Cramer touts economic record in new ad amid attacks from Heitkamp over trade war

Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) is highlighting his economic record in a new ad set to launch on Monday, as he faces an onslaught of attacks from Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) over President Trump’s trade policies.

In the 30-second spot, titled “Rocket Ship,” Cramer boasts about his record of “cutting taxes and rolling back regulations that were throttling our businesses.”

“When I went to Washington, one of my biggest goals was to make America a place where businesses could thrive and create good paying jobs. Opportunity is what makes our country great,” the Senate hopeful says in the ad. 

{mosads}”Our national economy is booming. It’s a rocket ship,” he continues. “In the Senate, I’ll fight to make sure our country’s economy stays on track.”

Cramer is locked in a tight race against Heitkamp, who is considered among the most vulnerable Democratic senators up for reelection this year. Trump won North Dakota by roughly 36 points in 2016, fueling the GOP’s hopes of flipping Heitkamp’s seat.

Polls show a tight race, with most recent surveys giving Cramer a slight lead. According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, the three-term Republican leads Heitkamp by about 1.6 points.

The Cook Political Report currently rates the race as a toss-up.

But North Dakota has been hit hard by the ongoing trade war with China being waged by the Trump administration, and Heitkamp has sought to tie Cramer closely with the president’s tariffs and trade policies.

The first-term Democrat launched an ad earlier this month, in which a farmer accuses Cramer of standing behind the administration’s tariffs and ignoring the impact that Beijing’s retaliatory measures have had on the soybean sales. 

“China is canceling their contracts to buy soybeans. North Dakota is losing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of business,” the farmer says in the spot. “But when you ask Kevin Cramer why he supports the trade war, he criticizes farmers.”

Trump’s trade war is set to escalate on Monday as the administration imposes taxes on $200 billion worth of imports from China — the largest most aggressive round of tariffs in the current dispute to date.