Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp says Trump asked her to switch parties

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp at Trump Tower in December 2016.
(Image credit: Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images)

If President Trump had his way, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) would have an R next to her name, rather than a D.

In an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, Heitkamp revealed that when she met with Trump in December 2016, "he asked me to switch parties." Heitkamp was at Trump Tower to discuss his incoming administration, and there had been rumblings that he might pick the moderate Democrat for his Cabinet. Heitkamp told the Post she "just laughed" at the notion of switching parties, adding, "I think he knows it's not going to happen."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.