Actress Gina Carano on Monday blasted former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) for accusing her of being a &#8220;Nazi&#8221; who &#8220;hangs with white supremacists.&#8221;
Heitkamp, who lost her Senate seat to Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) in 2018, was met with pushback even from liberal HBO host Bill Maher for such an accusation.
&#8220;Who was the woman in &#8216;The Mandalorian&#8217;? What did she do? She liked something?&#8221; Maher asked.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Former North Dakota Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp calls Mandalorian actress Gina Carano a “Nazi” who “hangs out with white supremacists” <a href="https://t.co/c6mOrLfF2J">pic.twitter.com/c6mOrLfF2J</a>
&mdash; Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyCaller/status/1376701370670145537?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 30, 2021</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;She&#8217;s a Nazi,&#8221; Heitkamp responded.
&#8220;Oh, that&#8217;s different. I&#8217;m thinking of somebody else,&#8221; Maher said mockingly before defending Carano as someone who is &#8220;not a Nazi.&#8221;
Heitkamp doubled down, alleging that Carano is &#8220;involved with white supremacists.&#8221;
&#8220;Okay, everyone&#8217;s a Nazi now,&#8221; Maher replied in rebuke.
Heitkamp further accused Carano of being someone who &#8220;does hang with white supremacists.&#8221;
Maher, taken aback, pressed Heitkamp to elaborate. The former senator responded by questioning if her accusations would make her &#8220;subject to defamation.&#8221;
Maher, in continued defense of Carano, noted that even the definition of white supremacist has shifted. &#8220;The goal post there has changed a lot,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;I think we have to be really careful,&#8221; Heitkamp said. &#8220;There&#8217;s two things Republicans think they&#8217;re going to get Biden on: cancel culture and this whole Dr. Suess stuff that&#8217;s going on where they&#8217;re reading &#8216;Green Eggs and Ham,&#8217; proving that some of these senators can actually read.&#8221;
Heitkamp&#8217;s snarky comment was met with applause from Maher&#8217;s audience.
Carano responded to a clip of the exchange in a social media post Monday.
&#8220;Here we have more of the dehumanizing phase of cancel culture,&#8221; Carano tweeted in response to Heitkamp&#8217;s attack.
&#8220;Repeat lies over and over until the population takes them as &#8216;truth,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;False, disturbing &amp; disgusting language coming from a former US Senator.&#8221;
&#8220;You knew as soon as you said it you were liable,&#8221; Carano said in response to Heitkamp&#8217;s attack on her character and follow-up &#8220;defamation&#8221; comment.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Here we have more of the dehumanizing phase of cancel culture. 
-Repeat lies over and over until the population takes them as “truth”. 
False, disturbing &amp; disgusting language coming from a former US Senator. <a href="https://twitter.com/HeidiHeitkamp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HeidiHeitkamp</a> 
You knew as soon as you said it you were liable. <a href="https://t.co/O4AiHVMYFH">https://t.co/O4AiHVMYFH</a>
&mdash; Gina Carano 🕯 (@ginacarano) <a href="https://twitter.com/ginacarano/status/1376680417416212481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
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Carano, who is partnering with The Daily Wire to produce and star in an upcoming film exclusively for Daily Wire members, has taken flak for her political opinions, which at times clash with left-wing Hollywood.
Carano, whom Heitkamp accused of &#8220;Nazi&#8221; sympathies, was reportedly severed from Disney for warning against engaging in Nazi-like behavior and dehumanizing those with different political views. Carano reposted an image to her Instagram that depicted a Jewish woman running from Nazi guards. Appended to the image were the words:
<blockquote>Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbors … even by children.
“Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”</blockquote>
“The Daily Wire is helping make one of my dreams — to develop and produce my own film — come true. I cried out and my prayer was answered,” Carano said in a statement after Disney had dropped her. “I am sending out a direct message of hope to everyone living in fear of cancellation by the totalitarian mob. I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same. They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gina-carano-to-produce-and-star-in-upcoming-film-for-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Gina Carano To Produce And Star In Upcoming Film For The Daily Wire</a>

Gina Carano and Heidi Heitkamp

‘False, Disturbing And Disgusting’: Gina Carano Slams Former Democratic Senator For Smearing Her On National TV

Bill Maher

Gina Carano

Heidi Heitkamp

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) lost her re-election bid Tuesday night to Republican Kevin Cramer. In her <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8l43usTF6g">concession speech</a>, she channeled poet Alfred Lord Tennyson&#8217;s famous line, &#8220;&#8217;Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.&#8221;
Heitkamp directed part of her concession speech toward the young voters who have become engaged over the past couple of years.
&#8220;What I really want to leave you with is &#8212; for so many young people who got engaged. It seems like such a bitter thing to lose a race, but the worse thing would be to not ever run at all,&#8221; Heitkamp said. &#8220;To not ever try. To simply say, &#8216;that&#8217;s too hard,&#8217; or &#8216;the state&#8217;s too red,&#8217; or there&#8217;s always an excuse down the line to not try.&#8221;
It&#8217;s actually a good message for anyone just getting involved in politics. I remember the first campaign I worked on. We lost. For me it was devastating because I&#8217;ve always tried to plan out my future career, and I saw myself going to Washington to intern in congress and work for politicians. That all changed that night &#8212; I thought. Since then I&#8217;ve learned that there&#8217;s always another campaign. There&#8217;s always another chance and there&#8217;s always another path.
For Heitkamp, her fate was sealed with her vote against Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court. She was already trailing in the polls at the time of the confirmation vote and the people of North Dakota wanted to see Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court. Heitkamp still voted &#8220;no.&#8221; In her concession speech, she ignored this fact to claim she had represented the people of North Dakota.
&#8220;I went to Washington, D.C., not to rubber stamp any political party, not to take an easy, easy decision. I went to Washington, D.C., to represent the people of North Dakota the best way that I knew. And that&#8217;s what I did,&#8221; she said.
To some extent, she was right. She voted with President Donald Trump about half the time. But the Kavanaugh vote really mattered, and she failed her voters.
The final nail in the coffin came, however, when her campaign posted the names and locations of women who were allegedly victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. Many of the women said they <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37188/democrat-senator-apologizes-outing-sexual-assault-ashe-schow">did not give permission</a> for their names to be used by the campaign, and at least one said she wasn&#8217;t even a victim.

Heitkamp: It’s Better To Have Run And Lost Than Never To Have Run At All

North Dakota

Update 2:22 pm ET: The Montana Senate election has been called for Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat who voted against Kavanaugh.
As of Wednesday morning, every incumbent Democrat senator in a competitive race who voted against Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court has lost.
The senate race in Montana is still too close to call, but it looks like Republican Matt Rosendale will eke out a victory. Incumbent Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, voted against Kavanaugh in October after the judge was accused without evidence of teenage sexual misconduct.
In Indiana, Republican Mike Braun defeated incumbent Democrat Sen. Joe Donnelly. Donnelly had voted yes on President Donald Trump&#8217;s first Supreme Court nomination, Neil Gorsuch, but said he would vote &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/36458/breaking-swing-vote-sen-donnelly-no-kavanaugh-mid-paul-bois">no</a>&#8221; on Kavanaugh.
&#8220;I have deep reservations about Judge Kavanaugh&#8217;s nomination to this lifetime position and, as I stated, we have been unable to get all the information necessary regarding this nomination, despite my best efforts,&#8221; Donnelly said at the time. &#8220;Only 113 people have ever served on the Supreme Court, and I believe that we must do our level best to protect its sanctity.&#8221;
Donnelly also said the allegations against Kavanaugh were &#8220;disturbing and credible&#8221; and he wanted the FBI to investigate. The FBI did investigate and found no evidence to support the allegedly credible allegations.
This pattern also occurred with Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota. She voted for Gorsuch but against Kavanaugh despite a majority of voters in her state wanting Kavanaugh confirmed. Heitkamp announced she would vote &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/36776/dem-senator-heitkamp-explains-her-no-vote-frank-camp">no</a>&#8221; on Kavanaugh after watching his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the accusations against him with the sound off.
&#8220;In addition to the concerns about his past conduct, last Thursday&#8217;s hearing called into question for me Judge Kavanaugh&#8217;s current temperament, his honesty, and his impartiality. These are critical traits of any nominee to serve on the highest court in our country,&#8221; Heitkamp said in a statement at the time. &#8220;Dr. Ford gave a heartfelt, credible, and persuasive testimony. It took a great deal of courage, and it also came at great personal cost to her. &#8230; Our actions right now are an important signal to young girls and women across the country &#8230; &#8221;
Kavanaugh was not Heitkamp&#8217;s only problem, of course. In her zeal to appear sympathetic to victims of sexual assault, her campaign published an ad claiming to be a letter written by survivors. The only problem was the campaign <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37188/democrat-senator-apologizes-outing-sexual-assault-ashe-schow">didn&#8217;t seek permission</a> from these women to name them and use their locations. Heitkamp was already down in the polls for her vote on Kavanaugh, but this blunder sealed her fate.
Republican Kevin Cramer defeated Heitkamp Tuesday night in North Dakota.
In Missouri, Sen. Claire McCaskill, the Democrat incumbent, voted against Kavanaugh. She, too, lost to her Republican challenger, Josh Hawley. It also appears Democrat Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida will be defeated by Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Nelson also voted against Kavanaugh.
Every Democrat in a Red or Red-ish state who voted against Kavanaugh has either lost or looks likely to lose. By contrast, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) voted for Kavanaugh and won re-election despite running in a state that Trump carried in 2016.
There is one outlier to all of this: In Nevada, Democrat Jacky Rosen defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Dean Heller, who voted for Kavanaugh. Nevada is not a Red State, however.

KAVANAUGH EFFECT: Democrats Who Voted Against Him Lose Competitive Races

2018 Election

Brett Kavanaugh

Claire McCaskill

Democratic Party

Donald Trump

Florida

Indiana

Joe Manchin

Missouri

President Donald Trump called into Monday&#8217;s edition of &#8220;<a href="http://www.marklevinshow.com/blog/">The Mark Levin Show</a>&#8221; to give his optimistic thoughts on the midterm elections. 
Levin asked the president what he thinks of the excitement he feels at the Republican campaign stops. 
President Trump said, &#8220;Well, you know we just got to, as you know, we just arrived in Indiana, and they have lines &#8212; the arena has packed, 12,000 people, but they have lines, they could fill it up three times. And we just left Ohio, and it was incredible, the crowd. So it&#8217;s really great. If crowds mean anything, and there is an electricity in the air, Mark, that reminds me very much of November 6th.&#8221;
He added, &#8220;There&#8217;s electricity that&#8217;s incredible. And let&#8217;s see. But I think there&#8217;s something going on.&#8221;
Levin asked, &#8220;We&#8217;ve got about 12 million people listening to you right now. What do you want to tell them now about tomorrow, and how important is the vote, Mr. President?&#8221;
&#8220;Well, I&#8217;m campaigning for individual people,&#8221; the president said. &#8220;And if you notice, the I call it the fake news &#8212; but in many cases, certainly, as you know better than almost anybody in the world, a lot of it is fake, unfortunately. And, they want to put it as my race, and I&#8217;m okay with that. I don&#8217;t really care. You know whatever is necessary.&#8221;
President Trump touted the GOP&#8217;s chances, slamming Democrats Joe Donnelly, Jon Tester, and Heidi Heitkamp. 
&#8220;I think we&#8217;re going to win races that nobody ever thought of,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This is six months, a year ago. All of &#8230; you know, in going over the races, Mark, there were people that we weren&#8217;t even going to contest, and now we&#8217;re leading. I just think we&#8217;re going to do well, and I think we&#8217;re going to do better in the House than anybody expects. But we&#8217;ll &#8212; we&#8217;re gonna soon know.&#8221;
Audio and partial transcript below:
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.</div>
<blockquote>
Levin: President Donald Trump, how are you, sir?
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
President Trump: Really good, Mark. Thank you very much.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Levin: Well, it&#8217;s a great honor. I know you&#8217;re &#8212; you&#8217;re &#8212; you&#8217;re just campaigning, incredibly of these massive crowds, certainly compared to Obama, too, by the way.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
President Trump: Well, you know we just got to &#8212; as you know, we just arrived in Indiana, and they have lines &#8212; the arena has packed, 12,000 people, but they have lines, they could fill it up three times, and we just left Ohio, and it was incredible, the crowd. So it&#8217;s really great. If crowds mean anything, and there is an electricity in the air, Mark, that reminds me very much of November 16th.
There&#8217;s electricity that&#8217;s incredible. And let&#8217;s see. But I think there&#8217;s something going on.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Levin: We&#8217;ve got about 12 million people listening to you right now. What do you want to tell them now about tomorrow, and how important is the vote, Mr. President?
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
President Trump: Well, I&#8217;m campaigning for individual people. And if you notice, the &#8212; I call it the fake news &#8212; but in many cases, certainly, as you know better than almost anybody in the world, a lot of it is fake, unfortunately. And, they want to put it as my race, and I&#8217;m okay with that. I don&#8217;t really care. You know whatever is necessary.
We have some great, great candidates. I&#8217;m with Mike Braun right now, who&#8217;s running for the Senate of &#8212; in Indiana and he&#8217;s against Joe Donnelly, very weak. And let&#8217;s see what happens. The polls have him even, maybe even slightly up. He was down four, and now he&#8217;s even, and, you know, I think by the time I get finished, I&#8217;ll explain Joe Donnelly, and I think he&#8217;s going to end up winning.
I think we&#8217;re going to win races that nobody ever thought of. Honestly, they didn&#8217;t think in terms of Donnelly, they didn&#8217;t think in terms of Tester. Heidi was unbeatable. This is six months, a year ago. All of &#8212; you know, in going over the races, Mark, there were people that we weren&#8217;t even going to contest, and now we&#8217;re leading.
I just think we&#8217;re going to do well, and I think we&#8217;re going to do better in the House than anybody expects. But we&#8217;ll &#8212; we&#8217;re gonna soon know.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Levin: Isn&#8217;t this an election, Mr. President, about the American people and the country, what they want in the future? I mean, you&#8217;re &#8212; you&#8217;re trying to grow the economy, secure the borders, strengthen our military, and the other guys want to do the opposite.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
President Trump: Well, it&#8217;s almost not understandable. We have the best economic numbers ever to come out. You know, we have probably the best economy that any president&#8217;s ever had when he ran for office, because historically, as you know, I guess, what is it Mark, two times over many, many, many decades &#8212; the President, the person in the presidential office wom. The fact is, that, I don&#8217;t know why, but nobody&#8217;s ever had an economy like we have. We have the best economy that there has ever been, let alone for an election. So I think we&#8217;re going to have tremendous success tomorrow. I think it&#8217;s going to be great.
The numbers came out: 250,000 jobs for October, which was a shocking number. And that&#8217;s despite the fact that we had two massive hurricanes, which usually just decimate those numbers. You know, when you have a hurricane, those numbers are decimated, the monthly job numbers. So, the economy is doing really well.
Trade deals are doing really well, and China has never seen anything like this, what&#8217;s going on there. They&#8217;ve never seen anything like it. You know, right now they&#8217;re paying tax on 250 &#8212; I mean they are paying taxes on or numbers like you wouldn&#8217;t believe. Billions and billions of dollars coming into our treasury, and I&#8217;m very happy with that, but they want to make a deal, and we might make a deal.
Their economy has gone down 32 percent, which, of course, nobody mentions. And I don&#8217;t really want them to mention it. I&#8217;m not looking to be bad to China. We want to be fair, but we want to get a good deal for us for a change, because we lose $500 billion a year with China, and we can&#8217;t do that any longer, Mark.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Levin: One last question, because I know you don&#8217;t want to leave your massive audience there. Now Mr. President, Republicans, some of them are still thinking about whether to vote. I don&#8217;t know who these Republicans are, but as I look at the numbers of just the Republicans will turn out in large numbers, these tiny differences, these very tight races will go the way of the Republicans, right?
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
President Trump: You know Mark, there&#8217;s something beautiful about it. The &#8212; a lot of the Republicans don&#8217;t want to vote, because they think I don&#8217;t like Congress, and they really like me, and I have 93 percent now &#8212; which is the highest &#8212; 93 in the Republican Party. And I have a great relationship with them, and they say we will not vote because the President doesn&#8217;t like Congress.
But I actually do like Congress. We have to &#8212; we have to get out and vote. If they get out and vote, we&#8217;re going to really win, because I think we&#8217;re almost winning right now. Maybe we are winning right now, because when you look at the lines outside, like where I am now, I just got a report from Missouri.
The lines are two miles long, trying to get in, and the place is already packed, and it will be there for another two and a half hours. So, something is going on, and if they go out and vote we&#8217;re going to win big.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Levin: Well, Mr. President, I wish you and the Republican Party and all the candidates well, because I consider this a huge race between liberty and tyranny, and between freedom and capitalism and Democratic socialism and the American people. We &#8212; we have to decide what we want.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
President Trump: Well, Mark, I just want to tell your listeners you are a special man, and I don&#8217;t say there&#8217;s often about a lot of people. Nobody&#8217;s smarter and you are just &#8212; you got it very, very early and I appreciate it, and I appreciate all your help, but all your genius. What I want to tell your listeners &#8212; you are a special guy, and I want to thank you very much, and you&#8217;re the only one.
You know, I&#8217;m supposed to be on stage in front of a lot of television, and a lot of people, and I said, nope, I have to do the Mark call first. That&#8217;s more important to me.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Levin: Well, it is a great honor. I&#8217;m gonna tell you, my audience loves you, as do we and my family, and I want to thank you very much for all you&#8217;re doing.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
President Trump: Thank you very much, Mark, and I&#8217;ll see you soon. Take care of yourself.
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
Levin: God bless. Be safe. The United States, live.
</blockquote>

Donald Trump To Mark Levin: There’s ‘Electricity’ Ahead Of Elections

Conservatism

Mark Levin

Republican Party

Trump Administration

There may be ten Senate seats being discussed heavily by the media as potential pickups by one political party or the other, but I seriously doubt that Tennessee, Texas, or West Virginia are actually in play. Left-wing media outlets may believe Beto O&#8217;Rourke could take out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), but that appears to be a pipe dream.
But there are seven Senate seats that could flip on Tuesday. I&#8217;m not telling anyone to get their hopes up, but these are the races to really watch.
Arizona
This is Democrats&#8217; best chance to pick up a Senate seat, even though Arizona is a reliably red state. Rep. Martha McSally (R-AZ) is tied in the polls with Democrat Rep. Kyrsten Sinema. The two are running for the open Senate seat vacated by Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), who is retiring.
Arizona typically votes for center-right senators, so McSally has the upper hand for sure, and polls can&#8217;t always be trusted.
Still, Republicans can&#8217;t count Sinema out.
Florida
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) has a slim, statistically insignificant lead in the Sunshine State against Republican Gov. Rick Scott. At first, this race looked like a real pickup potential for Republicans, but now it&#8217;s not so clear.
Florida voters are also voting for a new governor and the race has gained national attention since Democrat Andrew Gillum, Tallahassee Mayor and Sen. Bernie Sanders acolyte, appeals to left-wing media.
Florida is a swing state, so it could vote Democrat, even though it&#8217;s hard to imagine my former home state electing such a far-Left candidate for governor. Still, the Senate and the gubernatorial election will feed off of each other.
Indiana
Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) is another Democrat who voted for Gorsuch but against Kavanaugh, despite voters in his state wanting Kavanaugh confirmed. He&#8217;s running in a state won by Trump and is tied in most polls, so he could be in real trouble.
Donnelly is the only Democrat in Indiana to hold a statewide office, and has aligned himself with Trump on occasion, including the possibility of changing birthright citizenship rules.
Missouri
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is locked in a tight race against Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley. Polls either show them in a tie or with Hawley up slightly.
McCaskill has also tried to pretend she&#8217;s more aligned with Trump as she&#8217;s struggled in her re-election campaign, even running a political ad that claimed she wasn&#8217;t one of those &#8220;crazy Democrats.&#8221;
But her record shows completely the opposite. McCaskill is so left-wing she has been at the forefront of the fight against due process on college campuses. She subscribes to the &#8220;believe all women&#8221; movement no matter how absurd an accusation may be.
Montana
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) has a small but steady lead in a state Trump won in 2016. Trump has been hammering Tester for months and will be visiting the state to campaign on behalf of Republican Matt Rosendale.
Trump is popular in Montana, but Tester has a high name recognition and is an incumbent, so he could still win.
Nevada
Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV) at first looked like he was going to lose for sure, but he now has a slight lead in the polls. Early voting in the state, so far, puts Democrats ahead, but that, like exit polls, doesn&#8217;t really matter, as nothing is set in stone until after the election.
Heller has remained close to Trump, even though Hillary Clinton won the state in 2016.
North Dakota
This is the Republicans&#8217; best chance to pick up a Senate seat. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2018/senate/nd/north_dakota_senate_cramer_vs_heitkamp-6485.html">has been trailing in the polls</a> by a wide margin for weeks, and though she voted for President Donald Trump&#8217;s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch, she voted against Brett Kavanaugh, even though voters in her state <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-north-dakota/in-north-dakota-kavanaugh-debate-tests-democratic-wave-and-metoo-idUSKCN1MD11A">wanted Kavanaugh confirmed</a>.
Heitkamp also did significant damage to herself when her campaign printed a large ad that outed the names and locations of women alleged to have been victims of sexual abuse. Some of the women said they <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37188/democrat-senator-apologizes-outing-sexual-assault-ashe-schow">never gave permission for their names to be printed</a>, and one even said she was not a victim.
If every one of these seats does flip, the final makeup of the Senate would be 54 Republicans and 46 Democrats, a net gain of three seats for the Republicans.

These 7 Senate Seats Are The Most Likely To Flip

Arizona

Bill Nelson

Hillary Clinton

On Wednesday, it was <a href="https://www.sayanythingblog.com/entry/wwii-veteran-says-senator-heidi-heitkamp-is-using-his-image-without-permission/">reported</a> that without obtaining his permission, North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp had used an image of a World War II veteran and the story of how she had honored him.
In 2017, Lynn Aas of Minot, North Dakota, was presented with the Legion of Honor, France&#8217;s highest honor, by the president of France. As <a href="http://www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2017/07/minot-wwii-veteran-receives-frances-highest-honor/">The Minot Daily News</a> reported, Aas said, &#8220;I was flabbergasted, and I was very humbled and appreciative.&#8221; French Consul General Vincent Floreani wrote:
<blockquote>
Through this award, the French government pays tribute to the soldiers who did so much for France and Western Europe. 73 years ago, you gave your youth to France and the French people. Many of your fellow soldiers did not return but they remain in our hearts. Thanks to your courage and to our American friends and allies, France and Europe have been living in peace for the past seven decades. You saved us. We will never forget. For us, the French people, you are a hero. Gratitude and remembrance are forever in our souls.
</blockquote>
Aas stated, &#8220;This is an acknowledgment to those who actually participated in the war itself, like those who carried a machine gun, carried a rifle or were in the belly of a B-17. They were on the front line. There aren&#8217;t many of them alive that walked from Bastogne up to the German line and slept in the snowbank for 50 days. I happen to be one of those people.&#8221;
Heitkamp helped present the award in 2017. But then she posted this on Facebook recently, along with a picture of Aas:
<blockquote>
In 2017, I was honored to help present the French Legion of Honor award to Lynn Aas for his service in France in WWII. Lynn joined the military when the U.S. entered WWII and exceled in both his training and on the field. He was on the front lines in Belgium and Germany and did everything he could to protect our nation. Lynn received the Purple Heart after being injured in Germany and the Bronze Star for his efforts during battles around Bastogne and in the Ardennes during the harsh winter months. When Lynn returned to North Dakota, he continued his education at UND where he earned a law degree before working for the IRS for 10 years. Lynn&#8217;s accomplishments and contributions to our state go all the way back to his involvement in the North Dakota Constitutional Convention of 1972, and include many terms in the state legislature, chairing organizations and helping promote North Dakota and the Minot area any way he can.
</blockquote>
David Aas, Lynn&#8217;s son, stated, &#8220;Lynn is not happy that Heidi did this. We have posted a comment requesting that it be taken down. Lynn wants to make it clear that no one from the Heitkamp campaign contacted him to ask for permission for this, and he does not want this to be viewed as an endorsement of her campaign.&#8221;
Heitkamp has come under fire for her campaign <a href="v">divulging the names</a> of domestic violence survivors without their permission.

World War II Vet Upset Heitkamp Used His Story For Her Campaign

Veterans

James O&#8217;Keefe&#8217;s <a href="https://www.projectveritasaction.com/2018/10/23/heitkamp/">Project Veritas</a> released a new undercover video on Tuesday night showing vulnerable Sen. Heidi Heitkamp&#8217;s (D-ND) campaign staff exposing her as being a far-left candidate while she has tried to portray herself as being centrist, saying, &#8220;when she gets elected she&#8217;s going to be super liberal.&#8221;
Jesse Overton, Hietkamp&#8217;s Digital Director, described a bait and switch type of campaigning that Heitkamp is imploring, saying, &#8220;It&#8217;s an election year for her. She&#8217;s being careful about pissing people off, and it&#8217;s funny, she said basically like, after the election, if and when she gets re-elected, she&#8217;s going to be super liberal.&#8221;
When one of Project Veritas&#8217; undercover journalists visited Heitkamp&#8217;s Fargo, North Dakota campaign office, staffers admitted they take down posters of former President Barack Obama when the media is present because they want Heitkamp to appear as more moderate than she really is.
Another staffer who works for Heitkamp&#8217;s Senate office, Prescott Robinson, said that if she wins by a large enough margin, then she will start being more progressive, adding that if other Democrats around the country started moving further left that &#8220;she would move to the left.&#8221;
WATCH:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qQMP-l8eB6s" width="560"></iframe></div>
This is a breaking news story, refresh the page for updates.

‘She’s Going To Be Super Liberal’: Heitkamp’s Staff Expose Her In Undercover Sting Video

James O'Keefe

Project Veritas

Of all of the senators fighting to keep their coveted seats in this crucial midterm election cycle, no one&#8217;s had as bad a month as Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who, amid already dire poll numbers after she voted &#8220;No&#8221; on Brett Kavanaugh (after re-watching his testimony <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/36941/sen-heitkamp-i-decided-vote-against-kavanaugh-james-barrett">with the sound off</a>), released an ad last week that ended up outing survivors of sexual assault who did not give their permission to be named and named &#8220;survivors&#8221; who were not in fact survivors. To make matters worse, Heitkamp&#8217;s follow-up apology ad may have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37360/sen-heitkamp-makes-her-massive-metoo-error-even-james-barrett">violated</a> FEC requirements by failing to provide a campaign disclaimer.
After all that, unsurprisingly, Heitkamp&#8217;s poll numbers appear to be in an absolute free fall. <a href="https://www.valleynewslive.com/content/news/Poll-Cramer-widens-gap-over-Heitkamp-in-senate-race-to-16-points-498224261.html">Valley News Live</a> reports on a new poll conducted October 12 through 19, which gauged opinions over several days after Heitkamp&#8217;s disastrous survivors ad published in every major newspaper in the state on Monday the 15th:
<blockquote>
In an exclusive poll by KVLY, KFYR and Strategic Research Associates of 650 likely voters in North Dakota conducted between October 12 &#8211; 19, 2018, Republican challenger Kevin Cramer leads incumbent Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp 56% to 40%, increasing his lead since Gray Television&#8217;s September poll, in which Cramer held a 10-point advantage. Heitkamp&#8217;s support appears relatively fixed. Only 5% of those supporting her say that they might change their mind, compared to 17% of Cramer supporters who say they may still change theirs.
</blockquote>
The favorability numbers are just as grim for Heitkamp. She&#8217;s now viewed unfavorably by a majority (52%) of likely North Dakota voters, a number that&#8217;s spiked 11% since September. Only 37% of voters now view her favorably.
Cramer&#8217;s numbers are effectively reversed. The Republican is viewed favorably by a majority (53%) of the state&#8217;s likely voters, up 7-points since September, while 38% view him unfavorably.
Valley News quotes James Henson, a partner in the research firm that produced the poll, who underscored that Heitkamp&#8217;s Kavanaugh vote and &#8220;campaign missteps&#8221; have badly damaged her numbers. &#8220;Senator Heitkamp appears to have been hurt by her vote against Brett Kavanaugh&#8217;s confirmation to the,U.S. Supreme Court as well as by subsequent campaign missteps widely covered in the media,&#8221; said Henson.
A Fox News poll conducted three weeks ago, after the Kavanaugh vote but before the survivors ad, showed Cramer with a 12-point lead, <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2018/senate/nd/north_dakota_senate_cramer_vs_heitkamp-6485.html">53 &#8211; 41</a>. A Mason-Dixon poll from June gave Cramer only a 4-point lead, <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2018/senate/nd/north_dakota_senate_cramer_vs_heitkamp-6485.html">48 &#8211; 44</a>.
Heitkamp was one of the red state Democratic senators who voted against Kavanaugh, whom a majority of North Dakota voters supported. As The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/36941/sen-heitkamp-i-decided-vote-against-kavanaugh-james-barrett">Daily Wire</a> reported, in her explanation of why she ultimately chose to vote &#8220;No,&#8221; Heitkamp told CNN that she changed her mind after re-watching his testimony with the sound turned off&#8230;
<blockquote>
In an interview with CNN, Heitkamp said that she was ready to vote &#8220;Yes&#8221; on Kavanaugh but that his body language convinced her that she could not vote for him, despite the FBI finding no corroboration of the claims against him and multiple witnesses directly refuting the claims.
&#8220;I was concerned about these allegations but willing to give him the benefit of the doubt,&#8221; said Heitkamp, who currently trails Republican Kevin Cramer by an average of <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2018/senate/nd/north_dakota_senate_cramer_vs_heitkamp-6485.html">8.7%</a>.
&#8220;She watched Ford&#8217;s testimony,&#8221; <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/08/politics/heidi-heitkamp-kavanaugh-cnn-interview/index.html">CNN</a> reports. &#8220;And then she watched Kavanaugh&#8217;s. And then she watched Kavanaugh&#8217;s again, but this time, with the sound off.&#8221;
&#8220;It&#8217;s something I do,&#8221; she told CNN. &#8220;We communicate not only with words, but with our body language and demeanor.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37360/sen-heitkamp-makes-her-massive-metoo-error-even-james-barrett">Sen. Heitkamp Makes Her Massive #MeToo Mistake Even Worse With Possible FEC Violation</a>

After Outing Survivors, Democrat Senator In Absolute Free Fall In The Polls

In the wake of the outrage triggered by her campaign releasing the names of women who had allegedly been sexually assaulted without getting the women&#8217;s permission, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) was asked if she had suspended her campaign in order to deal with the fallout and investigate what had gone wrong. She answered, &#8220;I think I pretty much did; we pretty much went in full-on, let&#8217;s deal with this. So a number of campaign activities were canceled as a result of this.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/SenatorHeitkamp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenatorHeitkamp</a> still has not talked to several of the sexual assault survivors she outed w/out their consent. I asked <a href="https://twitter.com/HeidiHeitkamp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HeidiHeitkamp</a> if she had considered &#8220;suspending her campaign&#8221; to get to the bottom of what happened to these victims. WATCHT 2night 6:30p KX4 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDSen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDSen</a> <a href="https://t.co/C3IrvS8T0t">pic.twitter.com/C3IrvS8T0t</a>
&#8212; Chris Berg (@chrisbergPOVNOW) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrisbergPOVNOW/status/1054411435160276992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
But according to North Dakota GOP Communication&#8217;s Director Jake Wilkins, some Pinocchios are in order for Heitkamp:
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
VIDEO: Heidi Heitkamp is now lying to North Dakota and the victims of her actions, saying she &#8220;pretty much did&#8221; suspend her campaign amid fierce backlash.
She absolutely did not suspend her campaign, and we have the receipts. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDSen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDSen</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDPol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDPol</a> <a href="https://t.co/m8MR5QQbPX">https://t.co/m8MR5QQbPX</a>
&#8212; Jake Wilkins (@JakeWilkns) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeWilkns/status/1054436096040419330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Here&#8217;s footage from <a href="https://twitter.com/SHO_TheCircus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SHO_TheCircus</a> of Heitkamp campaigning on the the day the reports broke. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDSen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDSen</a> <a href="https://t.co/ikbhH6jWHi">https://t.co/ikbhH6jWHi</a>
&#8212; Jake Wilkins (@JakeWilkns) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeWilkns/status/1054436097479053312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
The next day, Heitkamp launched a tone deaf attack ad (<a href="https://t.co/IwY2e8wS8W">https://t.co/IwY2e8wS8W</a>) on women&#8217;s issues, then pushed this press release hitting <a href="https://twitter.com/kevincramer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@kevincramer</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDSen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDSen</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDPol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDPol</a> <a href="https://t.co/SSNcYlYxPm">pic.twitter.com/SSNcYlYxPm</a>
&#8212; Jake Wilkins (@JakeWilkns) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeWilkns/status/1054436099135815681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Two days after the reports came out, one of the victims of Heitkamp&#8217;s actions said she had not heard from the Senator. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDSen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDSen</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDPol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDPol</a> <a href="https://t.co/VeNYwihUN8">https://t.co/VeNYwihUN8</a>
&#8212; Jake Wilkins (@JakeWilkns) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeWilkns/status/1054436101732134912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Yet her campaign didn&#8217;t care, and kept on attacking. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDSen?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDSen</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NDPol?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NDPol</a> <a href="https://t.co/t84fdONXGA">pic.twitter.com/t84fdONXGA</a>
&#8212; Jake Wilkins (@JakeWilkns) <a href="https://twitter.com/JakeWilkns/status/1054436103359475712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 22, 2018</a></blockquote>
</div>
Heitkamp, the incumbent, is getting trampled in the polls by her opponent, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND). A poll conducted between October 12-19 by KVLY, KFYR and Strategic Research Associates of 650 likely voters in North Dakota found Cramer leading Heitkamp 56%-40%. The poll found Heitkamp&#8217;s favorability rating had plunged to only 37%, with an unfavorable rating of 52%, which was up from 41% in September.
Last week, <a href="https://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/Examining-some-flashpoints-in-Heitkamp-Cramer-13321822.php">when the two candidates debated</a>, Cramer blasted Heitkamp&#8217;s campaign for accusing him of giving himself a $23,000 raise while he was a member of the state&#8217;s Public Service Commission. Cramer fired, &#8220;You know that&#8217;s not true. You know that&#8217;s impossible. You know that&#8217;s against the rules.&#8221;
Heitkamp said, &#8220;You were elected with that salary; you should maintain that salary.&#8221;
Cramer noted that even leftist Politifact called the Heitkamp campaign&#8217;s claim false; he was supported by state budget director Joe Morrissette the day after the debate. Morrissette stated, &#8220;To the best of our knowledge, we are not aware of any time the PSC formally requested salary increases for members of the PSC as part of their budget request. That would be highly unusual for any agency head, even more so for elected officials, and I think we would have recalled it.&#8221;
In the debate, Cramer pulled no punches after Heitkamp accused him of being purely partisan. He asserted:
<blockquote>
Senator Heitkamp keeps creating this illusion that somehow she&#8217;s bi-partisan, except on the things that really matter. She was with Barack Obama nearly 90% of the time. And then she&#8217;s proud of the fact that she&#8217;s been with President Trump about half of the time, maybe as much as 54% of the time. The problem is, you can be on both teams, you maybe feel good about it, but when one team is so much better for North Dakota than the other team, you don&#8217;t abandon that good team half of the time just to say that you&#8217;re only with them half of the time.
Donald Trump stands with North Dakota more often than Heidi Heitkamp stands with North Dakota. He supported tax cuts; he supported replacement of Obamacare; he supports cutting sanctuary city funding; he supports a strong military; he supports a strong vets; he supports rollback of regulations; he supports the Reins Act. He&#8217;s on the side of North Dakota. That&#8217;s what matters. It&#8217;s not how often you&#8217;re with this team or this team, or how often you&#8217;re with both teams; what matters is how often are you with the people of North Dakota.
</blockquote>

Heitkamp Says She ‘Pretty Much’ Suspended Her Campaign After Sexual Assault Fiasco. Try Again, Senator.

On Thursday evening, Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and her challenger, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), faced off in their first debate prior to the midterm elections.
During the debate, one of the moderators asked the following question: &#8220;Which ad on your opponent&#8217;s behalf do you feel is the most disingenuous, and why?&#8221;
Rep. Cramer responded:
<blockquote>
This wasn&#8217;t on her behalf, this was her ad, where she states with her disclaimer that as a state official, as a state employee, I raised my own salary. That is blatantly false. It is known to be false. A former attorney general who had pay raises, and a tax commissioner who had pay raises when she was a public official knows it&#8217;s not true. PolitiFact interviewed Office of Management and Budget personnel&#8230;not only did we not give ourselves a raise, nor can we give ourselves a raise, we didn&#8217;t even request a raise. So, it&#8217;s a blatant lie, and it should be taken down right now if we&#8217;re gonna maintain the integrity of public office.
</blockquote>
Here&#8217;s Heitkamp&#8217;s ad, which is still up on her campaign&#8217;s official YouTube account:
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe loading="lazy" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="385" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e1cwfJYOQok" width="720"></iframe></div>
At the beginning of the commercial, a familiar audio message plays: &#8220;I&#8217;m Heidi Heitkamp, and I approve this message.&#8221; Then, an ominous voiceover states: &#8220;Could you give yourself a $23,000 raise? Ask Kevin Cramer. On the Public Service Commission, he raised his pay to over $93,000 a year.&#8221;
PolitiFact did indeed rate the claim made in the commercial as &#8220;<a href="https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2018/oct/08/heidi-heitkamp/did-kevin-cramer-raise-his-own-salary-23000-no/">false</a>,&#8221; stating in part:
<blockquote>
Commissioners&#8217; salaries usually originate from the governor&#8217;s office, which works with the Office of Management and Budget to determine how much money is available for public officials, according to Jeff Larshus, director of state financial services at the OMB.
The governor then submits a budget to the Legislative Assembly, which writes the salaries into statute and votes on their approval. So saying Cramer raised his own salary ignores the arbiter of that salary.
</blockquote>
PolitiFact goes on to note that the reason Cramer&#8217;s salary rose was because multiple public officials were given raises of between 3% and 5% each year from 2006 to 2012. While Cramer&#8217;s salary increased by nearly 39% over the course of six years, he wasn&#8217;t involved in the decision making regarding those increases.
Later in the debate, Cramer brought up the commercial again:
<blockquote>
This question was asked in a different way, but I still wanna get to what you&#8217;re thinking, Senator Heitkamp, when you authorized the ad saying that I voted a $23,000 raise for myself &#8211; that I gave myself a raise. You know that&#8217;s not true. You know that&#8217;s impossible. You know that&#8217;s against the rules.
You know that if you looked at the Public Service Commission&#8230;and asked them, that we didn&#8217;t even put in for a raise in our budgets over the many years&#8230;that I served on the Public Service Commission. Why would you run an ad like that, which you have to know, as a former attorney general, is blatantly untrue?
</blockquote>
Heitkamp replied:
<blockquote>
I think it&#8217;s important that everybody recognize that in your budget is your salary; in the requests [were the] salary. You didn&#8217;t go down to the legislature and say, &#8220;Wait a minute, when I was elected, this was the salary for the job that I had. Please don&#8217;t give me additional money!&#8221;
I never did that when I was attorney general. I made sure &#8211; in fact, my salary was only raised in the next term. And so I think it&#8217;s inappropriate during any term, that you&#8217;re elected for &#8211; and you have six-year terms on the Public Service Commission, that you get a salary increase. You were elected with that salary; you should maintain that salary, and it should only be increased when that salary is in fact part of the next term.
</blockquote>
Cramer laughed at Heitkamp&#8217;s reply, stating: &#8220;That answer was so goofy, I should almost give you my 30 seconds to say it again. Did you listen to yourself?&#8221;
He continued:
<blockquote>
Not only was it not in what we requested, when it goes to the legislature, that is the salary range for every state employee. At the most, it&#8217;s the cost of living increase. Yeah, I could give it away, and who knows, I maybe do. I don&#8217;t know. I don&#8217;t announce those sorts of things &#8211; but to somehow suggest that you should run down there [and] say, &#8220;No, no, no, no, no! Don&#8217;t give this pay raise. I&#8217;m so noble that I wouldn&#8217;t take it.&#8221; You always took your pay raises, senator. With all due respect, you always took them.
</blockquote>
Senator Heitkamp served as North Dakota&#8217;s tax commissioner from 1986-1992, and its attorney general from 1992-2000. According to the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget <a href="https://www.nd.gov/omb/state-employee/employment-and-compensation/compensation/increase-history&#8203;">website</a>, with the exception of 1990, state employees received salary increases each year from 1989-2000.
The Daily Wire reached out to the Heitkamp campaign to ask why the ad containing the false claim has yet to be removed from YouTube, and if Senator Heitkamp ever refused annual raises while serving as tax commissioner and attorney general for the state of North Dakota. As of publication, we have not received a reply.

Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp Confronted Over ‘Blatantly False’ Ad Claim

In a stunningly egregious political error this week, Democrat Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota published a <a href="https://www.wahpetondailynews.com/classifieds/other/ads/letter-to-cramer/pdfdisplayad_30637ad1-1360-5b3c-a01a-18ff134c1e61.html">full-page ad</a> in every major newspaper across the state Monday that took the form of an open letter telling her opponent Kevin Cramer that he is &#8220;wrong&#8221; about the #MeToo movement that was signed by scores of women the letter describes as &#8220;survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault, or rape.&#8221; But some of the names listed as signees say they never agreed to have their names publicly outed and others say they are not even &#8220;survivors.&#8221;
Amid reports that some of the women now <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37301/awful-sex-assault-victim-named-heitkamp-ad-says-emily-zanotti">fear retaliation</a> from their abusers and some are <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37228/women-outed-heitkamp-campaign-domestic-violence-hank-berrien">taking legal action</a> against Heitkamp for publicly outing them without their permission or knowledge, the embattled senator ran a brief apology in the Minot Daily News that may come back to haunt her.
<div class="embed tweet"></div>
In a piece for the Say Anything Blog, <a href="http://www.sayanythingblog.com/entry/heitkamp-ad-apologizing-for-outing-sexual-assault-victims-may-have-violated-fec-rules/">Rob Port</a> explains why that ad might prove to be an additional problem for the senator: it fails to provide the FEC-required disclaimer listing the ad as paid for by the Heitkamp campaign.
Here&#8217;s a close-up of the ad:
[[{&#8220;fid&#8221;:&#8221;39298&#8243;,&#8221;view_mode&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;fields&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false},&#8221;type&#8221;:&#8221;media&#8221;,&#8221;field_deltas&#8221;:{&#8220;1&#8221;:{&#8220;format&#8221;:&#8221;default&#8221;,&#8221;field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false,&#8221;field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]&#8221;:false}},&#8221;attributes&#8221;:{&#8220;class&#8221;:&#8221;media-element file-default&#8221;,&#8221;data-delta&#8221;:&#8221;1&#8243;}}]]
The FEC requires all campaign-related public communications to include a disclaimer telling the audience that it was paid for by the campaign (see full requirements below).
Port reached out the Minot Daily News to see if the ad was indeed paid for by the Heitkamp campaign; the paper said yes. &#8220;It was paid for by the campaign committee and it came to us through NDNA [North Dakota Newspaper Association],&#8221; Dan McDonald, the paper&#8217;s publisher, told Port Friday.
&#8220;It would seem this apology ad, which has already been criticized for being tiny compared to the full-page size of the original ad being apologized for, also runs afoul of FEC rules,&#8221; writes Port.
Here&#8217;s the text of the <a href="https://www.fec.gov/help-candidates-and-committees/making-disbursements/advertising/">FEC&#8217;s disclaimer requirements</a>:
<blockquote>
Disclaimers
Any public communication made by a political committee &#8212; including communications that do not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified federal candidate or solicit a contribution &#8212; must display a disclaimer.
As explained on this page, disclaimers must also appear on political committees&#8217; Internet websites, and in certain email communications. Moreover, all public communications that expressly advocate the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate, electioneering communications, and all public communications that solicit any contribution require a disclaimer, regardless of who has paid for them.
Public communications include electioneering communications and any other form of general public political advertisement, including communications made using the following media:
<ul>
<li>Broadcast, cable or satellite</li>
<li>Newspaper or magazine</li>
<li>Outdoor advertising facility</li>
<li>Mass mailing (more than 500 substantially similar mailings within 30 days)</li>
<li>Phone bank (more than 500 substantially similar calls within 30 days)</li>
<li>Communications placed for a fee on another person&#8217;s website</li>
</ul>
The following communications are not considered to be public communications, but still require a disclaimer:
<ul>
<li>Electronic mail: More than 500 substantially similar communications sent by a political committee</li>
<li>Websites of political committees</li>
</ul>
When a disclaimer isn&#8217;t required
A disclaimer is not required when:
<ul>
<li>It cannot be conveniently printed (for example, pens, bumper stickers, campaign pins, campaign buttons and similar small items);</li>
<li>Its display is not practicable (for example, wearing apparel, water towers and skywriting); or</li>
<li>The item is of minimal value, does not contain a political message and is used for administrative purposes (for example, checks and receipts)</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37301/awful-sex-assault-victim-named-heitkamp-ad-says-emily-zanotti">Sex Assault Victim Named In Heitkamp Ad Says She Now Fears For Her Safety</a>

Sen. Heitkamp Makes Her Massive #MeToo Mistake Even Worse With Possible FEC Violation

MeToo

U.S. Senate

One of the victims of Sen. Heidi Heitkamp&#8217;s (D-ND) shocking campaign ad, which revealed the names of sexual and domestic assault victims without their permission as part of an &#8220;open letter&#8221; to her opponent, says she&#8217;s in fear for her safety after Heitkamp exposed her name and the city where she lives.
The victim, who wishes to remain anonymous (of course), <a href="https://www.kfyrtv.com/content/news/Sen-Heitkamp-apologizes-for-ad-outing-sexual-domestic-assault-victims-497690541.html">spoke to KFYR-TV, a North Dakota Fox affiliate</a>, about her ordeal.
&#8220;There are people that I&#8217;m in hiding from when these actions happened to me when I was a teenager. My name being blasted out there, you know, especially I didn&#8217;t realize this until this morning that the town that I live in was also posted on this,&#8221; the woman told the news outlet.
The victim added that Heitkamp is going to have to do more than make a general apology to the women named in the letter.
&#8220;None of us even knew about it until late last night or early this morning, and like I said, I don&#8217;t know what Heidi is gonna do to retract this, but a simple apology over the phone isn&#8217;t going to cut it for most of us I don&#8217;t think,&#8221; she said.
Several other women, who say they&#8217;ve suffered irreparable harm after being exposed as victims of domestic and sexual assault, say they are considering a lawsuit against Heitkamp and her campaign for causing them damage. KFYR-TV noted that a number of other women told them they were &#8220;afraid for their lives.&#8221;
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp released the long list of names (which have since been redacted by most media outlets) in a number of North Dakota newspapers, as a way of hitting back at her Republican opponent, Congressman Kevin Cramer. Heitkamp claimed Cramer made disparaging remarks against sex assault victims, and that her &#8220;open letter&#8221; to Cramer was a way of pointing out his lack of care.
Many of the women say they never gave Heitkamp permission to use their names as &#8220;signatories&#8221; on the letter. Other women listed say they don&#8217;t understand how they made it in the ad since they aren&#8217;t actually victims of violence.
Heitkamp attempted an apology on Wednesday. &#8220;We recently discovered that several of the women&#8217;s names who were provided to us did not authorize their names to be shared or were not survivors of abuse,&#8221; a sullen-looking Heitkamp told reporters. &#8220;I deeply regret this mistake and we are in the process of issuing a retraction.&#8221;
Heitkamp&#8217;s campaign added that they assigned the task of gathering survivors&#8217; names to a low-level aide, who was supposed to work with victims&#8217; advocacy organizations to get the women&#8217;s permission. That aide has now been fired.

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