Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) is ready for Hillary Clinton to get out of the spotlight.
Heitkamp said on a North Dakota radio show Tuesday that Clinton can’t leave politics soon enough, in an interview reported by CNN. Speaking to her brother Joel Heitkamp, a host with the KFGO radio station, the senator affirmed that Clinton should "ride off into the sunset."
"When does Hillary Clinton ride off into the sunset?" the host asked.
"I don't know, not soon enough, I guess," Heitkamp replied. "Not soon enough."
"She’s bashing the middle of this country and my state again," the host said. "I don’t need her to do that."
Clinton made news again Saturday when she said Donald Trump’s "backwards" campaign appealed to people who produce less economically and "don’t like black people getting rights."
"I won the places that represent two-thirds of America's gross domestic product," Clinton said. "So I won the places that are optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving forward. And his whole campaign, 'Make America Great Again,' was looking backwards. You know, 'You didn't like black people getting rights, you don't like women getting jobs, you don't want to, you know, see that Indian-American succeeding more than you are. Whatever your problem is, I'm going to solve it.'"
Heitkamp endorsed Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, but she did criticize the candidate when she said half of Trump's supporters belong in a "basket of deplorables."
Many Democrats were quick to denounce Clinton’s recent comments, including other Democratic senators in states that voted for Trump.
"Oh, come on," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) said, "You're killing me here."
"Those are kind of fighting words for me because I’m partial to Missouri voters," McCaskill also said.
"I don't really care what she said," Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D.) said. "I just think that that's not helpful."
Immediately after denouncing Clinton’s comments, the host asked his sister about former Vice President Joe Biden’s recent trip to North Dakota.
"He’s a good man," he said, calling him "blue-collar Joe."
"He’s a great guy," Heitkamp added.
"I want to be able to explain why I was the one Heitkamp who wasn’t there when you were sworn in," he said about Heitkamp's 2013 swearing-in.