Sen. Heidi Heitkamp apologized Tuesday for misidentifying victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape who were listed in a recent North Dakota newspaper ad aimed at her opponent.
The Democrat, who is facing a tough race for re-election, said in a statement that she had recently learned that several of the women named in the ad either hadn’t authorized it or are not survivors of abuse.
Heitkamp, who was clearly emotional on the talk show, apologized several times for the ad, which she said she hadn’t seen before publication. She said she was reaching out to those affected by it but would understand if they didn’t want to talk to her.
Heidi knows that her campaign screwed up big-time and that this was potentially a whole lot more than a mere mistake.. She knows that because one of the women explained it to her.
Lexi Zhorela told The Associated Press that she learned of the ad Monday night
“I’m furious,” the 24-year-old hairdresser and single mother from Bismarck said. “I know I’m not the only woman hurt by this.”
Zhorela said she was listed in the ad because she had been tagged by a friend in a Facebook post who knew she had been the victim of sexual assault.
“I have only shared my story with a couple of people in confidence,” she said. “I didn’t want it blasted for the world to see.”
Zhorela said she had intended to vote for Heitkamp in November but will “definitely not now.”
UPDATE: This may have been an honest mistake. But unfortunately for Heitkamp, honest mistakes don't exist in American politics anymore.
UPDATE: It gets worse and worse.
2 comments:
I appreciate that this was a staff mistake, and not probably something Heitcamp did personally. However, it should be standard practice for publicists to get permission to use names and faces. Democrats evidently only think of people as political tools and not as people.
To Heitcamp's credit, she has issued a full, actual apology, not a weasel fake apology.
Yup (on the update). Some of these women live in small towns, and their privacy has been violated, with results that may linger.
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