John Hoeven, Eliot Glassheim spar over 'support' for Donald Trump

U.S. Sen. John Hoeven caught flak this week for his stance on the presidential election process -- specifically, his commitment to “support,” but not endorse, the GOP’s nominee.
 State Rep. Eliot Glassheim, a Democrat running to unseat Hoeven this fall, renewed calls this week for Hoeven to clarify his position. “Exactly what part of Donald Trump’s agenda does Senator Hoeven support? Does Sen. Hoeven support lowering wages for working families? Does he support kicking 11 million people out of the country and tearing families apart – families who pay taxes and pay into the Social Security system?” Glassheim said in a prepared statement. “Does he support withdrawing American participation in NATO and allowing nuclear weapons to proliferate?” Glassheim’s campaign pointed to a May 20 Washington Post piece headlined “The 10 most tortured Republican responses to Donald Trump” that mentions Hoeven under item No. 4, calling support without an endorsement “a distinction without a difference,” and pointing out that Merriam-Webster’s definition of the word “endorse” actually includes the word support. “When Sen. Hoeven says he’ll support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, North Dakotans deserve to know which part of Trump’s reckless agenda Hoeven will support in Washington, DC,” Glassheim continued. Asked for comment on Glassheim’s statement, which included a link to the Washington Post piece, a representative of Hoeven’s campaign e-mailed the following: “Eliot Glassheim wants to criticize Sen. Hoeven for supporting Donald Trump for President, but Glassheim has said he will support either Socialist Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton,” the statement read in part. “Both Sanders and Clinton have said they oppose hydraulic fracturing and the use of coal, which will devastate our energy industry. They would weaken our second amendment rights, and favor higher taxes, more regulation and the same big government approach of the Obama administration.” The back-and-forth between the candidates has been playing out since shortly after the Indiana primary, when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich suspended their campaigns and left the path clear for Trump to clinch the GOP nomination. When asked about the matter directly -- and why he endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election cycle, but hasn’t used the word now -- Hoeven reiterated that he’s been consistent in his message about this election cycle’s GOP nominee. “I’m supporting him, I’ve said that consistently,” he said. “I’ve used the term ‘support’ because we’re running our own campaign. Some people have used ‘support’ and ‘endorse’ … We’re working our own campaign. I’ve been consistent saying I’ll support our nominee and I’ll support him.” The Washington Post piece cited by Glassheim suggests that Hoeven’s decision to “support” a nominee runs parallel to a broader group of Republican legislators that are hesitant to get too close to Trump’s policies and his lack of popularity among millennials, women and minorities. The article noted that “not one Senate Republican up for reelection has wholeheartedly embraced their party’s presumptive nominee.” Asked about the suggestion, a member of Hoeven’s campaign staff declined to add anything to the Hoeven camp’s prior statement. Glassheim’s remarks also come as Trump both clinched the GOP nomination and visited North Dakota on Thursday to speak at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference. U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer, the lone North Dakotan Republican in the House, has endorsed Trump, appeared with him shortly before his speech and has become an energy adviser for his campaign. Earlier this year, Trump won a straw poll organized by Cramer which the representative said would influence his endorsement decision. Across the aisle Asked about Hoeven’s stance on Trump, U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, said that she can only speak for her own approach to the campaign. Asked about her level of concern for the bombast in Trump’s bid for the presidency, Heitkamp, who supports Hillary Clinton, added that she’d like to move to a new phase in the campaign soon, mentioning multiple candidates in her response. “I’d like to get to the part in this campaign when we actually see what either candidate would be doing in terms of public policy,” she said. “We aren’t there.”   A May 16 piece published in Politico suggests that Heidi’s stance is a calculated one. In a state that has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1968, the piece suggests that it’s “good politics” to take it easy on the real estate mogul. A quote from Heitkamp in which she speculates working with a President Trump is used to buttress the point. “If Donald Trump is elected president there will be a great opportunity to sit down and have a conversation about what that agenda looks like,” Heitkamp is quoted as saying. “If he’s president, we’re going to have disagreement. But we’d better all figure out how to come up with an agenda for the American people.” Asked about the suggestion, a member of Heitkamp’s staff referred a Herald reporter to the senator’s earlier comments. Alongside general calls for more focused policy talk, Heitkamp was willing to press for more substantive answers specifically from Trump, though. In remarks prior to Trump’s visit to Bismarck, she said that she hasn’t heard the candidate refine his ideas, calling for clearer energy policy in particular. “I always get the sense that every answer is so thin that I don’t know what those answers mean, and I hope that what he says (in Bismarck) isn’t thin,” she said of Trump. “I hope it has real substance to it.” Herald Reporter John Hageman contributed to this report. U.S. Sen. John Hoeven caught flak this week for his stance on the presidential election process -- specifically, his commitment to “support,” but not endorse, the GOP’s nominee.
 State Rep. Eliot Glassheim, a Democrat running to unseat Hoeven this fall, renewed calls this week for Hoeven to clarify his position. “Exactly what part of Donald Trump’s agenda does Senator Hoeven support? Does Sen. Hoeven support lowering wages for working families? Does he support kicking 11 million people out of the country and tearing families apart – families who pay taxes and pay into the Social Security system?” Glassheim said in a prepared statement. “Does he support withdrawing American participation in NATO and allowing nuclear weapons to proliferate?”Glassheim’s campaign pointed to a May 20 Washington Post piece headlined “The 10 most tortured Republican responses to Donald Trump” that mentions Hoeven under item No. 4, calling support without an endorsement “a distinction without a difference,” and pointing out that Merriam-Webster’s definition of the word “endorse” actually includes the word support. “When Sen. Hoeven says he’ll support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, North Dakotans deserve to know which part of Trump’s reckless agenda Hoeven will support in Washington, DC,” Glassheim continued. Asked for comment on Glassheim’s statement, which included a link to the Washington Post piece, a representative of Hoeven’s campaign e-mailed the following:“Eliot Glassheim wants to criticize Sen. Hoeven for supporting Donald Trump for President, but Glassheim has said he will support either Socialist Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton,” the statement read in part. “Both Sanders and Clinton have said they oppose hydraulic fracturing and the use of coal, which will devastate our energy industry. They would weaken our second amendment rights, and favor higher taxes, more regulation and the same big government approach of the Obama administration.”The back-and-forth between the candidates has been playing out since shortly after the Indiana primary, when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich suspended their campaigns and left the path clear for Trump to clinch the GOP nomination.When asked about the matter directly -- and why he endorsed Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election cycle, but hasn’t used the word now -- Hoeven reiterated that he’s been consistent in his message about this election cycle’s GOP nominee.“I’m supporting him, I’ve said that consistently,” he said. “I’ve used the term ‘support’ because we’re running our own campaign. Some people have used ‘support’ and ‘endorse’ … We’re working our own campaign. I’ve been consistent saying I’ll support our nominee and I’ll support him.” The Washington Post piece cited by Glassheim suggests that Hoeven’s decision to “support” a nominee runs parallel to a broader group of Republican legislators that are hesitant to get too close to Trump’s policies and his lack of popularity among millennials, women and minorities. The article noted that “not one Senate Republican up for reelection has wholeheartedly embraced their party’s presumptive nominee.” Asked about the suggestion, a member of Hoeven’s campaign staff declined to add anything to the Hoeven camp’s prior statement.Glassheim’s remarks also come as Trump both clinched the GOP nomination and visited North Dakota on Thursday to speak at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference. U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer, the lone North Dakotan Republican in the House, has endorsed Trump, appeared with him shortly before his speech and has become an energy adviser for his campaign. Earlier this year, Trump won a straw poll organized by Cramer which the representative said would influence his endorsement decision.Across the aisleAsked about Hoeven’s stance on Trump, U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, said that she can only speak for her own approach to the campaign. Asked about her level of concern for the bombast in Trump’s bid for the presidency, Heitkamp, who supports Hillary Clinton, added that she’d like to move to a new phase in the campaign soon, mentioning multiple candidates in her response.“I’d like to get to the part in this campaign when we actually see what either candidate would be doing in terms of public policy,” she said. “We aren’t there.”  A May 16 piece published in Politico suggests that Heidi’s stance is a calculated one. In a state that has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1968, the piece suggests that it’s “good politics” to take it easy on the real estate mogul. A quote from Heitkamp in which she speculates working with a President Trump is used to buttress the point.“If Donald Trump is elected president there will be a great opportunity to sit down and have a conversation about what that agenda looks like,” Heitkamp is quoted as saying. “If he’s president, we’re going to have disagreement. But we’d better all figure out how to come up with an agenda for the American people.”Asked about the suggestion, a member of Heitkamp’s staff referred a Herald reporter to the senator’s earlier comments.Alongside general calls for more focused policy talk, Heitkamp was willing to press for more substantive answers specifically from Trump, though. In remarks prior to Trump’s visit to Bismarck, she said that she hasn’t heard the candidate refine his ideas, calling for clearer energy policy in particular.“I always get the sense that every answer is so thin that I don’t know what those answers mean, and I hope that what he says (in Bismarck) isn’t thin,” she said of Trump. “I hope it has real substance to it.”Herald Reporter John Hageman contributed to this report.