Heitkamp's political tightrope walk gets even trickier

MANDAN (AP) — Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s daunting political challenge just got that much harder.

A North Dakota Democrat seeking re-election in a fiercely Republican state, she is running as a centrist, of course. She is even running as a sometimes partner to President Donald Trump. But the nomination of a new Supreme Court justice who could shift the court’s philosophy for decades adds intense pressure on centrists like Heitkamp from both sides.

Will the everywoman persona that makes her popular at home be enough to fight off attacks from the right if she does not side with the president on his pick for the top court? Or will she lose support from within her party if she does?

What’s happening

Of the Democrats running for re-election to the Senate from states that Trump carried, Heitkamp’s challenge is one of the steepest. Trump won North Dakota by 36 percentage points over Democrat Hillary Clinton, a margin the Republican exceeded only in West Virginia.

To this challenge, Heitkamp is bringing not just a policy acumen compiled over four decades in public life, politics and business, but a no-nonsense public personality that is part “your mom’s best friend,” part “your seventh-grader’s math teacher” and part actress Frances McDormand’s portrayal of Marge Gunderson in the film “Fargo.”

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