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April 25, 2024
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy continues to dodge most opportunities to interview with Montana media.
That was again the case when he appeared last Friday at the Yellowstone County Republican Central Committee Lincoln Reagan Dinner. A campaign staffer declined to make the candidate available for an interview with Capitolized, which wished to get more detail about Sheehy’s conflicting accounts of his bullet wound, among other issues.
But Sheehy did sit down for a “fireside chat” with a friendly fellow party member Friday evening, providing observers a glimpse into how the candidate, who is hoping to defeat longtime Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Tester this year, views his campaign and some of the controversies Democrats have hoped would dog him on the trail.
On the Beginning of his Involvement in Politics
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL who founded an aerial firefighting company near Bozeman and who has never before run for office, was a relative unknown when national outlets reported that the GOP was close to confirming him as a candidate last year.
He started donating to Montana Republicans in 2016, and has contributed almost $40,000 to various state and local GOP-affiliated committees since.
But on Friday he said his engagement in politics began in earnest with the U.S.’s withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2020 and 2021. Thirteen American troops were killed during the withdrawal, along with hundreds of Afghan civilian casualties.
“We abandoned kids there. We abandoned 800 American citizens there. And we disgraced the sacrifice of thousands of Americans,” Sheehy told the crowd at Swift River Ranch near Billings, adding that the withdrawal was the first time he felt “ashamed to wear the flag.”
Although the bulk of the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan took place under the administration of former President Donald Trump, Sheehy specifically blamed the Biden administration for the withdrawal’s lethal chaos.
“That’s when I called [U.S. Rep.] Ryan Zinke, [U.S. Sen.] Steve Daines, the governor, and said, ‘whatever I can do, I have a personal vendetta against this administration, old FJB over there and all his lackeys, who include that stupid two-faced Tester,’ and I said whatever I can do to help … I have a personal bone to pick,” Sheehy said. “About a year later, Steve [Daines] said, ‘Hey Tim, you said you’d do whatever it takes. I’ve got an idea for you.”
On Divisions within the GOP
For months it appeared that Sheehy, a Minnesota native, would face a primary challenge from hardline Republican Congressman Matt Rosendale, who blasted Sheehy as a hand-picked lackey for the bipartisan status quo in Washington, D.C. Rosendale and Daines, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, were repeatedly at each other’s throats in the press. National Republicans fretted that Rosendale, who handed Tester the largest victory of his Senate career in 2018, would fare even worse the second time around. Grassroots right-wing activists, on the other hand, felt that Sheehy — who had previously donated to Tim Scott and Nikki Haley — was inadequately supportive of Trump, and that national Republicans were playing dirty to keep Rosendale out of the race.
Rosendale ultimately launched a Senate bid but withdrew from the race after only six days, citing the fact that Trump endorsed Sheehy almost as soon as Rosendale formalized his candidacy.
“I have been called Mitch McDonnell’s Ken doll,” Sheehy said Friday.
He was asked what he would say to Montana Republicans skeptical of his candidacy.
“Fighting is important,” he said. “We all want to fight. We want conservative fighters. American fighters. But what’s the whole point of fighting? You fight to win.”
Look to Japan during World War II, he said. “They fought very bravely … but we killed the shit out of them.”
He said that if he decides to run for re-election in six years, “you can primary [me] then and beat me then and then we’ll have a true conservative.”
On Climate Change and Bridger Aerospace
The Democratic opposition research machine pointed out early in Sheehy’s candidacy that Securities and Exchange Commission filings from Bridger Aerospace, his publicly traded aerial firefighting company, have discussed the impact of climate change on the intensity of wildfire season as recently as this year — an acknowledgment that’s earned him some criticism from Rosendale supporters.
But since running, he’s attacked the “climate cult.”
On Friday, he was asked whether and how he has changed his position on climate change.
He responded by minimizing anthropogenic climate change, opining that humans have no “appreciable impact” on global warming, an assertion that runs counter to the scientific consensus that human activity is one of the primary drivers of the earth’s warming.
“Climate change is real, it’s been changing for 6 billion years,” he said.
He then attacked the Biden-era SEC and Federal Trade Commission for requiring public companies to disclose information about the effects of climate change on their businesses and the diversity of their boards — elements of “environmental, social and governance” investing that are often panned by conservatives.
The vast majority of Bridger’s income comes from federal contracts.
“There’s certain disclaimers you have to have as a large business,” Sheehy said.
On the Budget and his First Priorities
Sheehy acknowledged that as a junior senator he would have little ability to make policy. But he said he’ll have the power to vote against federal spending. He said he would support legislation to prevent members of Congress from being paid if Congress fails to pass a balanced budget in regular order.
He said the federal government needs to start “cleaving off” agencies, starting with the Department of Education.
As another example of an expendable agency, he named the Department of Homeland Security — a position generally more common among left-wingers and Libertarians than Republicans. (Denny Rehberg, a Republican former congressman who is running for Montana’s eastern U.S. House district this year, also called for eliminating DHS on Friday, explicitly citing Sheehy’s support for that position.)
“We don’t need that [department],” Sheehy said. “It was a reaction to a terrible event. We’ve learned a lot since then.”
Democrats have criticized Sheehy for advocating the dismantling of DHS after Axios first reported his position on the issue, asserting hypocrisy in a Republican candidate criticizing an agency that regulates the border (DHS encompasses U.S. Customs and Border Protection) even as the GOP blames Democrats for an “invasion” of immigrants across the U.S. border with Mexico.
In a follow-up written statement to Capitolized, Sheehy did not explicitly say how he envisions replacing DHS, but said that “under the leadership of President Biden and Senator Tester, the Department of Homeland Security has become the Department of Homeland Sabotage, with liberal political appointees like [Secretary Alejandro] Mayorkas tying the hands of federal law enforcement officers and orchestrating their radical open border agenda that has led to the invasion of nearly 10 million illegal immigrants in the last three years.”
Sheehy said that with fewer resources “wasted on these bureaucratic paper pushers, we can actually empower border patrol and other federal law enforcement officers to do the job they want to do and secure our border and protect the homeland.”
—Arren Kimbel-Sannit
Seen on the Trail
Disinvited
At least two Republican candidates for state and federal offices have had their ticket purchases refunded and been told they cannot attend a high-profile GOP campaign event.
Donald Trump Jr., son and frequent campaign surrogate of the former and would-be future president, and conservative social media influencer Alex Bruesewitz are scheduled to appear at an event in Missoula on Sunday to boost the campaigns of Donald Trump, U.S. Senate hopeful Tim Sheehy, incumbent U.S. House Representative Ryan Zinke and incumbent Gov. Greg Gianforte. Tickets to the gathering, hosted by the Montana Association of Conservatives PAC, cost $75.
But competitors of Sheehy and Gianforte were notified this week that they are not welcome at the Missoula event. Charles Walking Child, a candidate in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, and Tanner Smith, a Republican candidate for governor, shared their disinvitations with Capitolized and on social media.
“Unfortunately, we have been notified by the people directly working with our keynote speakers that Tanner Smith is not allowed at this event,” a picture of a MAC PAC email to the Smith campaign reads. “The ticket purchased for Tanner has been refunded completely and Tanner should not attend.”
A spokesperson for MAC PAC, Cameo Flood, declined to provide additional comment about why the two candidates’ tickets were refunded. She said no other current Republican candidates have been disinvited from the event.
Flood, a former vice chair of the Missoula County Republican Central Committee who resigned alongside the rest of the committee’s executive board last year amid internal conflict, launched MAC PAC with a small group of associates in February, she told Capitolized. She said she established a PAC because it provides more flexibility to support conservative candidates than an official party organization.
Walking Child and Smith criticized the decision on social media, blasting what Smith called the “uniparty” for disallowing the attendance of candidates challenging party frontrunners.
“The uniparty swamp is trying to stop me from becoming Governor of Montana!” Smith wrote on Facebook. “Thankfully, Montanans know better than to let the swamp dictate who they vote for.”
In an emailed statement, Gianforte campaign spokesperson Anna Marian Block did not directly respond to a question from Capitolized about whether her team was involved with the decision to disinvite Smith.
“The governor did not organize this event,” Block said. “Instead, the governor was invited to and is attending Sunday’s Protecting Freedom Event with Donald Trump, Jr., though I’m sure Donald Trump Jr. would be surprised to learn he’s the ‘uniparty swamp.’”
Brad Johnson, another Republican challenging Sheehy in the Senate primary, told Capitolized he has not been disinvited from the Sunday event — likely because he never bothered to purchase a ticket after not being allowed to speak at a Yellowstone Republicans event last week where Sheehy also appeared.
“I’ve never seen it like this,” Johnson said of the apparent party favoritism toward certain candidates, adding that he and other contenders seem to be treated as “insurgents” in races with clear frontrunners.
“It’s just absurd,” Johnson said of the favoritism, adding that the uneven footing will rub voters the wrong way. “Montanans don’t like being told what to do,” he said.
This weekend won’t be the first time division within the state GOP has manifested at a campaign event this election cycle. Earlier this year, Bruesewitz was invited to the Montana Republican Party’s winter kickoff event, a decision that immediately generated backlash from conservative Montana hardliners who accused the party of favoritism, since Bruesewitz had previously leveled public criticism at Montana Congressman Matt Rosendale, who was then gearing up for a since-abandoned primary challenge against Sheehy. The influencer was subsequently disinvited from the event.
—Mara Silvers and Arren Kimbel-Sannit
Biden Nominates CSKT Attorney for Federal Judgeship
President Joe Biden has tapped an attorney for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to replace Judge Dana Christensen in the U.S. District Court of Montana.
Danna Jackson, a former U.S. attorney who served as chief legal counsel to the Montana Department of Natural Resources from 2016 to 2021, would be the first Native American federal judge in Montana if her nomination is confirmed. She worked as an attorney within the U.S. Department of the Interior from 2021 to 2023.
Christensen, who was appointed to Montana’s federal court by then-President Barack Obama in 2011, announced in 2022 that he would assume senior status, a form of semi-retirement for judges.
Jackson, who grew up on the Flathead Indian Reservation, has spent the bulk of her career focused on tribal law and natural resource issues.
Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, lauded Jackson’s nomination in a statement.
“Danna Jackson has a proven track record of applying the law with fairness and integrity throughout her legal career, and I have no doubt that she’ll bring these high standards to the federal judiciary and District of Montana,” he said in a statement this week. “As a born-and-raised Montanan, her extensive experience at every level of Montana’s legal system makes her well qualified to serve our state and I’m looking forward to getting her nomination across the finish line with bipartisan support in the Senate.”
Tester’s counterpart, Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, did not directly criticize Jackson, but complained in a statement that Biden did not “seriously” confer with him about the nomination.
“Montanans want judges who will bring balance to our courts and uphold the Constitution,” Daines said. “Unfortunately, President Biden failed to seriously consult with me prior to making this nomination. This is inexcusable and a missed opportunity. I look forward to reviewing Ms. Jackson’s background and record to evaluate if this nomination is the right fit for Montana.”
Traditionally, senators from the state where a federal judge is being nominated are given the opportunity to weigh in on the nomination ahead of the confirmation process in the form of “blue slips.” The Senate Judiciary Committee, in theory, takes the positions of home-state senators into account when deciding whether to recommend confirmation to the full Senate.
Depending on the length of the confirmation period and the outcome of the November election, it’s possible that Tester’s Republican opponent, Gallatin County businessman Tim Sheehy, would be in a position to vote on the nomination.
—Arren Kimbel-Sannit
Dept. of Corrections
Last week’s edition of Capitolized included an item on campaign finance that incorrectly asserted that no outside groups have spent money opposing Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy. In fact, among other entities, Last Best Place PAC, a group wholly funded by the Senate Democratic leadership-affiliated Majority Forward PAC, has run numerous ads critical of Sheehy, starting when it appeared that Sheehy would face a primary challenge from Republican Congressman Matt Rosendale. Last Best Place PAC, which is connected to former Republican state lawmaker Dave Lewis, has spent essentially all of the $6.7 million it’s raised this election cycle, according to federal data.
In February, the campaign finance watchdog group Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint against Last Best Place PAC with the Federal Election Commission alleging that the PAC failed to report its spending against Sheehy as independent expenditures.
That’s in part how the error occurred. The FEC, which normally reports summary data about outside spending in support or opposition of a candidate, did not list any spending by Last Best Place PAC against Sheehy.
Capitolized regrets the error.
—Arren Kimbel-Sannit
On Background
With Rosendale out of the Senate running, what’s next for the Montana GOP?: As Montana Free Press reported, Gov. Greg Gianforte was booed by some Republicans sympathetic to Congressman Matt Rosendale at the GOP winter kickoff when the governor called for sending Tim Sheehy to the U.S. Senate.
Scoop: GOP candidate wants to ax Homeland Security agency: National outlet Axios — which broke the story about Tim Sheehy’s budding Senate campaign in 2023 — was also first to report his comments about the Department of Homeland Security.