Hennen: Cramer must want a 'big tent' GOP in ND

Sen. Kevin Cramer is headed for a second term in one of the world’s most exclusive clubs, the United States Senate. Having first defeated incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp by 11 points in 2016, he recently cruised to an even more comfortable 33-point victory over his Democratic opponent, Katrina Christiansen.

It’s been quite a storybook journey for the kid from Kindred, North Dakota. His political service began with his work for a little-known statewide candidate in 1984. Next Cramer began working for and then leading the North Dakota Republican Party at a time when Democrats controlled almost all the levers of political power in the state. Cramer was elected party chairman in 1991. He served in this role until 1993, making him the youngest person to hold that position in the state’s history.

Interestingly, even after attaining elected office, Cramer has never stopped building the state GOP. In the just-completed election cycle, two political action committees he controls contributed nearly $175,000 to North Dakota Republicans at every level. In addition to his leadership PACS, his re-election campaign gave nearly $50,000 to the Republican Party. As impressive as the amount is, the diversity of the recipients is more so. Call them MAGA, Bastiat or just conservative disruptors, Cramer supported them. Call them moderate, establishment or even liberal, he supported them. The one thing they all are is Republican.

Cramer no doubt remembers those challenging political times when Republicans were in the minority in North Dakota. Now the only political fights seem to have Republicans fighting other Republicans. So when conservative groups were running ads against moderate Republicans, Cramer helped level the playing field. An example would be his $5,000 contribution to District 10 legislative candidate Steve Swiontek.

When more establishment types ran ads against disruptors, Cramer helped level the playing field, having given $5,000 to another District 10 legislative candidate Jared Hendrix. He also made contributions to the campaigns of Kelly Armstrong, Julie Fedorchak, Josh Gallion, and legislative candidates Jim Kasper, Ben Koppleman and Michelle Powers. Additionally, there were donations to Districts 4, 8, 9 and 12 ND GOP candidate committees.

According to the same recent Federal Election Commission filings reporting Cramer’s donations, Sen. John Hoeven’s Dakota PAC contributed $10,000 to U.S. House candidate Fedorchak and $10,000 to Gov. Doug Burgum’s campaign for president. The rest of his contributions were to U.S. Senate races elsewhere, which is what the leadership PACs are most often utilized for, and a small amount to his legislative district in Bismarck. Hoeven also gave donations to his Senate colleagues who were not up for reelection, but oddly none to Cramer.

Cramer’s contributions might be a way of building bridges between factions of North Dakota Republicans or pushing back on Republican infighting. He is fond of saying, “Politics only works by addition.” His first foray into big-time politics was when Lee Atwater was the Republican National Committee chairman who clearly articulated the “big tent” theory and never lost sight of who the real adversaries are, the Democrats.