Cramer, Christiansen move on to general election in unopposed US Senate primaries
Published by the Forum | June 11, 2024
Katrina Christiansen and Sen. Kevin Cramer both advanced to the general election, which will take place Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.
Christiansen photo by Chris Flynn / The Forum; Cramer photo by Alyssa Goelzer / The Forum
BISMARCK — The Kevin Cramer vs. Katrina Christiansen matchup for U.S. Senate — which has been unofficially brewing since Christiansen declared her intent to run for the seat late last year — became official Tuesday, with both candidates winning their party’s primary elections after running unopposed.
Cramer, the GOP nominee, is a first-term Senate incumbent. In 2018, in one of the nation's most closely watched races, he knocked off Sen. Heidi Heitkamp to win the seat. He was previously North Dakota’s lone U.S. House representative for three terms. He is the first Republican to hold the state’s junior U.S. Senate seat since 1960.
Christiansen will be the Democratic-NPL's Senate candidate for the second cycle in a row. She previously ran against incumbent Sen. John Hoeven in 2022, ultimately losing to Hoeven and garnering 25% of the vote in a three-way race that included former state legislator Rick Becker, who is running in the Republican primary for the state’s open U.S. House seat.
Christiansen claimed to thrive on her underdog status in an interview with The Forum earlier this year. She is an assistant engineering professor at the University of Jamestown.
Cramer, meanwhile, has reaped the benefits of a dominant North Dakota Republican Party he helped build as its longtime state director. Prior to serving in the U.S. House, Cramer was a Public Service Commissioner for nearly a decade. He is one of former President Donald Trump’s fiercest allies in Congress.
Christiansen nearly doubled Cramer’s fundraising totals during the most recent reporting period, raising over $350,000. Cramer, however, has a dominant cash-on-hand advantage going into the general election with $2.89 million in the bank as compared to Christiansen’s nearly $110,000.
U.S. senators serve six-year terms and are paid an annual salary of $174,000.
— by Tasha Carvell