Heidi Heitkamp

Director, University of Chicago Institute of Politics

Mary Kathryn "Heidi" Heitkamp is an American politician who served as a United States senator from North Dakota from 2013 to 2019. A member of the North Dakota Democratic–Nonpartisan League Party, she was the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from North Dakota. Heitkamp served as the 28th North Dakota attorney general from 1992 to 2000 and 20th North Dakota tax commissioner from 1986 to 1992. As of 2022, she is the last Democrat to have represented North Dakota in Congress, and the last to hold statewide office.

After leaving the Senate, Heitkamp became a CNBC contributor and visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics. In April 2019, with Senator Joe Donnelly of Indiana (who also lost reelection in 2018), she launched One Country Project, an organization aimed at helping Democrats reconnect with rural voters. In January 2023, Heitkamp will become the director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.

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