Commentary: States Must Act Now to Save Rural Lives from Fentanyl Crisis

Heidi Heitkamp

Across rural America, the expanding crisis of fentanyl-fueled overdoses is ravaging a generation. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fentanyl deaths in the U.S. have tripled since 2016, and initial data from 2022 indicates that synthetic opioids cause about 90% of all opioid overdose deaths – which translates to nearly 75,000 Americans killed in that year alone. Rural communities, where hundreds of hospitals have already closed and more are on the chopping block, are bearing the additional weight of overdoses. We need states to do more to protect Americans and ensure access to all overdose reversal agents that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. Hidden in counterfeit prescription pharmaceuticals like Adderall, Xanax, and Oxycontin, it’s so lethal that just two milligrams, the size of a pencil tip, can kill. 

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Heitkamp Spreads False Claim Suggesting Hunters Could Lose License if They Vote

by Chris White   Democratic North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp appeared to endorse a false claim from the state’s Democratic Party suggesting that citizens would lose their out-of-state license to hunt if they vote in this year’s election. “Voting means you are a resident, it means you pay taxes here, it means that if you want a residential hunting license in Minnesota, it means you’re not going to get that, if you vote here,” Heitkamp told a gaggle of reporters Saturday. She was responding to a question about a Facebook ad from the Democratic Party warning North Dakota hunters that they might be forced to forfeit their out-of-state licenses if they vote in this election. “If you want to keep your out-of-state hunting licenses, you may not want to vote in North Dakota,” the ad notes, before linking to a website on the party’s website that makes similar warnings. “You MUST be a resident of North Dakota to vote here. And if you are a resident of North Dakota, you may lose hunting licenses you have in other states,” the website said. PolitiFact rated the claim a “Pants on Fire,” meaning the ad was likely designed to discourage people from voting.…

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These Are the Biggest Democrat Campaign Ad Fails of the Midterms

by Evie Fordham   Candidates have spent major money on advertisements to tell voters why they are the right choice — in fact, the Center for Responsive Politics predicted Monday that Democrats and Republicans will spend more than $5.2 billion this election cycle, making it the most expensive ever. However, these politicians might wish they had not wasted funds on these ads. Heidi Heitkamp’s Ad Gets A Politifact Takedown Democratic North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp ran an ad claiming that her Republican challenger Kevin Cramer gave himself a $23,000 raise while serving on the state’s Public Service Commission. PolitiFact rated the claim “False” Oct. 8. “Cramer did get raises totalling that amount. But the ad completely distorts Cramer’s hand in securing the pay increase,” PolitiFact explained. North Dakota’s governor collaborates with the state Office of Management and Budget to establish commissioners’ salaries, which are approved by the Legislative Assembly, according to PolitiFact. Other officials including North Dakota’s governor, secretary of state and state auditor received proportionally similar pay hikes. [ RELATED: The Midterm Elections Are One Week From Today — Here’s What You Can Expect ] Cramer is currently polling about 12 points above Heitkamp, according to RealClear Politics. Claire McCaskill’s…

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Heitkamp Now Trails Cramer By 16 Points After Numerous Campaign ‘Missteps’

A new poll shows that Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) now has a staggering 16-point lead over incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) in North Dakota’s Senate race. According to a recent poll conducted by KVLY, KFYR, and Strategic Research Associates, Cramer leads Heitkamp 56 percent to 40 percent among likely voters. Of those voters, just 37 percent have a favorable opinion of the incumbent, compared to 53 percent who view the Republican favorably. The number of voters who view Heitkamp unfavorably has increased from 41 percent to 52 percent since September—before she voted against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. “Senator Heitkamp appears to have been hurt by her vote against Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court as well as subsequent campaign missteps widely covered in the media,” Strategic Research Associates Partner James Henson commented. According to the poll, North Dakota voters ranked Kavanaugh’s nomination the fourth most important issue heading into the midterms. Among Heitkamp’s “missteps” was her recent outing of numerous sexual-assault victims without their consent in an open letter to her Republican opponent. Heitkamp published the letter in an effort to paint Cramer as unsympathetic to the concerns of 120 victims who signed the letter, though many…

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Heitkamp Apologizes for Running Ad Naming Alleged Sexual Assault Survivors Without Their Permission

by Grace Carr   North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp apologized Tuesday for publishing a Sunday ad listing alleged sexual assault survivors, a number of whom said they had not given their permission to be in the ad or were not survivors of sexual assault. “I deeply regret this mistake and we are in the process of issuing a retraction, personally apologizing to each of the people impacted by this and taking the necessary steps to ensure this never happens again,” Heitkamp said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. Formulated as an open letter to North Dakota Republican Rep. Kevin Cramer, the ad named a myriad of women as “survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, or rape.” Shortly after the ad appeared, a number of women posted on Facebook that they had not given their consent to be named in the ad. Women named Kady Miller, Keeley Beck, Lexi Zhorela and Eve Lancaster are among those who say they did not give their consent to be listed in the campaign ad. “I definitely want to clarify right away that I am NOT a domestic/sexual assault survivor,” a woman, identifying herself as Miller, told The Daily Caller News Foundation in a message. “I’ve never supported Heitkamp and…

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