Heitkamp Runs Apology Ad in Newspapers, but Some Victims Outed by Her Campaign Haven’t Heard From Her Yet
In today’s Minot Daily News is this print ad from Senator Heidi Heitkamp, apologizing for that previous print ad which outed a number of sexual assault survivors without their knowledge or permission:
.@HeidiHeitkamp running this newspaper ad apologizing for ad outing sexual assault survivors (pic from the @MinotDailyNews). Meanwhile, some of those outed women say the Senator hadn't spoken to them yet. #NDSEN #ndpol pic.twitter.com/vUlK5DeNh1
— Rob Port (@robport) October 18, 2018
This criticism seems appropriate:
Wait a minute, @SenatorHeitkamp had enough campaign cash to run a FULL page ad that endangered women, but her apology ad is less than 1/4 page?? WOW https://t.co/i1L4qDbv1v
— Nina Bookout (@NDBook96) October 18, 2018
Meanwhile, one of the women victimized by Heitkamp’s previous ad told CNN this morning that she hasn’t yet heard from Senator Heitkamp for any sort of a direct, personal apology.
“Heitkamp’s office told CNN Thursday that they planned to reach out to Zhorela, something Zhorela said she was already told before.”
Newspaper readers are getting an apology for the women named in the ad. Meanwhile, Heitkamp had plenty of time to campaign in Williston last night, while her campaign
That interview was hearbreaking.
“I was very private about the things that had happened to me in the past … For the rest of my life, I’ll have to hold the title as a ‘survivor,’ and that wasn’t my choice,” Lexi Zhorela, one of the women victimized by Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s recent “open letter” campaign ad, told CNN. “I never made that choice in the first place, but I’ll have to walk around with it for the rest of my life.”
“I’m furious,” she told the Associated Press earlier this week. “I know I’m not the only woman hurt by this.”
Zhorela has said she was going to vote for Heitkamp previously, but has since changed her mind.
