Heidi Heitkamp Posts Misleading Photo About USS North Dakota Commissioning

The USS North Dakota was commissioned recently in Connecticut. It got a lot of attention from North Dakotans, for obvious reasons. It’s only the second time a US Navy vessel has been named after North Dakota, the last one being the battleship USS North Dakota which was commissioned in 1910.

So a number of North Dakota’s leaders were on hand for the commissioning ceremony. It’s a neat bit of history.

As such, Senator Heitkamp posted this photograph of herself in front of the submarine marking the occasion. A number of Facebook commenters congratulated her for being there, but here’s the thing: Heitkamp wasn’t really there. Her social media posts (on Twitter as well) just gave the impression that she was there.

You’ll note that neither Heitkamp nor her staff bothers to correct the commenters who were under the false impression that she’d actually attended the event.

So where was Heitkamp, despite the false impression she’s giving about having been in Connecticut?

It appears she was on a fundraising trip to back Democrat Senate candidates like Alison Grimes in Kentucky, Michelle Nunn in Georgia, and Kay Hagan in North Carolina.

Which is fine. Heitkamp is a liberal Democrat, and has an interest in electing other liberal Democrats to the U.S. Senate. But if she was out politicking instead of attending the commemoration of the USS North Dakota then maybe she should have been clear about that.