Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota), who is running for re-election, shakes a dancer's hand at the United Tribes Technical College powwow in Bismarck, North Dakota, on September 7, 2018. Photo: Heidi Heitkamp

National | Politics

'Open letter' with names of Native survivors roils Senate race

Wednesday, October 17, 2018

A campaign ad featuring the names of survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and rape has Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) on the defensive in a closely-watched U.S. Senate race.

The ad was published in the form of an "open letter" in the North Dakota media. It featured the names and aliases of 127 survivors -- a number of them prominent Native women.

"Native women and girls in Indian Country and elsewhere in North Dakota – are prairie tough," the ad declared. "They experience these crimes at appallingly high rates – and in Indian Country non-Native perpetrators rarely suffer the consequences for their actions."

But Heitkamp had to apologize on Tuesday after learning that some women -- as many as two dozen -- did not consent to their names being used by her campaign. Rob Port, a conservative columnist, broke the story on his SayAnythingBlog.Com.

"I deeply regret this mistake and we are in the process of issuing a retraction, personally apologizing to each of the people impacted by this and taking the necessary steps to ensure this never happens again," Heitkamp said in a statement.

ICYMI: “terrified,” “humiliated,” “downright ruined our lives”

Hear from the victims of Heitkamp's actions https://t.co/mxmQPsRlMx #NDSEN #NDpol pic.twitter.com/9eh27QeKlA
— ND Republican Party (@NDGOP) October 17, 2018

The ad was directed at Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-North Dakota), Heitkamp's Republican opponent in the heated race. He called the disclosure unforgivable.

“There is no excuse or apology in the world that can undo what she has done to these victims,” Cramer told The Grand Forks Herald.

The ad noted that Cramer once questioned whether tribes should be able to prosecute non-Indians who abuse their domestic partners. He did so in a meeting with Native women in 2013, only a couple of months after he took office as a first-time member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

"You once had a chance to stand up for women and girls in Indian Country – and you said that allowing their tribes to protect them was 'unconstitutional' and that a non-native could not get a fair trial," it states.

A month prior, Cramer had voted in favor of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013. But during the meeting, he predicted that the tribal jurisdiction provisions would eventually be struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, according to a first-hand account written by Melissa Merrick-Brady, a citizen of the Spirit Lake Nation who works on victim's issues in Indian Country.

Merrick-Brady identified herself as a survivor of abuse in her LastRealIndians.Com account and was one of the signatories of Heitkamp's open letter.

Other Republicans also have questioned the tribal jurisdiction provisions of VAWA but there have been no court challenges since the first group of tribes began arresting, prosecuting and punishing non-Indians in limited circumstances.

As an active member of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Heitkamp made Native women's issues a prominent part of her work in the Senate. Cramer has not paid much attention since his early stumble, which has not caused long-term damage to his political career.

Polls show Heitkamp trailing Cramer, who has positioned himself as a close ally of President Donald Trump. Voters in North Dakota supported Trump in the 2016 election by 36 points.

Native Americans represent about 5.5 percent of the population in North Dakota, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and their votes are expected to play a role in the November 6 election. But tribes are worried that a new state law will disenfranchise thousands of their citizens. They are helping them obtain residential addresses and other identifying documents so that their votes will be counted next month.