person behind the
with Kevin
West Acres Mall is not affiliated with any political stance or position.
Cramer
BY Alexandra Martin PHOTOS BY Hillary Ehlen
Tell us a little bit about yourself outside of politics. Is there a me outside of politics? [laughs] Yes. Outside of the political realm I have three things that I just love to be. Husband to my wife, father to my children and, I have to admit, one of my favorite things of all time is being a grandfather. I have four grandchildren and one on the way. So when I’m in the state, the thing I look forward to the most is going home, home to my house. When I say I’m home, my wife Kris thinks that means I’m in North Dakota the state, but "home" is my house with my grandbabies coming over to to play ball with me. Our whole family is in North Dakota and so outside of politics, it’s all about being a grandfather- "Papa" as they call me. You come from a larger family and have grown quite a family yourself. What’s it like balancing your work with the family matters that are so important to you? It’s the hardest thing, the hardest part of the whole job. It’s the greatest sacrifice public servants make I sometimes think. I used to think people didn’t have full appreciation for how much politicians sacrifice, particularly when you’re going back and forth to Washington every week. By far it is the hardest thing. 44 | SEPTEMBER 2018 | FARGOMONTHLY.COM
So one of the things I do is about my cell phone. I don’t look at my phone until I’m ready to start the day. I try and get my first couple of hours in before I check my emails and text messages and things like that. I try to just put the phone away at times, otherwise you’re always on, you’re always accessible. One way I protect the family things is that my wife is my scheduler. I have a scheduler in Washington, but anything that’s outside of Washington D.C., Kris handles for me. By having someone who knows what’s important to me, and also important to her, I count on her to protect my time with my family. So that’s the best discipline I think I’ve probably distilled in my public life, is having her as my scheduler. I see that you’re from small-town Kindred, North Dakota, what are the benefits and drawbacks of living and growing up in a small town? Good ol’ Kindred. You know, they’re all benefits as far as I can tell. I think that the sense of community - and that’s kind of a North Dakota thing no matter where you grew up - but I think growing up in a town as small as Kindred, you really need each other and you rely on each other. Not having to lock your doors or worry about your children playing out in the yard
Rapid round
There’s so much more to a politician than just what they say behind a podium or what they write behind desks in Washington D.C. In continuation of our series covering the lives of politicians outside of the Capitol, we sat down with Representative Kevin Cramer at West Acres Mall to discuss family, small town North Dakota, and more.
