BISMARCK   (KFYR Bismarck) —  Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., will hold a rally on Friday to likely announce a U.S. Senate run.

An event was posted to Cramer’s political Facebook page at about 9 a.m. Thursday morning with the title “Cramer For Senate Announcement and Rally,” and a description saying “Join Kevin Cramer for a major announcement and U.S. Senate campaign rally.” The rally will start at 5:30 p.m.

A member of Gov. Doug Burgum’s staff tweeted, “See you all at the Ramada in Bismarck this Friday to launch Rep. Kevin Cramer’s campaign for U.S. Senate”

On Tuesday former N.D. GOP chairman Gary Emineth dropped out of the race for Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s seat, citing the likelihood that Cramer would run and Wednesday Cramer confirmed Oklahoma oil man Harold Hamm would chair his finance committee should he decide to run.

 (AP)  The head of North Dakota’s Republican Party says U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer is the GOP’s “best hope” of defeating Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in November.Kelly Armstrong says Cramer is popular in North Dakota and has a proven conservative record. Armstrong says that if Cramer runs, he would have far better name recognition than state Sen. Tom Campbell, who is currently the only Republican challenging Heitkamp.