Heidi Heitkamp

Who is Heidi Heitkamp?

Mary Kathryn "Heidi" Heitkamp is the junior United States Senator from North Dakota and a member of the North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party. She served as the 28th North Dakota Attorney General from 1993 to 2001. Heitkamp was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in the 2000 gubernatorial election, losing to John Hoeven. She considered a bid for the Democratic nomination in the 2010 U.S. Senate election to replace retiring Senator Byron Dorgan, but on March 3, 2010, declined the rematch against Hoeven, who was ultimately elected.

In November 2011, Heitkamp declared her candidacy to replace Kent Conrad as U.S. Senator from North Dakota in the 2012 election. She narrowly defeated Republican Congressman Rick Berg on November 6, 2012 in the closest Senate race of that year, with Berg conceding the next day. She is North Dakota's second female senator, after Jocelyn Burdick, and the first to be elected.