Senator Heitkamp Skips Hillary Clinton’s Acceptance Speech

Tonight Hillary Clinton, the presidential candidate North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp has backed since 2013, gave a speech accepting the nomination of the Democratic party as the first ever female candidate for President (from one of the two major parties, anyway).

Not in attendance in Philadelphia, however, was North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp. A reader sent me this from Jamestown tonight:

I attended the fifth anniversary celebration of the Jamestown Medical Regional Center tonight. Senator Hoeven was there. The big surprise was seeing Heidi Heitkamp show up shortly before the 6 pm program. I was sure she would be in Philadelphia tonight watching her candidate accept the Presidential nomination as the first woman nominee of a major political party. Not the case!

I checked Heitkamp’s social media accounts and, sure enough, she was in Jamestown today and not Philadelphia.

This was a pretty remarkable decision for Heitkamp. Sure she’s come under fire from a far-left faction of her party for her support for Clinton, and sure that prompted her to skip casting her super delegate vote for Clinton’s nomination.

But to not even be in attendance for Clinton’s acceptance speech? To skip out on the nomination of the first female candidate for president from either of the two parties?

That’s shocking.

I don’t think Heitkamp has a lot of confidence in her political career these days.

There has long been rumor mongering about whether or not Heitkamp would run for re-election again in 2018. At the rate she’s going, I just don’t think she will.

UPDATE: Senator Heitkamp did tell Politico a couple of weeks ago that she’d only be attending part of the convention.

Which is just hilarious. The Democratic presidential ticket is so toxic in North Dakota that Heitkamp has to invent make-work for herself here at home so she has an excuse not to be in the convention hall.