Kevin John Cramer[1] (born January 21, 1961) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator for North Dakota since 2019.

[13] He was elected to a six-year term on the Public Service Commission in 2004, defeating NPL nominee Ron Gumeringer, 65–35%.

[14] In 2010, Cramer was reelected to a second term on the Public Service Commission, defeating Democratic nominee Brad Crabtree 61–35%.

[18] On January 14, Cramer announced that he would run for North Dakota's seat in the United States House of Representatives for a third time in the 2010 election.

[19] In early 2010, he appeared at North Dakota town hall meetings, where he opposed the Affordable Care Act.

[20] Cramer attended numerous Tea Party rallies in North Dakota, speaking about energy, taxes, jobs and the U.S.

He was unopposed in the primary[29] and defeated Democratic-NPL nominee Chase Iron Eyes, a Native American activist, in the general election with 69% of the vote.

[32][33] In 2013 Cramer condemned the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade and tied an uptick in mass shootings to the legalization of abortion and a decline in religious values.

There is no question, there is a disease associated with the notion that a bunch of women would wear bad-looking white pantsuits in solidarity with Hillary Clinton to celebrate her loss.

"[40] In June 2020, Cramer blocked bipartisan legislation to sanction China over its actions to undermine Hong Kong's independence—legislation he had co-sponsored—because the Trump administration requested that he do so.

[41] On May 28, 2021, Cramer voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the 2021 United States Capitol attack.

"[46] He supports an increase in oil and gas drilling on public lands and cutting taxes for energy producers, and opposes what he characterizes as overreach by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

[48] In June 2023, Cramer was the lead Republican sponsor of the PROVE IT Act, which would direct the United States Department of Energy to collect data on the greenhouse gas intensity of certain goods made in the United States and other countries, data that could enable trade policy addressing international disparities in environmental standards.

"[54] Cramer opposes the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") and voted to repeal it without a replacement five times.

[57] Cramer has said that the American Health Care Act of 2017, the Republican bill he supported to repeal and replace Obamacare, would have prevented "price discrimination" against people with preexisting conditions; The Washington Post fact-checker called this assertion false.

[67] He supports Trump's 25% tax on many types of imports, which may have decreased sales for North Dakota's soybean industry in 2018, but has said he believes the long-term benefits of a trade war are worth it.

[68][69] In 2013, at a forum on the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), Cramer engaged in "a testy exchange with Native American victim assistance leaders.

[70] Cramer voted to reauthorize VAWA,[72] but opposed language in the act that would allow tribal courts to prosecute non-Natives "for abusing or assaulting Native American women on Indian land.

[84] Cramer later publicly criticized White House staff and argued that Trump was refraining because Heitkamp was a woman.

[64] In an eight-question survey for the group, Cramer said he would oppose "'Transgender Bathrooms' legislation and regulations—which have the effect of encouraging and protecting pedophiles".

'"[64] Cramer supported requiring schools to teach that there are only two genders and granting Christian businesses the right to not service same-sex weddings.

[86] The next month, a spokesperson for the political network organized by the Koch brothers announced that they would not financially support Cramer's campaign because the brothers viewed him as insufficiently supportive of free trade and fiscal conservatism, and because they felt he held other views inconsistent with theirs.

[91] The same year, he held up the confirmation of a White House budget official in order to get the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to release sensitive documents about border wall construction.

[92] Cramer had pushed the Army Corps to use a North Dakota firm run by his 2018 campaign donor Tommy Fisher.

Cramer said, "I don’t have any concerns about it other than just politically how it appears", and praised Trump for the "tremendous integrity in his boldness and his transparency" in deciding to select his own property for the summit.

[99][100] In December 2019, at Trump's request, Cramer cast the only vote against a Senate motion to recognize the Armenian genocide, passage of which required unanimous consent.

[101][102] Senator Lindsey Graham had voted against such a motion previously, but refused to do so after Trump withdrew of a contingent of U.S. troops, allowing the Turks to attack the US's Kurdish allies who had rolled back the Islamic State in Syria's forces.

[109][110] In May 2022, Cramer expressed support for former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's potential candidacy in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

The injury required immediate surgery and he remained in North Dakota due to a high risk of infection and the possible need for finger amputation.

[124] After the event, Senator Cramer said that Ian "suffers from serious mental disorders which manifest in severe paranoia and hallucinations".