Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) rebuked the “Me Too” movement, dismissing the idea that people are “just supposed to believe” those who accuse others of sexual misconduct and calling it a “movement toward victimization.”
In an interview with The New York Times, Cramer, who is challenging Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) for her Senate seat, boasted of his willingness to say “what a lot of other people don’t dare say – but think,” including on the “Me Too” movement.
“That you’re just supposed to believe somebody because they said it happened,” Cramer told the Times. He then referenced women in his family, saying that “they cannot understand this movement toward victimization.”
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“They are pioneers of the prairie,” he said. “These are tough people whose grandparents were tough and great-grandparents were tough.”
Cramer came under fire last month after he appeared to wave off sexual assault allegations against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, saying that the alleged assault against one of the accusers, Christine Blasey Ford, “never went anywhere.”
Kavanaugh had been accused by Ford of pinning her to a bed, groping her and trying to remove her clothing during a high school party in the 1980s. He has denied those allegations.
A deeply divided Senate confirmed Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on Saturday.
Cramer’s latest comments to the Times drew a rebuke from Heitkamp, a former North Dakota state attorney general, who referenced her experience working with victims. She said her own mother had been a victim of sexual assault as a teenager.
“I think it’s wonderful that his wife has never had an experience, and good for her, and it’s wonderful his mom hasn’t,” Heitkamp said, according to the Times. “My mom did. And I think it affected my mom her whole life. And it didn’t make her less strong.”
“I want you to put this in there, it did not make my mom less strong that she was a victim,” she continued. “She got stronger and she made us strong. And to suggest that this movement doesn’t make women strong and stronger is really unfortunate.”
Heitkamp, who is considered among the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for reelection this year, voted against Kavanaugh’s confirmation on Saturday.
That move could carry potential political ramifications for the first-term senator as she seeks reelection in a state President Trump won handily in 2016.
Cramer is leading Heitkamp in virtually every recent public poll. Two surveys released last week showed Heitkamp trailing by 10- and 12-point margins.
In an interview with the Times, Heitkamp acknowledged that voting for Kavanaugh’s confirmation would have been “the smart political vote.”
“That’s the way it just goes,” she told the newspaper.