Trump rallies for Flint in Kalispell

President Donald Trump held a rally in Kalispell Wednesday night to support resident Aaron Flint, the Republican candidate for Montana’s Western District U.S. House seat. The president spoke after a long line of high-ranking Montana Republicans — Eastern District U.S. Rep. Troy Downing, Gov. Greg Gianforte, U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Alme and retiring Western District U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke — both to praise Flint and to bash his Democratic opponent, Sam Forstag. U.S. Sens. Tim Sheehy and Steve Daines also attended the rally, but did not speak. Republican National Committee organizers told members of the press that the event filled the Majestic Valley Arena, which can seat several thousand people.

“Here in Montana’s First District we’re going to defeat far-left lobbyist phony Sam Forstag, not respected at all, and we’re going to elect a true American patriot, a fantastic man, a great guy, Aaron Flint, to Congress,” Trump said.

Flint, the last speaker before Trump, walked on stage while speakers blasted Toby Keith’s 2002 hit “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American).” The candidate talked about his military service, highlighted his personal connections to the Flathead Valley and repeated his campaign line attacking Sam Forstag as a “far-left lobbyist from Portland” — a description that drew boos from the crowd.

“Even people from Portland are booing, they’re like ‘yeah, why do you think we left Portland,’” Flint said. At a Tuesday debate, Flint made a similar appeal to Montana voters who, he said, “fled the tyranny and fled the failed policies on the West Coast.” In Montana, Flint said at the rally, families can be raised “in faith and in freedom.”

Flint said he was excited to rally in the Flathead because his family homesteaded in Niarada, a small town west of Flathead Lake. Flint moved with his own family from Billings to Kalispell in 2025. He also acknowledged “the significance of the vote here.”

Flathead County is a Republican stronghold in the Western District, home to the second-highest number of Republican voters in the state. Art Wittich, chair of the Montana State Republican Party, told MTFP before Trump’s remarks that the rally helped further his goal of turning out “every Republican voter in Flathead County” this election. 

Turnout could be a key to the race. Election results over the course of several cycles show that midterm turnout in Flathead County for a U.S. House race is only 72% of turnout in a presidential election year. Outgoing incumbent Western District Congressman Ryan Zinke, for example, received 40,681 votes in the 2024 presidential election year, compared with 29,290 votes in the 2022 midterm.

Rally-goers interviewed by Montana Free Press said they were ecstatic to see President Donald Trump speak, and appreciated the rally as an opportunity to hear from Flint firsthand. 

Josh Loucks, a Kalispell resident who answered MTFP questions while waiting in line to enter the arena, said he’s been a Trump fan since “Day 1” and was eager to learn more about Flint. Loucks, who expressed approval of Trump’s immigration policy, stance on the Second Amendment and “crackdown on all the fraud,” said the president’s endorsement is important. 

Other local voters were less excited about Trump’s visit. 

Brett Tallman, a self-described “conservative-leaning” independent who works as a carpenter in Kalispell, told MTFP at Super 1 Foods before the rally that he chose not to attend because he thinks the president has become too self-absorbed. 

Tallman said he’s concerned about the rise of socialism in the U.S. and so has been sympathetic to Trump in the past, but is now bothered by Trump’s handling of the Epstein files and self-promotion, like putting his face on an annual visitor pass for national parks. 

“Building a statue in his own likeness — who does that? Only sociopaths do that,” Tallman said Wednesday afternoon.  

The president is stumping for candidates across the country ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm election. Air Force One touched down at Glacier Park International Airport around 6:30 p.m., according to the Daily Inter Lake. Trump arrived in Montana after an event earlier Wednesday in Arizona. The day before he was in Alaska. 

The Kalispell rally marks Trump’s seventh visit to Montana since 2016, including a rally promoting then U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy in Bozeman in 2024 and three trips to the state in 2018.

Trump won Montana by large margins in the last three presidential elections, and Republicans have swept statewide and federal races in Montana since 2018, and Republicans have swept statewide and federal races in Montana since 2018. But Flint’s race appears to be competitive, according to Montana Free Press-Eagleton polling. And tAnd the president’s popularity has slipped in Montana since the start of 2026, according to polling, though his diehard supporters remain enthusiastic. 

Malea Sweet, a Kalispell resident who told MTFP Wednesday that she’s been a fan of Trump since he hosted “The Apprentice,” remains as excited about Trump now as when he first ran for president a decade ago. Waiting in line outside the rally, she said his second term “couldn’t be going better.” 

“Frustration is going to happen regardless of which party is in the presidency,” Sweet said. “And we have to put our hope and trust in the Lord, and know that there’s more to life than the political division.”

During his roughly 75-minute speech, Trump hit a wide range of topics, including the upcoming election, the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration enforcement, climate change, tax cuts, voter identification, the war in Iran, and what he considers his maltreatment by the media. He spent a significant amount of time attacking the Democratic Party, especially Forstag.

“Maybe he could win in the middle of Manhattan, but he can’t win in Montana or almost any other place on the planet,” Trump said. “He’s a radical-left lobbyist.”

Trump spent the early part of his speech encouraging attendees to vote. 

To inspire Republican voters, Trump reiterated his promise to pay every adult American $5,000 if Republicans retain control of both houses of Congress. Trump asked Montanans to “just pretend I’m on the ballot” in the upcoming election.  

That election, Trump told the crowd, is “bigger than the football games. It’s bigger than the basketball games. It’s bigger than any game anywhere in the world.”

Dana Grande, a Flathead area resident who attended Wednesday’s rally, agreed with the president, telling MTFP the election is an opportunity to “save this country.” 

If Democrats win, she said, “We’re going to lose this country, if you want to put it bluntly.”

Tom Lutey contributed reporting.