Libertarian Senate candidate’s ‘pet of society’ remark draws backlash 

Libertarian Senate candidate Kyle Austin’s comments at an Oct. 23 forum have sparked controversy, prompting a political attack and drawing criticism from the forum’s host and tribal community members.

Austin appeared alongside independent candidate Seth Bodnar and Democrat Alani Bankhead at the candidate forum at Eagle Seeker Community Center in Billings. Republican Kurt Alme did not participate. The event was hosted by several Indigenous-led organizations, including the People’s Food Sovereignty Program and Berry Medicine Native Birthwork Initiatives, as well as Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies. Candidates fielded questions about health care, tribal sovereignty and disparities in tribal health outcomes, among other topics. 

Responding to a question about what role the federal government should play in empowering tribes to lead their own maternal and infant health programs, Austin described tribes as “dependent upon the federal government” and compared dependency on government with the status of “pets.”

“Why don’t we empower the Native American tribes, and empower them to take leadership and education and start taking control of the reservations, instead of being dependent upon the federal government, instead of being dependent upon the treaty, instead of being dependent upon more and more money?” he said. 

“How about we start empowering the people? Give them the power to go down the path that they want to. Give them the power to educate and educate so they go down the right path in the future and be independent and self-govern. That is the right path forward, folks, because if someone is a pet of society, they will always be a pet of society for the future. And that is why you have to change how you vote, because the far left has always kept you a pet of society and dependent upon the federal government.” 

Patrick Yawakie, executive director of the People’s Food Sovereignty Program, which helped organize the forum, later described Austin’s comments as “derogatory” but “not unexpected.”

“The reality is, this is the dark side of politics in Montana,” Yawakie told MTFP Tuesday. “Because we’re the largest minority group, we have the largest target on our back, and people will say these things because they feel comfortable, and he felt comfortable enough to say that stuff.”

Months before the 2024 election, audio clips circulated of then-Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy speaking at several fundraising events. 

“A great way to bond with all the Indians is being out there while they’re drunk at 8 a.m. and you’re roping together,” Sheehy said in one clip. 

The comments were widely condemned by tribal leaders at the time, who urged Sheehy to apologize, which Sheehy declined to do. 

Yawakie attributed Austin’s comments to “a lack of education” regarding tribal communities. 

“Treaties are an obligation,” he said. “They are the supreme law of the land. Those are nation-to-nation agreements that were made in exchange for the land that we gave up as tribes. … It’s the federal government’s obligation, because of our treaties, to support us with health care, food, education. These are all the things we have fought for through federal Indian policy to be able to protect. These are things he needs to get educated on if he wants votes. But it didn’t feel like he was trying to get our votes.”

Native Americans are a significant voting bloc in Montana. In 2018, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester won his election by nearly 18,000 votes, a number well within the estimated Native American population of voting age at the time. Federal elections have major consequences in Indian Country, as tribes have nation-to-nation relationships with the federal government. Congress allocates funding for health care, law enforcement, housing and other services in tribal communities. 

Bill Snell, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, called Austin’s remarks “degrading.”

“It’s 2026, and yet this still goes on,” he said in a phone interview. “Obviously racism is still alive. Individuals a lot of times are ignorant of the tribes and their contributions, the major economic boost they provide to the state of Montana. And the relationship of the federal or state government is not complicated. We just want the powers that be to recognize treaty rights and not redefine it to fit their philosophy or needs.”

THE CANDIDATES’ CLAIMS 

Shortly after the forum, Bodnar distributed a statement condemning Austin’s comments and circulated a video clip from the event that appeared to show Bankhead saying something to Austin and smiling after he made the statement. In a video shared to social media, Bodnar said he was “heartbroken” and “appalled.”

“The Libertarian candidate referred to Native Americans as pets, and the candidate on the Democratic ticket, Alani Bankhead, just laughed along,” Bodnar said in the video.

Bankhead’s campaign disputed Bodnar’s claim in a statement posted on her website:

“Alani isn’t smiling while Kyle Austin says ‘pet of society.’ The smile in Seth’s clip comes seconds later, after Austin finished. She and Austin had been talking before the forum, and a bit of that conversation carried into it. It shouldn’t have, and it had nothing to do with what he’d just said.”

Bankhead, who noted at the event that she is Taíno, condemned Austin’s comment in an Oct. 24 statement shared on social media, calling it “wrong” and reflective of “a serious misunderstanding of tribal sovereignty and the federal government’s relationship with tribal nations.”

Responding to the criticism, in an Oct. 24 video statement shared to social media, Austin denied referring to Native Americans as pets, though he did not deny using the words recorded in the video.

“The truth is, it is Bodnar who was correlating Native Americans as pets, not me,” he said.

In a phone interview Wednesday morning, Austin called the forum a “Bodnar event,” saying he and Bankhead showed up “not knowing what it was or what it was about.” He also took issue with Bodnar’s social media video and said his comment at the forum “wasn’t directed exactly at Native Americans.”

“Nowhere did I say Native Americans are pets,” he said. “I was talking about victims of socialism. Because all of these empty promises and throwing money out there has created more problems.”

Asked to respond to criticism from tribal community members, Austin said his comment could serve as “a wake-up call.”

“Instead of getting angry about the issue, maybe they should look at it as, maybe Austin is right that socialism is bad,” he said.  

Yawakie told MTFP that Bodnar and Bankhead both apologized to event organizers for Austin’s comment the day after the forum. He said he wasn’t surprised that Bodnar’s campaign used the comment to criticize Bankhead, “because that’s what campaigns do.” 

Even so, Yawakie said, he thinks the politicians are using the tribal community as a “pawn in a bigger game.”

“It felt kind of slimy,” he said.