Politics
Elections
On January 10,2022,Heilman announced his candidacy in the 2022 election to represent the 7th district in the North Dakota House of Representatives,citing the prevention and elimination of employer-instituted vaccine mandates as his primary motivation. [6] He won the Republican primary with 34.7% of the vote and won the general election unopposed. [7]
Tenure
In July 2022,Heilman spoke at the far-right State of the Movement conference presented by Vince Dao's organization,American Virtue. [1]
In August 2022,Heilman was revealed to be a member of a Telegram group called the North Dakota Young Republicans which "frequently featured bigoted slurs and white supremacist tropes" in its messages between members,including personal attacks against gay public figures and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. [2]
In December 2022,Heilman re-Tweeted a post calling the Jewish President of Ukraine,Volodymyr Zelenskyy,the "anti-Christ" for "actively [persecuting] Russian and Ukrainian Christians. [8]
During the 2025 legislative session,Heilman was the primary sponsor of the second-most amount of bills with 17,of which three passed. [9]
Heilman routinely shares,likes,and interacts with online content shared by white nationalists. [10]
Political positions
Cryptocurrency
In January 2025,Heilman and seven other legislators introduced Resolution 3001,which aimed to invest "select state funds in digital assets and precious metals". [11]
Education
Heilman supported House Bill 1494,which aimed at making school meals more accessible to students and overwhelmingly passed into law. [12]
In March 2023,while speaking in support of a bill,Heilman claimed that "at different universities throughout the state,[students have] had professors telling them that white people should feel guilty about past treatment of slaves or Native Americans". [13]
In January 2025,Heilman sponsored House Bill 1607,which sought to use state funds for private school tuitions. The bill was overwhelmingly rejected by the House,16 to 71. [14] [15]
Gun rights
Heilman introduced House Bill 1404,a bill to allow university students to carry weapons on campus,stating,"If [students] were carrying,it would be a great deterrent for people who want to commit violent acts against them". [16]
In January 2025,Heilman proposed House Bill 1411,which sought to ban the use of red flag laws. [17]
Hate crimes
Heilman introduced House Bill 1273,aimed at prohibiting state or local governments from creating policies that limit free speech,including hate crime ordinances. The bill was overwhelmingly rejected by the House,20 to 73. [18]
LGBTQ rights
During the 2023 legislative session,Heilman voted in favor of every anti-LGBTQ bill proposed. [23] In January 2025,he co-sponsored House Bill 1430, [24] which sought to legalize conversion therapy,drawing criticism from both sides of the aisle. [25]
Religion
In January 2025,Heilman proposed House Bill 1150,which sought to reinstate portions of North Dakota's blue law to prohibit all retail stores to open on Sunday mornings. In a committee hearing,he said that he did not think people should have to “jump hurdles”to practice their religion and that there are "more important matters in life" than economics. [26] The bill was overwhelmingly rejected in the House,89 to 4,after receiving extensive criticism. [27] Rob Port of The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead wrote that "[the] bill went down in flames,the margin evidence of how impotent the bill's sponsor is as a lawmaker," adding that "bills obsessing over things like... imposing Christian doctrine on the public may be facing headwinds in Bismarck that they haven't in previous sessions." [28]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
