Freshman Introductions: Elizabeth Warren and Heidi Heitkamp

Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)

Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) of Massachusetts became the first female to represent the Commonwealth in the Senate with her victory this past November over Scott Brown. Before being elected, Warren served as a Harvard Law School professor specializing in bankruptcy law and personal finance. Warren gained national prominence as a consumer protection advocate which led to her being appointed to help setup the new U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2010. Warren, however, was not tapped as the bureaus new director due to strong opposition from both Wall St. and congressional Republicans. Liberal groups were extremely upset with President Obama who was unwilling to fight a nomination battle with Senate Republicans. In late 2008, Warren was appointed by Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid to chair the Congressional Oversight Panel which oversaw the implementation of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (TARP oversight). Warren was assigned a seat on the Senate Banking Committee.

Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)

When incumbent Democratic Senator Kent Conrad decided to retire, it was thought as if it were a lost cause for Democrats to retain control of the seat. However, in the closest Senate Election of the year Heidi Heitkamp defeated Rick Berg by a mere 2,994 votes; less than 1% of the total vote. Heidi is a native of North Dakota and earned her B.A. from the University of North Dakota before attending law school at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon. After college, she worked as an attorney for the EPA and for the North Dakota Tax Commissioner’s office. When her boss Kent Conrad decided to run for US Senate, Heitkamp ran for his job -- North Dakota Tax Commissioner. She easily won the election garnering 65% of the vote. In 1992, she decided to run for State Attorney General and was easily elected to the position where she would serve until 2000 when she lost her bid to become governor to now fellow senator John Hoeven. Between her run for senate and her failed Governor bid she served as director of the Dakota Gasification Company.

She is a fairly moderate Democrat whose views fit perfectly in a Red State such as North Dakota. She is in favor of the Keystone Pipeline, yet opposes Fracking. She supports Obamcare, but thinks there are many parts that need to be re-written. She supports a Balanced Budget Amendment and the Buffet Rule.