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)

published 11 April 2018

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."

North Dakota went big for Trump in 2016, and Heitkamp will likely face Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer, a close Trump ally, this fall. She told the Post she disagrees with Trump on tariffs but finds common ground with him on deregulation and caring about "working people." Heitkamp also shared that she's close enough to Trump that they're able to joke around with each other. "He's always ribbing me a little bit about being too conservative to be a Democrat," she said.

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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.

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