Visiting Grand Forks, Katrina Christiansen talks Senate campaign cash, Kevin Cramer's Trump defense

Published by The Grand Forks Herald | June 9, 2024

GRAND FORKS – Canvassing eastern North Dakota ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Katrina Christiansen says the biggest concern for North Dakota voters is accessing the American Dream.

“Whether you’re a teacher or a senior citizen or a railroad worker, being able to afford housing and food, and then the things that you as an individual want to invest in, that's all we can really ask for,” she said. “Everybody wants that and it seems harder and harder for people to achieve.”

Christiansen focused on issues like inflation and affordable housing as she spoke to Grand Forks voters in University Park at Sunday’s ArtFest.

The Democratic Senate candidate has hit 10 cities in the last six days as she gears up for her Nov. 5 matchup with Republican incumbent Kevin Cramer.

Christiansen faces an uphill battle against Cramer, a 40-year insider from the state’s dominant political party.

For one, he has a war chest 28 times as large as hers: May FEC filings show Christiansen with $109,668 in cash on hand, compared to Cramer’s $2.89 million, though Christiansen has actually outraised Cramer in the pre-primary reporting period and during the first quarter of the year.

Christiansen has also spent much of the $776,288 she’s raised.

“That digital fundraising infrastructure is really important to having a successful campaign and we’ve made those investments,” she said. “We have expenses. We’re not the incumbent. Facebook ad buys, mailers, all of those help us.”

She said her campaign was focused on building a grassroots donor base, saying her campaign had over 25,000 donors with an average donation under $20 and hoped to grow that donor base “exponentially.”

Christiansen also said her campaign was not banking on support from the national Democratic Party’s fundraising arm as the party faces challenges to several Senate incumbents nationwide.

She also took a shot at Cramer for his attack on the outcome of former President Donald Trump’s New York recent trial, where the Republican presidential candidate was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

In a Facebook post published shortly after the verdict, Cramer called the case a “kangaroo court in a third-world city” overseen by a “corrupt judge.” The post also attacked the prosecution and witnesses to the case and called to “de-weaponize our justice system.”

Christiansen called Cramer’s remarks inflammatory and dangerous, particularly in a post-Jan. 6 political environment.

“I’m not surprised by his sycophancy,” Christiansen said. “He knows his record’s not strong and he has to run on the coattails of someone like President Trump. That’s the only way he’s successful: he’s always failed upwards.”

Christiansen acknowledged, as she has in the past, that she’s fighting an uphill battle.

She repeated a comparison she’s made before to former North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat, who overcame a 30-point deficit to defeat a first-term Republican in 1986.

“We’re trying to change the narrative in North Dakota, meet people where they are and close that 30-point gap by showing people I’m interested in the things they care about,” she said.

— By Joshua Irvine