Heidi Heitkamp apologizes for ad that mistakenly identified women as abuse survivors

The Heitkamp campaign, looking to slam Rep. Kevin Cramer, her Republican opponent, for suggesting "tough people" do not identify with the national conversation around sexual assault and the treatment of women, ran an open letter to Cramer to show him "what prairie tough looks like."

The letter featured over 120 names at the bottom, but at least three women have come forward to say they were either included without their permission or were not survivors of "domestic violence, sexual assault, or rape," as specified in the letter.

In response, Heitkamp admitted the mistake and said she was "personally apologizing" to each person impacted.

"We recently discovered that several of the women's names who were provided to us did not authorize their names to be shared or were not survivors of abuse, Heitkamp said in a statement. "I deeply regret this mistake and we are in the process of issuing a retraction, personally apologizing to each of the people impacted by this and taking the necessary steps to ensure this never happens again."

Heitkamp's bid for reelection in a state that President Donald Trump won by 36 percentage points in 2016 has been an uphill climb from the start, despite the fact that Cramer has made a number of comments that have caused Republicans in Washington to cringe. A series of recent polls have found Cramer up on Heitkamp, including a recent Fox News survey that found him with a 12-percentage point lead -- 53 to 41.

The reaction to the ad was started by Kady Miller, one of the women identified at the bottom of the open letter.

"I don't even support Heidi Heitkamp and I am not a domestic abuse survivor," she wrote on Facebook with a photo of the ad.

Miller, reached by CNN on Tuesday, said that she was not a Heitkamp supporter and did not believe a personal apology from the senator would make amends.

"What's done is done and I don't think she can even get out of this one or fix it in any way," she said. "Our names have already been published in multiple newspapers."

Lexi Zhorela, another woman named on the list, also responded that she did not give permission to have her name published.

"I am beyond furious," she wrote. "There are so many woman (sic) in this list including myself that have been victims of sexual adult (sic) -- and more of us probably didn't want our name (sic) to be spread across the news for everyone to see."

She added: "I will not stand for this."

Zhorela, in an interview with CNN, said that she and "many other women on this list" were "very publicly humiliated on more than one level."

She added that a representative from the campaign has contacted her and said she will receive a personal phone call apology from the senator, but that the call has yet to happen.

"That doesn't really do justice to the hurt this has caused not just me but many women that were wrongfully put in this situation," she said.

Zhorela said she was a liberal and had planned to back Heitkamp.

"That has changed," she added.

Other women who posted on Facebook did not respond when CNN contacted them.

A Heitkamp aide told CNN that the campaign worked with victims' advocates in North Dakota on the ad and the list of women.

Heitkamp, in response to the controversy, blanketed the radio waves with a series of interviews on Tuesday. In one emotional interview with WZFG, Heitkamp said that the criticism of her campaign was "legitimate" and that she took responsibility for the issue.

I feel "horrible and mad and angry and furious and ready to tell someone 'what were you thinking,' why is this happening, how could you have been this irresponsible," she said. "I have gone through all of that exactly how you set it out, 'what if this was my daughter, what is this was my son, how would I react to this?'"

She added: "I don't think anyone is perfect in the world and sometimes when you are on a big stage you can make big mistakes, and I think our campaign made a big mistake and we need to own it and we need to fix it."

Republicans quickly highlighted the story, with Cramer calling the ad a "revictimization of victims," according to local media.

"Eager to save her failing campaign, Heidi Heitkamp has stooped to a new low," Michael McAdams, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee said in an email.

"This is another example of Heidi Heitkamp exploiting whoever she can for political gain," said Jake Wilkins, Communications Director for the North Dakota Republican Party. "With a campaign built on lies, misinformation, and manufactured controversy, it's no wonder Heitkamp is the most vulnerable Senator in the country."