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, made national headlines on Friday when he dismissed the first set of allegations of attempted rape against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as “absurd.”  His reasoning: the parties involved were drunk teens and the alleged sexual assault was “supposedly an attempt or something that never went anywhere.”
  • But just one daybefore his suggestion that attempted attacks wouldn’t be disqualifying for a Supreme Court justice, he signed on as co-sponsor of a bill to make it easier for Native American tribes to prosecute threats of domestic abuse in their tribal court systems.
  • While his comments about the accusation against Kavanaugh of attempted sexual would seem to contradict his support for legislation protecting minors from attempted abuse, his own record would also seem to contradict his support for this legislation. In 2013, he opposedthe tribal provisions in the bill as “inadvertently placing in jeopardy future convictions under the act” because they could violate constitutional due process.
  • Weeks after that February 2013 vote, Cramer reportedly threatened members of the Spirit Lake Tribal Council with physical violence over tribal handling of child protection, saying that he wanted to “[w]ring the Tribal Council’s neck and slam them against the wall.” Cramer later apologized for his “tone and rhetoric, better suited for active debate in Congress rather than in addressing the protectors of our most vulnerable citizens.”

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ND GOP Candidates Silent on Cramer’s Only “An Attempt” Defense

While Cramer brushes off serious sexual assault allegations, the party’s down-ballot candidates choose party loyalty over supporting survivors

(BISMARCK, ND) — As Kevin Cramer continues his tailspin by tripling down on his comments regarding sexual assault, his colleagues in the ND GOP have closed ranks around him. Cramer initially downplayed the assault, calling it “absurd” and saying it “never went anywhere.” Now, Cramer has gone even further, questioning whether Kavanaugh should be disqualified from serving on the Supreme Court, even if [the alleged assault] is all true.”

Our question to the rest of the ND GOP candidates: When are you going to stand up for the women of North Dakota?

“The last few days have spoken volumes about the character of the ND GOP’s candidates,” said Courtney Rice, Press Secretary for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL. “Instead of distancing themselves from Kevin Cramer’s insensitive and vicious remarks, the rest of the ticket has closed ranks and endorsed his anti-woman worldview with their silence. Survivors of sexual assault deserve to be heard without being immediately smeared and having their stories called ‘absurd.’ North Dakota’s women should have an ally in state government, but so far, the ND GOP – from the Governor to executive office holders to legislative leadership and candidates – has decided political loyalty is more important than doing the right thing.”

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QUICK CLIP: Cramer Questions Whether Sexual Assault Is Disqualifying

(BISMARCK, ND) – Last night, Kevin Cramer tripled down on his insensitive comments regarding sexual assault. WATCH below:

Cramer: They Were Young And Drunk

BERG: So at that point, had you seen her actual statement?

CRAMER: Yeah.

BERG: It never said she was drunk in it.

CRAMER: Well she admits she’s a 15-year old that had been drinking at a party that- I mean, how many 15-year-olds handle a lot of alcohol, you know, 36 years ago? When it wasn’t that common, by the way, Chris. 36 years ago it wasn’t that common for 15-year-olds to be at booze parties.

Cramer: “My Point Is That There Was No Type Of Intercourse Or Anything Like That”

BERG: But to be fair, you say, and I quote, ‘Nothing evidently happened in it all, in it at all, even by her own accusation.’ But in her own statement, she says, ‘Kavanaugh was on top of me. He was laughing. He pushed me into the room.’ She tried to- She doesn’t say it here, but Kavanaugh’s hand was over her mouth. He was trying to undress her. I think most people would say something definitely happened.

CRAMER: Right. That I get. My point was is that there was no type of intercourse or anything like that. That was my point, that nothing happened in terms of a sexual event beyond obviously the attempt.

Cramer: “Even If It Is All True, Does It Disqualify Him?”

CRAMER: But, what of 36 years of a record where there’s nothing like that again, but instead there’s a record of a perfect gentleman, of an intellect, of a stellar judge, a guy who’s, you know, been in front of, what, he’s had 300 cases in front of him and hasn’t had a misstep. Even if it is all true, does it disqualify him? It certainly means that he did something really bad 36 years ago, but does it disqualify him from the Supreme Court?

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