Heidi Heitkamp never thought about what would happen the day after the election. She was thinking about how fast the year of campaigning had gone and was working hard for the last few weeks. “Part of that was the experience I had running for governor, I’ve had my hopes dashed before,” she said. “You don’t take anything for granted, just go as hard as you can and then wait to see what the results are. The campaign was hard work, and then after getting elected I had to turn around and immediately start pulling together a staff, figure out where we were headed with issues. It wasn’t like getting re-elected, where everything is in place and you can have a little down time.”

Down time has not been on Heitkamp’s agenda in 2013. She said she worked as hard the first five months after the election as she did during the campaign, getting to know the issues surrounding the committees she was assigned to, deciding what her priorities would be within those committees and figuring out what to do with things that come up unexpectedly, like the President requesting to use military force in Syria. “Syria is a great example of how you can be on a path with your priorities and be taken completely off course by something enormous that needs to be taken seriously,” she explained. “I was going to meet with health care organizations (in ND) that week, but flew back to D.C. to do briefings on Syria and make sure I had all the information I needed to make such an important decision.”

After getting that information, Heitkamp came out against the military strike proposed by President Obama. ....................