Trump courts a key Democratic senator in his push for tax reform

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a speech on tax reform during an event with workers at the Andeavor Refinery in Mandan, North Dakota, U.S., September 6, 2017. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Thomson Reuters

MANDAN, N.D. (AP) — President Donald Trump is making an overt pitch for Democrats to support his tax overhaul plan.

On Wednesday, he singled out a North Dakota Democratic senator whose vote would be prized by the White House.

Delivering an outdoor speech to a crowd of hundreds at an oil refinery Wednesday, Trump called for the state's governor and congressional delegation to join him on stage, including Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, the only statewide elected Democrat in heavily Republican North Dakota.

Heitkamp, up for re-election next year, flew in with Trump aboard Air Force One as he sought to frame the tax overhaul as a "once-in-a-generation" opportunity to cut taxes and simplify the tax code.

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