Bullock Vows to Continue Presidential Bid After Failing to Make Democratic Debate

While the Democratic presidential primary field continues to dwindle, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock vowed to stay in the race despite failing to gather enough support to make it on the debate stage next month.

Bullock was in Kalispell on Thursday visiting the West Valley Middle School as part of his annual back-to-school tour. The stop came just hours after the governor learned that the Democratic National Committee would not invite him to the third primary debate on Sept. 12 in Houston. Candidates needed 130,000 individual donors and to receive 2 percent support in at least four qualifying polls before 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, during an interview with the Beacon, Bullock dismissed the importance of the debates and said he still believed he had a path forward in the race.

“(These races) are never about the debates,” Bullock said. “If you look at 2004 for example, John Kerry was polling at 4 percent 31 days out of the Iowa caucus and Al Sharpton was beating him. But Kerry won.”

“There’s still a long way to go,” Bullock added.

While Bullock has vowed to stay in the race, a number of other candidates have dropped out in recent weeks, including the other two western governors who were making a bid for the nomination, Washington’s Jay Inslee and Colorado’s John Hickenlooper. Inslee decided to seek a third term in Olympia while Hickenlooper has decided to run for U.S. Senate against Republican Sen. Cory Gardner. On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Kristen Gellibrand of New York also dropped out of the presidential race citing her failure to earn a spot on the third debate.

Many have suggested that Bullock should run against Sen. Steve Daines in 2020, but on Thursday the governor again said he would not run for U.S. Senate.

“I think we’ll have some good people running but I won’t be one of them,” he said. “I won’t be running for U.S. Senate.”

On Friday, Bullock was returning to Iowa for four days of campaigning in counties that voted for President Barack Obama in 2012 before flipping to vote for President Donald Trump four years later.

At West Valley Middle School, Bullock met with about 50 student ambassadors who help teach other students at the school. Bullock answered questions from students — including what is favorite part of being governor was (giving out full-size candy bars at Halloween) and what he does for fun (running, hiking and hunting) — and talked about the importance of education.

“One of the most important things a state provides is a good education,” Bullock said.

Bullock also touted the state’s partnership with the non-profit EducationSuperHighway to increase high-speed broadband at the school. In the past year, 40 Montana schools have increased their Internet bandwidth. In 2016, West Valley School only had 30 megabits per second Internet connection but now it has upgraded to 200 megabits per second.