Hoeven, Heitkamp Both Vote For Cloture On Gun Control

I’ve been a bit remiss in getting this up, being focused on the legislative session here in the state all day, but both of North Dakota’s Senators voted to invoke cloture on the Senate gun control bill.

The bill was being filibustered by Senate conservatives. Fifty Democrats, 16 Republicans and 2 independents opposed the conservative effort, while 29 Republicans and 2 Democrats supported it.

Gun control supporters needed 60 votes to end the filibuster.

Here’s the roll call vote.

To be clear, this isn’t a vote for the final version of the bill. This was a vote to allow the bill to be debated on the floor of the Senate. There will be another cloture vote to end debate, which can also be filibustered, and once that hurdle is cleared a final up or down vote on the bill itself.

My guess is Hoeven will likely continue voting to allow a vote, and then vote “no” on the ultimate vote. As for Senator Heitkamp, who knows.