President Donald Trump, reportedly tried to persuade a Democratic senator to become a Republican before he was sworn into office, The Washington Post reports.
"When I visited with him in Trump Tower before he was sworn in, he asked me to switch parties," Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., told the Post on Tuesday.
In December 2016, Heitkamp met with Trump while she was possibly under consideration for his Cabinet. The two talked about deregulation and various other interests when Trump said to Heitkamp, "'You should switch parties,'" according to the senator.
"I said, 'You should give me an Ex-Im bank,'" Heitkamp said she replied, with a laugh, in a reference to the Export-Import Bank of the United States, an agency she hoped to improve.
"I just laughed," she added. "I think he knows it's not going to happen," she said of switching parties.
Heitkamp is currently facing a difficult reelection campaign, her main challenger is a close ally of the president's, Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.C., in a state Trump won by about 36 points in 2016.
Last summer, Trump apparently convinced West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Democrat who defected from the GOP, to switch back to a Republican, according to New York Magazine.
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