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New Digital Ad Highlights Cramer’s Comments on Kavanaugh Allegations, Women

North Dakota Democratic-NPL ad features women reacting to Republican’s remarks

Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., is challenging Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., in a state President Donald Trump carried by 36 points in 2016. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., is challenging Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., in a state President Donald Trump carried by 36 points in 2016. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

As Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faced senators Thursday about an alleged sexual assault, North Dakota Democrats are criticizing Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer for his comments about those allegations and other remarks relating to women. 

The North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party is launching a new digital ad Thursday featuring women listening to the GOP Senate candidate’s remarks and reacting to them. The one minute and forty-second-long video is backed by a five-figure digital buy.

It will run first on Facebook until Election Day, and a state party source said the buy will likely increase and it will also likely be used on other digital platforms including Twitter, YouTube and Hulu..

The ad starts with video of Cramer in a local news interview addressing the allegations from Christine Blasey Ford that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her while they were both in high school.

“The point was there was not type of intercourse or anything like that. Nothing happened in terms of a sexual event beyond obviously the attack … Even if it’s all true, does it disqualify him?” Cramer said in the interview.

Cramer is locked in a competitive race against Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in a sate President Donald Trump carried by 36 points in 2016. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race a Tilts Republican

The digital ad also features other comments from Cramer, including when he said that feale lawmakers who wore white to Trump’s first joint address to Congress “looked silly” and “were being rude.”

The ad also uses audio of Cramer comparing being disloyal to Trump to cheating on one’s wife, as well as commenting on reports that the president was favorable towards Heitkamp potentially “because she was a woman.”

A woman at the end of the ad remarked, “He doesn’t treat everyone the same.”

Watch: New Ad Reacts to Rep. Cramer’s Comments on Kavanaugh Allegations

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Until Thursday, Democrats hadn’t yet taken to the television airwaves highlighting Cramer’s comments. The move is at least the second digital ad on the Kavanaugh allegations that has been aimed at a Republican in a competitive Senate race. 

Senate Majority PAC, a Democratic Super PAC, launched a digital ad Wednesday aimed at GOP Sen. Dean Heller in Nevada. Heller is facing Democratic Rep. Jacky Rosen in a Toss-up race.

The ad references comments that Heller made on a GOP call, alluding to the allegations throwing Kavanaugh’s confirmation into question as a “hiccup.” The comments were first reported by the Nevada Independent. 

The ad features a woman talking directly to the camera, saying, “This situation with Brett Kavanaugh is not simply a hiccup. You demean every single woman in Nevada who has a sexual assault story.” 

The Kavanaugh confirmation has also played out in the House race in New Jersey’s 7th District. Democrat Tom Malinwoski’s campaign launched a digital ad highlighting GOP Rep. Leonard Lance’s comment at a Rutgers College Republicans meeting, in which he said, “I think Judge Kavanaugh is a brilliant judge and I tend not to believe the charges.”  Lance told the New Jersey Globe that he doubted Ford’s claims because at the time he made the statement there were reports she may not testify. 

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