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BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota won a second term on Tuesday, turning back a challenge from a Democrat making her second attempt to gain a Senate seat.
The veteran Republican politician beat Democrat Katrina Christiansen, an assistant professor of engineering at the University of Jamestown. Cramer, a former congressman, first won the seat in 2018, defeating Democrat Heidi Heitkamp ’s reelection bid.
In his campaign, Cramer touted his longtime support for former President Donald Trump and his work during the Trump administration on deregulation, border security, energy and agriculture issues. The 63-year-old Cramer is known for his approachable yet blunt manner.
“I just know I’m blessed to represent the most patriotic, virtuous people in the country and carry their message for them in Washington,” Cramer told The Associated Press by phone.
Christiansen was making her second bid for a Senate seat after running unsuccessfully against Republican Sen. John Hoeven in 2022.
A former U.S. House member and public utilities regulator, Cramer, 63, originally captured his seat from Heitkamp in 2018 in one of the most closely watched Senate races that year.
In challenging Cramer, Christiansen had cast herself as a problem solver and highlighted her rural and impoverished upbringing amid the nation’s farm crisis. The 42-year-old Democrat has a doctorate in agricultural engineering and had worked as an engineer at an ethanol plant before taking a position as an assistant engineering professor at the University of Jamestown.
Cramer is known for an approachable but blunt manner. He has been a player for decades in state GOP politics, including as a young state party chairman in the early 1990s when Republicans began turning the tables on North Dakota’s then-dominant Democrats.
Christiansen had argued that since heading to Washington, Cramer had lost touch with North Dakota issues. She raised those claims in one television ad featuring rancher Frank Tomac, who supported Trump and said, “When they go to Washington like Kevin Cramer, folks back home suffer.”
Cramer served in the U.S. House from 2013 to 2019, and on the state’s Public Service Commission from 2003 to 2012. He also has served as state tourism director and economic development and finance director under then-Gov. Ed Schafer.
Cramer has been campaigning while his son Ian Cramer faces charges in connection with a December 2023 vehicle pursuit and crash that killed a sheriff’s deputy, Paul Martin, in Mercer County northwest of the state capital of Bismarck. Ian Cramer pleaded guilty to all the charges, including a homicide offense, in September and has yet to be sentenced.
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This story has been corrected to show Christiansen is 42, not 43.
Jack Dura, The Associated Press