Trump considering Senator Heitkamp of North Dakota for Cabinet: source

By Ernest Scheyder HOUSTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump is considering Democratic U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota for either the interior or energy secretary positions in his Cabinet, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday. Reuters previously reported that Trump planned to meet with Heitkamp on Friday, according to his transition team. Trump requested the meeting with Heitkamp, the source said. In a statement, Heitkamp said she appreciates "the president-elect inviting me for a meeting," adding that she hopes to "work with the president-elect and all of my colleagues in Congress on both sides of the aisle to best support my state." The statement did not address a question from Reuters on whether a Cabinet position was being discussed, but Heitkamp's spokeswoman, Abbie McDonough, said the senator "has a long record of working with both Republicans and Democrats." Along with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Heitkamp negotiated a deal in Congress last December to lift the decades-old ban on crude oil exports in exchange for a multiyear extension of tax credits for wind and solar energy. Heitkamp has been a supporter of domestic energy development, both in fossil fuels and renewable resources. North Dakota is a major source of crude oil, coal and wind power. Heitkamp was elected to the Senate in 2012 in a close race, putting her up for re-election in two years. Should she join the Cabinet, her Senate seat would be filled by an appointment by North Dakota's Republican governor. Another reported contender for the Energy and Interior positions, Oklahoma oil magnate Harold Hamm, said on Thursday that he would recommend that Trump nominate Republican Congressman Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, one of the president-elect's energy advisers, for energy secretary. "I've put his name forward," Hamm said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" program. "He'd sort of do a better job in that post than me." Hamm, chief executive of Continental Resources Inc , is one of several people seen as potential candidates to head the Department of Energy. His company controls vast oil riches in the ground in North Dakota, Oklahoma and elsewhere. (Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; additional reporting by Valerie Volcovici in Washington; editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)