Casting herself as a centrist, North Dakota Democrat Heidi Heitkamp announced she is running for a second term in the Senate, potentially an uphill race in a state won by landslide margins by President Trump last November. Heitkamp told the Fargo Forum that she believes there is an opportunity for bipartisan action on infrastructure, tax reform, energy, and farm policy.
“I have a lot of hope that we can actually get some things done in the next year and a half,” said Heitkamp, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Heitkamp won election in 2010 by 2,936 votes and is regarded as one of the more vulnerable Senate Democrats up for re-election. But she has some cachet with Republicans. Trump tried to recruit her for a cabinet seat and complimented her during a trip to North Dakota to tout tax reform. She has a campaign fund of $3 million, said the Forum.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times put Republican Rep. Jeff Denham, a House Agriculture Committee member from the Central Valley, third on its list of lawmakers facing competitive races. Denham won his fourth term last November by 4 percentage points at the same time Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton carried the Modesto-area district by 3 points. “An ingredient to his success: His attention to water issues critical in the Central Valley,” said the newspaper.
Fifth on the Los Angeles Times list was Republican Rep. David Valadao, a member of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees USDA and FDA funding. Valadao faces the same Democrat he beat comfortably last year. Democrats have an 18-point advantage in party alignment.