June 2020 Newsletter
I hope this update finds you well and in good health. What a year 2020 has been so far! I don’t think any of us could have predicted that the biggest election of our lifetime would be occurring amid a global pandemic.
I have been so impressed with not just resiliency of North Dakotans during this tumultuous time, but also with the patience and enthusiasm of our Republican members. When our State Convention – a long-anticipated event – was cancelled, you and the rest of our delegates came together to continue the important work of our Party by mail. We then mobilized to get-out-the-vote despite the change with the all-mail primary. What a primary we had, Republicans turned out 3:1 compared to Democrats, It shows the confidence they have in Republican leadership continuing to govern North Dakota.
Click here to download our June 2020 newsletter.
NDGOP Releases Results from Mail-In Convention Election
Today, the North Dakota Republican Party announced that it had completed the tally for the absentee ballots submitted as part of the alternative voting measures adopted by the Executive Committee and State Committee in response to the cancellation of the State Convention. Delegates who kept their paid registrations were eligible to participate in the election.
turned down for what?
Facebook just forced the Heidi Heitkamp-funded Democrat-NPL ads to be taken down because they were clearly nothing more than a thinly-veiled voter suppression effort:
As Rob Port who first wrote this story says, Heitkamp and her party “weren’t trying to inform hunters. They were trying to confuse them, and deter them from voting.”
What Heidi Heitkamp hasn’t deleted, however, is her lie about the Casselton soybeans, which Heitkamp said were unsold and had no place to go, even though they had been sold and are now being picked up for delivery.
“Heidi Heitkamp’s lies, amid her ‘bring it home’ tour, are making it clear to voters that her real home is with the other dishonest liberals in Washington DC, not with North Dakotans,” said North Dakota Republican Party Communications Director Jake Wilkins. “North Dakotans know that if Heitkamp can’t be trusted to tell the truth, she shouldn’t be trusted with six more years in the Senate.”
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when “bring it home!” becomes “make it stop!”
Coverage of the Heidi Heitkamp-funded voter suppression efforts by North Dakota Democrats continued to overshadow her own de-facto farewell tour yesterday, as the scandal dominated local and national airwaves:
Fox News
KFYR (NBC)
KXJB (CBS)
REMINDER: Heidi Heitkamp and the Democratic-NPL defended this blatant voter suppression and doubled down, even as multiple fact-checkers found the ad to be completely false:
Given her long list of falsehoods on issues like health care, trade, entitlements, and outing sexual assault victims, these events are just more proof that Heidi Heitkamp’s entire campaign platform is built on nothing more than lies, misinformation, and manufactured controversy.
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AP FACT CHECK: the Dem-NPL is lying
Heidi Heitkamp is funding voter suppression efforts that have now been proven definitively false. As the Associated Press says:
CLAIM: “By voting in North Dakota, you could forfeit your hunting licenses.” – posted on the Democratic party’s website this week.
THE FACTS: The ad is false.
Heitkamp’s campaign has time and again claimed there is voter suppression in North Dakota, and it looks like they’re right, it’s them!
In Case You Missed It…
AP FACT CHECK: Claim that voters lose hunting licenses false
11.2.18
The North Dakota Democratic Party posted a misleading ad on its website and on Facebook that suggests state residents should reconsider voting in this year’s election if they have hunting licenses in other states.
Republican congressman Kevin Cramer is seeking to unseat U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in this year’s Midterm election.
The ad comes as North Dakota voters, for the first time ever, will need identification that includes a street address to cast a ballot this election. Critics have said the requirement discriminates against the state’s Native American tribes, which have not always assigned street addresses to reservations.
A look at the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party’s claim:
CLAIM: “By voting in North Dakota, you could forfeit your hunting licenses.” – posted on the Democratic party’s website this week.
THE FACTS: The ad is false.
Nearly every state in the U.S. offers out-of-state residents a hunting license. North Dakota residents can obtain nonresident hunting licenses in other states regardless of whether they vote. All states that border North Dakota offer such a license for nonresidents.
“There’s no such law like that,” said Bruce Tague, the vice president of government affairs for the pro-hunting lobbying group Sportsmen’s Alliance.
Typically, states charge more for non-resident hunting licenses than resident permits.
Hunters who move to North Dakota might invalidate their hunting license in other states. He noted Ohio, however, offers lifetime hunting licenses to residents that are valid even if a person moves out of the state.
A spokeswoman for North Dakota Democrats pointed to Kentucky as an example where hunting licenses may be invalidated if someone votes in North Dakota.
But Kentucky offers both resident and nonresident licenses , with a higher price for nonresidents, said Kevin Kelly, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“We welcome them,” Kelly said of out-of-state hunters. “We want people to come hunt.”
The ad is similar to claims that discourage out-of-state college students from voting in elections, said Sean Morales-Doyle, counsel for the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, which focuses on voting rights.
“This is aimed at telling people who are eligible to vote, not to vote because of some fear that we can’t say is based in reality,” said Morales-Doyle.
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let’s get Heidi some glasses🤓
can’t escape Kavanaugh
Continuing her anti-Trump farewell tour, Heidi Heitkamp brought in Cory Booker today, one of the most ardent opponents of Justice Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation.
This is the same Cory Booker who said he was Spartacus because he was releasing classified documents (they weren’t classified), then said he wasn’t Spartacus, then said Kavanaugh supporters-which include an overwhelming majority of North Dakotans- are ‘complicit in evil,’ and then said it didn’t matter whether Kavanaugh was ‘innocent or guilty,’ but that he just has to go.
Let’s be clear: North Dakotans don’t care why Heidi Heitkamp brought anti-Kavanaugh Cory, but they both have to go.
“Heidi Heitkamp is continuing to bring surrogates on her farewell tour that showcase her anti-North Dakota record,” said North Dakota Republican Party Communications Director Jake Wilkins. “Cory Booker is a strong reminder of Heidi Heitkamp’s anti-life, anti-gun vote on Justice Kavanaugh, and voters will hold her accountable for it on Election Day.”
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STATEMENTS: State Legislators Support Al Jaeger
you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here
“The Affordable Care Act has been a disastrous for my wife and I. For the last several years we spent over $30,000 a year to purchase healthcare. Any plan the Republicans can come up with has got to be better.. What the hell do we have to lose.”- Barry Argabright, Fargo
“Waters of the U.S. Rule (WOTUS) has been disastrous for farmers interfering with our ability to manage our land and create economic opportunity. Kevin has consistently opposed WOTUS as an unconstitutional power grab by the federal government. We need that kind of a Senator in DC representing North Dakota’s interests.” – Ryan Wanzek, Jamestown farmer
“Heidi and Conrad’s recent ad blaming Rep. Cramer for the national debt is unbelievably dishonest. On January 20, 2009, when Obama was sworn in, the debt was $10.626 trillion. On January 20, 2017, when he left, it was $19.947 trillion. That’s why most people say Obama added $9 trillion to the debt, more than any other president. Heidi supported this reckless growth in debt.” – Sylvan Melroe, Fargo Veteran
“Kevin’s records proves he supports legal and sensible immigrations. Heidi has voted for chaos and anarchy at the border. American’s are not against immigration, we are simply against unregulated and illegal immigration. No society can survive thousands upon thousands of people flooding their borders with no existing support system. The result is anarchy, crime and exhaustion of societal resources. This should not be a Democrat issue or a Republican issue, this is an American issue.” – Rockne Earles, Oriska retired businessman
“Heidi Heitkamp has made it clear her real home is in Washington DC, where she votes with Chuck Schumer and national liberals against tax cuts, conservative judges, banning late-term abortion or cracking down on illegal immigration,” said North Dakota Republican Party Communications Director Jake Wilkins. “North Dakotans are ready to tell Heitkamp to go home by voting for Kevin Cramer this November.”
VOTER SUPPRESSION IN NORTH DAKOTA
Heidi Heitkamp gave her state party $3 million, and they are using it to depress voter turnout in North Dakota.
A reader alerted me to this curious message on Facebook which tells voters they may lose their hunting licenses in other states if they vote:
Facebook keeps a searchable database of the political ads which run on their platform. I searched for this particular ad to verify it, and it’s real. Paid for by the North Dakota Democratic-NPL:
If you click on the link in the ad, it takes you to a landing page on the North Democratic Party’s website which contains this message:
The ad is promoting a Facebook Page titled “Hunter Alert,” though at this point there is no content there other than some logos.
I reached out to Democrats about the ad, asking what facts they’re basing this claim that hunters may lose their licenses for voting on. The Democrats typically don’t respond to my inquiries, however.
I’ve been writing about politics for more than 15 years now, and this is the first time I’ve ever heard of something like this.
I contacted Secretary of State Al Jaeger and asked if he’d ever heard of this claim before. “No,” he told me. “We’re not involved at all in the requirements for getting a hunting license. A question like what you have needs to be directed to the Game & Fish Department. I doubt that there’s any connection.”
“We’ve never heard of that, Randy Meissner, the licensing manager for North Dakota Game & Fish, told me when I contacted him and read him the text of the ad. I sent him the links and screenshots for the ad and he said he was going to run the claim by his administration.
This ad comes at a time when North Dakota Democrats are accusing the Republican legislative majority in the state of trying to suppress Native American votes with voter ID requirements.
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