Kevin Cramer Biography
Kevin Cramer born Kevin John Cramer is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for North Dakota’s at-large congressional district since 2013.
Cramer previously chaired the North Dakota Republican Party (1991–1993) and served as State Tourism Director (1993–1997) and Economic Development Director (1997–2000). He served on the North Dakota Public Service Commission from 2003 to 2012.
On November 6, 2018, Cramer defeated incumbent Senator Heidi Heitkamp in the 2018 U.S. Senate race in North Dakota.
Kevin Cramer Age
He was born on 21 January 2018 in Rolla, North Dakota, United States. He is 57 years old as of 2018.
Rep Kevin Cramer | Kevin Cramer Nd | Kevin Cramer North Dakota
On January 14, 2010, Cramer announced that he would run for the North Dakota seat in the United States House of Representatives in the 2010 election.
Cramer was very visible in early 2010 at North Dakota town hall meetings, where he opposed health care legislation passed by the U.S. House in late 2009.
Cramer attended numerous Tea Party rallies in North Dakota, where he spoke about energy, taxes, jobs and the U.S. Constitution.
He did not receive the nomination at the state Republican Party convention in March 2010, losing to former House Majority Leader Rick Berg.
Later in 2010, Cramer won reelection to a second term on the Public Service Commission, defeating Democratic candidate Brad Crabtree 61%–35%.
Congressman Kevin Cramer | Kevin Cramer Congress
Congressman Kevin Cramer announced the passage today of H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 in the House of Representatives.
The Farm Bill repeals the Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS), preserves crop insurance and the sugar program, strengthens the commodity support program, includes Cramer’s improvements to rainfall collection data procedures, his fix to the Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) program, and provides producers more freedom to farm by including Cramer’s swampbuster minimal effects reform.
Kevin Cramer Email | Kevin Cramer Contact
You can contact him via phone on 202-225-2611 or visit his official website on cramer.house.gov.
Representative Kevin Cramer
Committee assignments
- Committee on Energy and Commerce
- Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
- Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy
- Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Caucus memberships
- Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
- Congressional Western Caucus
Positions
Abortion
Cramer opposes abortion. He is a critic of Planned Parenthood and has called for cutting off public funding of the group. In 2013, Cramer condemned the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade and tied an uptick in mass shootings to the legalization of abortion and a decline in religious values.
This remark was criticized by the director of the North Dakota Democratic Party and in Cosmopolitan. Cramer said, “I was asked recently by a reporter if I am afraid that some people would attack me if I speak like this.
And I said, ‘No, I am not afraid they will, I am quite certain they will.'” In the same speech, Cramer said of U.S. society: “We have normalized perversion and perverted God’s natural law.”
Donald Trump
Cramer supported Trump’s 2017 executive order banning entry to the U.S. by citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, saying, “I think what Donald Trump is doing is he’s pulling America’s head out of the sand and facing the reality that we have not been kept very safe by current immigration and refugee policies.”
He has been described as one of Trump’s allies in Congress and has pledged to be with Trump “100 percent of the time”. In February 2017, during President Trump’s first address to a joint session of Congress, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and a number of other female Democratic members of Congress wore white in protest against Trump.
Cramer mocked the clothing protest, saying Pelosi dressed “poorly” and remarking, “It is a syndrome. There is no question, there is a disease associated with the notion that a bunch of women would wear bad-looking white pantsuits in solidarity with Hillary Clinton to celebrate her loss. You cannot get that weird.”
Environment and energy
Cramer rejects the scientific consensus on climate change. He has said that he would support a small carbon tax if the revenue went to research and development on clean fuel.
Cramer has been described by Reuters as “one of America’s most ardent drilling advocates.” Cramer supports an increase in oil and gas drilling on public lands and cutting taxes for energy producers.
He is opposed to what he characterizes as overreach by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In May 2016, Trump asked Cramer to draft his campaign’s energy policy.
Cramer wrote Trump’s energy plan, which focuses heavily on promoting fossil fuels and weakening environmental regulation. The plan also vows to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement and repeal U.S. regulations aims at controlling the carbon emissions that cause climate change.
Cramer was “one of a handful of early Trump endorsers” among U.S. House Republicans.
Food stamps
Cramer supports cuts in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly the Food Stamp Program), and attracted controversy in 2013 when he cited a biblical quotation several times in support of Republicans’ efforts to cut $40 billion from the program over ten years.
Gun policy
Cramer said that gun control would not have prevented the Orlando nightclub shooting. In 2016, he criticized proposed gun control legislation, saying, “The problem isn’t the U.S. Constitution. The problem is Islamic terrorism.”
Health care
Cramer opposes the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and has voted to repeal it without a replacement five times. He has voted against health insurance protections for patients with pre-existing conditions and against the expansion of Medicaid.
Cramer has said that the American Health Care Act of 2017, the Republican bill he supported to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, would have prevented “price discrimination” against people with preexisting conditions; The Washington Post fact-checker described this assertion as false.
Violence Against Women Act
In 2013, at a forum on the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Cramer engaged in “a testy exchange with Native American victim assistance leaders.”
He later issued a statement apologizing for his “tone and rhetoric” during the exchange. Cramer voted to reauthorize VAWA, but opposed language in the act that would allow tribal courts to prosecute non-Natives “for abusing or assaulting Native American women on Indian land.”
Cramer asked, “How could a non-Native man get a fair trial on a reservation?” and questioned the constitutionality of the provision. He voted for an amendment to repeal it.
LGBT issues
During his 2018 campaign, Cramer sought and received the support of the Public Advocate of the United States, an anti-LGBT group that advocates conversion therapy and ties homosexuality to pedophilia.
In an eight-question survey for the group, Cramer said he would oppose “‘Transgender Bathrooms’ legislation and regulations – which have the effect of encouraging and protecting pedophiles”. Cramer also agreed that “public schools should be ‘prevented from brainwashing elementary school children with the Homosexual Agenda.'”
Cramer indicated support for requiring schools to teach that there are only two genders and granting Christian businesses the right to not service same-sex weddings.
A spokesman for Cramer said: “Let’s be clear. Congressman Cramer doesn’t support the teaching of history with any special emphasis on any particular group. History is history and should be taught as such.
Additionally, Kevin does not think transgender people are at all comparable to pedophiles – this a gross misinterpretation of the survey question.” Cramer opposes same-sex marriage and condemned the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.
Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh
In 2018, Cramer said that both Anita Hill’s sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas and Christine Blasey Ford’s sexual assault allegations against Brett Kavanaugh were “absurd”.
He called Ford’s allegation “even more absurd” than Hill’s because the sexual assault that Ford described “never went anywhere” and because both Kavanaugh and Ford were intoxicated teenagers.
Cramer questioned whether Ford’s sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh would disqualify him from the Supreme Court even if found to be true, adding that if Kavanaugh were found to have lied in denying the allegations, that would be disqualifying.
Taxes
Cramer voted to repeal the estate tax, which imposes a tax after the first several million dollars on the estate of a dead person. He supports Trump’s 25% tax on many types of imports, which may have decreased sales for North Dakota’s soybean industry in 2018, but has said he believes the long-term benefits of a trade war are worth it.
Elections
2012
In 2012, incumbent U.S. Representative Rick Berg decided to retire to run for the U.S. Senate. Cramer decided to run for the seat a fourth time.
Various national conservative groups, include FreedomWorks and the Club for Growth, endorsed Cramer, while Berg endorsed Cramer’s rival, fellow Public Service Commissioner Brian Kalk. In the Republican primary election in June 2012, Cramer received 54,405 votes (54%) to Kalk’s 45,415 (45%).
In the November 2012 general election, Cramer defeated Democratic-NPL State Representative Pam Gulleson, receiving 173,585 votes (55%) to Gulleson’s 131,870 (42%). Libertarian Party candidate Eric Olson received about 3% of the vote.
Cramer was sworn in on January 3, 2013.
2014
In 2014, Cramer ran for reelection, running unopposed for renomination as the Republican candidate.
Cramer won the general election with 55% of the vote, defeating Democratic-NPL nominee George B. Sinner, who received 38%. A Libertarian candidate, Jack Seaman, received slightly under 6%.
2016
In 2016, Cramer sought election to a third term in Congress. He ran unopposed in the primary election and defeated Democratic-NPL nominee Chase Iron Eyes, a Native American activist, in the general election.
Kevin Cramer Voting Record
U.S. Senate election in North Dakota, 2018
|
|||
Party
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
%
|
Republican
|
Kevin Cramer
|
178,876
|
55.40%
|
Democratic
|
Heidi Heitkamp
|
143,737
|
44.60%
|
U.S. Congress for North Dakota’s at-large district, 2016
|
|||
Party
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
%
|
Republican
|
Kevin Cramer
|
233,980
|
69.13%
|
Democratic
|
Chase Iron Eyes
|
80,377
|
23.75%
|
Libertarian
|
Jack Seaman
|
23,528
|
6.95%
|
No party
|
Write-Ins
|
574
|
0.17%
|
U.S. Congress for North Dakota’s at-large district, 2014
|
|||
Party
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
%
|
Republican
|
Kevin Cramer
|
138,100
|
55.54%
|
Democratic
|
George B. Sinner
|
95,678
|
38.48%
|
Libertarian
|
Jack Seaman
|
14,531
|
5.84%
|
No party
|
Write-Ins
|
361
|
0.15%
|
U.S. Congress for North Dakota’s at-large district, 2012
|
|||
Party
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
%
|
Republican
|
Kevin Cramer
|
173,433
|
54.87%
|
Democratic
|
Pam Gulleson
|
131,869
|
41.72%
|
Libertarian
|
Eric Olson
|
10,261
|
3.25%
|
No party
|
Write-Ins
|
508
|
0.16%
|
North Dakota Public Service Commissioner, 2010
|
|||
Party
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
%
|
Republican
|
Kevin Cramer
|
142,644
|
61.45%
|
Democratic
|
Brad Crabtree
|
81,011
|
34.90%
|
Libertarian
|
Joshua Voytek
|
8,315
|
3.58%
|
No party
|
Write-Ins
|
144
|
0.06%
|
North Dakota Public Service Commissioner, 2004
|
|||
Party
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
%
|
Republican
|
Kevin Cramer
|
191,825
|
65.49%
|
Democratic
|
Ron Gumeringer
|
101,081
|
34.51%
|
U.S. Congress for North Dakota’s at-large district, 1998
|
|||
Party
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
%
|
Democratic
|
Earl Pomeroy
|
119,668
|
56.21%
|
Republican
|
Kevin Cramer
|
87,511
|
41.11%
|
Independent
|
Kenneth R. Loughead
|
5,709
|
2.68%
|
U.S. Congress for North Dakota’s at-large district, 1996
|
|||
Party
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
%
|
Democratic
|
Earl Pomeroy
|
144,833
|
55.07%
|
Republican
|
Kevin Cramer
|
113,684
|
43.22%
|
Independent
|
Kenneth R. Loughead
|
4,493
|
1.71%
|
Kevin Cramer Staff
Chief of Staff: Mark Gruman
Scheduler: Rachel Buening
Legis. Dir.: Mark Gruman
Comm. Dir.: Jason Stverak
Veteran Affairs LA: Ryan Nelson
Military LA: Ryan Nelson
Child/Family Issues LA: Alex McIntyre
Health LA: Bree Vculek
Financial Services LA: Ryan Nelson
Foreign Policy LA: Ryan Nelson
Education LA: Alex McIntyre
Agriculture LA: Bree Vculek
Telecomm LA: Ryan Nelson
Elections LA: Mark Gruman
Energy LA: Chris Marohl
Environment LA: Chris Marohl
Firearms LA: Alex McIntyre
Judiciary LA: Alex McIntyre
Tax LA: Alex McIntyre
Transportation LA: Ryan Nelson
Trade LA: Alex McIntyre
Commerce LA: Alex McIntyre
Labor LA: Alex McIntyre
Budget LA: Alex McIntyre
Arts/Humanities LA: Alex McIntyre
Civil Rights LA: Alex McIntyre
Government Affairs LA: Alex McIntyre
Housing LA: Ryan Nelson
Medicare/Medicaid LA: Bree Vculek
Appropriations LA: Alex McIntyre
Science/Technology LA: Bree Vculek
Social Security LA: Alex McIntyre
Space – NASA LA: Ryan Nelson
Pensions LA: Alex McIntyre
Pensions LA: Ryan Nelson
Animal Welfare LA: Alex McIntyre
Women’s Issues LA: Alex McIntyre
Native American Affairs LA: Mark Gruman
Immigration LA: Alex McIntyre
Homeland Security LA: Alex McIntyre
Press Asst.: Dana Stancavage
Staff Asst.: Torrey Wells
Sr. Policy Adv.: Chris Marohl
State Dir.: Lisa Gibbens
State Scheduler: Kris Cramer
Kevin Cramer Facebook
Kevin Cramer Twitter
https://twitter.com/RepKevinCramer
Kevin Cramer Instagram
Kevin Cramer News
Heidi Heitkamp Ousted by Republican Kevin Cramer From North Dakota Senate Seat
Updated on: 6 November 2018.
Representative Kevin Cramer, who latched onto Donald J. Trump even before he was president and never let go, ousted North Dakota’s incumbent Democratic senator, Heidi Heitkamp, on Tuesday, flipping a key seat that was vital to Republican efforts to hold the Senate.
In an election that largely became a referendum on the president, voters here cast out the centrist Ms. Heitkamp, replacing an increasingly rare moderate voice in the Senate with a proud and fiercely conservative partisan.
Mr. Cramer’s win affirmed the state’s support for Mr. Trump, who swept North Dakota in 2016 with a 36-percentage-point margin of victory. Eager to defeat Ms. Heitkamp, considered the Democrats’ most vulnerable senator, the president rallied here three times in support of the congressman in an effort to energize the Republican base.
On the campaign trail, Mr. Cramer painted Ms. Heitkamp as a liberal extremist out of touch with the state’s values, and positioned himself as a steadfast supporter of the president’s agenda.
He offered a stark contrast between her voting record and his own — he has voted with Mr. Trump’s position almost 99 percent of the time.
“Can you imagine going home and telling your wife, ‘I’ve been faithful to you 55 percent of the time?’” Mr. Cramer told a local radio show in April. “Are you kidding me? Being wrong half the time is not a good answer.”
Ms. Heitkamp tried to fight back by touting her willingness to reach across the aisle, coaxing voters to embrace moderation and compromise, betting that voters, weary of biting partisanship and division, would reject demands for ideological purity and endorse her brand of centrism. The bet has historically been a safe one in North Dakota.
“We were famous for ticket splitting and judging the individual on their own merits,” said former Representative Earl Pomeroy, a Democrat who served in the House from 1993 to 2011 and campaigned in support of Ms. Heitkamp.
Pollsters were already forecasting an uphill battle for the incumbent senator, facing national political headwinds and an environment more open to unapologetic partisanship.
But her political fate may have been sealed last month when she voted against Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh’s confirmation. The vote yielded her a $12 million fund-raising windfall from Democrats across the country and buoyed her get-out-the-vote effort.
But it earned her scorn from many of the Republican-leaning voters she needed.
There were unforced errors from her campaign, too. Ms. Heitkamp had touted her advocacy for women and invoked her own mother’s experience with sexual assault after the Supreme Court vote, taking a swipe at Mr. Cramer, who called the #MeToo movement a “movement toward victimization.”
But she was forced to publicly apologize after her staff released the names of survivors of sexual assault in a campaign advertisement without their permission.
In the days ahead of the election, Ms. Heitkamp was sanguine. She had been doubted before and prevailed, she said, referring to her 2012 victory in which she eked out a win by 3,000 votes. But she also acknowledged that there were voters in the state she had never been able to win over.
“I think people who are going to vote straight Republican, they aren’t people who will ever be persuaded one way or the other,” she said in an interview after a rally Monday night. “They’ve joined a team.
Adopted from: www.nytimes.com
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