I Hate Telling My Story, But It’s My Job
I am running for Senate to tell my story to all North Dakotans
My name is Katrina Christiansen, and I am the Democrat running to flip North Dakota blue.
Admittedly, I really, really, don’t like to tell my story.
I know full well that I’m saying this while many of you have seen my campaign video, Wolves, which dramatically tells the story of my upbringing and how I came to be running for U.S. Senate today.
It makes for a good video. It touched a lot of people who are hurting the same way I was, and it got us a lot of support in our fight to take back the power from the corporate interests and career politicians who have been ravaging our state.
But every time I open my mouth to tell my story—I default to talking about being an engineer, a professor, a problem-solver, a mother to three brilliant, funny children and a wife to the most loyal and charming fellow. But talking about growing-up in poverty is hard because I am forced to remember the shame and anxiety I felt as a kid. I have slowly started sharing it on the stump and the result is people coming up to me and sharing their stories. Stories growing up on a farm that struggled with 11 siblings. Stories of their families having to sell the farm.
And so while it is still hard to talk about what drives me to win this race, it is more important that other families don’t have to go through what my family did.
Making sure that the burden of debt is never heavy enough to crush a family just trying to get by.
Making sure that families have access to medical care that’s both affordable and available in their communities.
Making sure that when one family falls down, there’s a dozen more families that are ready to reach out and pick them back up again.
This is only possible when we have a government that is focused on serving people, and not corporate interests. This is why I’m running. This is why I keep fighting for you.
This is why I tell my story.
North Dakotans are suffering. We need leaders willing to put our interests first.
Democrats have a razor-thin Majority in the Senate. Senator Manchin’s retirement announcement has left our Majority hanging by a thread. Our race to flip this North Dakota Senate seat has never been more vital. I will vote to end the filibuster and codify Roe. We can win this race, and I have the polling to prove it.
Our campaign recently commissioned our first internal poll and results were eye-opening. Some top lines are:
The initial head-to-head has me at 29% and Cramer at 54%. This is to be expected as less than one-third of voters have even heard of me. But we closed the gap 10 points since the Emerson poll in October without a penny spent in paid media, showing significant potential.
Only 33% of voters want to reelect Senator Cramer, 54% want to replace or will consider someone else.
Only 42% view Cramer favorably, and 45% viewing him unfavorably. 24% of Republicans don’t approve of the job he is doing.
When hearing positive messages for both candidates, I take the lead, 45% to 43%.
When negative messages are incorporated, the final ballot has the race tied at 40% each.
Chip in any amount today, let’s flip North Dakota’s senate seat, and show the country that we are viable and ready to win.
Thank you for everything,
Katrina
I never contribute to out-of-state candidates. You are my one-time-only exception. Your video was powerful and perfectly on target.
I hope other Democratic candidates will pick up on this kind of statement of purpose. A perfect message, perfectly expressed.