With Election Day on the Horizon, Montana’s Candidates and Organizers Make their Final Push
By Saturday night, nearly half of Montanans had already cast their ballots in an election that has driven the state into the national spotlight.
By Denali Sagner
In the final moments of an election cycle that has brought copious national attention to Montana, candidates and organizers are making a final push get out the vote.
As of Saturday night, nearly half of Montanans had already voted, and 73% of voters who received absentee ballots had turned them in. In Flathead County, 38,609 absentee ballots, or 70% of those mailed to voters, were returned as of Saturday.
The number of voters casting their ballots by mail has increased dramatically following the pandemic and Republicans’ softening language on absentee voting, a system they previously criticized as ridden with fraud. In Flathead County, 53,642 voters were sent absentee ballots this year, up from 37,391 in 2018. Statewide, 529,290 voters were sent absentee ballots this year compared to 433,909 in 2018.
Democratic candidates brought their statewide Big Sky Victory Get Out The Vote tour to Kalispell on Saturday night, where they rallied voters and implored them to knock doors and talk to friends and family ahead of Election Day.
Met with a standing ovation, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester told attendees it would likely be a close race on Tuesday, and that results might not come in until Wednesday, which is “just fine,” per the senator. Tester has long slid to victory in Montana with slim margins, winning all three of his races for U.S. Senate by less than 20,000 votes.
Though Tester has trailed Republican businessman and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy in the polls, a recent MSU Billings Mountain States Poll found the candidates neck-and-neck. Both candidates garnered support from 43% of the 760 voters who responded to the poll.
While pundits have argued Sheehy’s polling lead may signal the end of Tester’s tenure as Montana’s last Democrat, Democrats say Sheehy’s cascading scandals may be catching up to the first-time candidate. The Republican has faced questions over his discharge from the military, racially-charged comments about Native Americans, alleged plagiarism and a gunshot wound he says he sustained serving in Afghanistan, but may have gotten by accidentally discharging a firearm in Glacier National Park.
Regarding a Friday interview with Megyn Kelly in which Sheehy said there were no medical records to substantiate his story about the gunshot wound, Tester told the Beacon on Saturday, “Are you shitting me? They have a medical report if you come in with a hangnail.”
U.S. House candidate Monica Tranel told the crowd that Democrats are hoping to pick up an additional 25,000 votes in deep-red Flathead County, mostly from young residents who identify as politically independent. Tranel described a “quiet momentum” that she said has come largely from young people and women, many of whom are frustrated about the specter of growing abortion restrictions.
“This is our race to win. We need you to go out there and get those votes,” Tranel said.
Per the Mountain States Poll, incumbent Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke has a seven point lead over Tranel. Zinke has led Tranel in eight polls since August, with an advantage between one and eight points.
Attendees at the Saturday event heard from Democrats up and down the ticket, including candidates for governor, attorney general, state auditor and superintendent of public instruction.
Met with cheers from the crowd, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse said, “The Montana that you know and love, the Montana that elected Jon Tester 18 years ago, is still alive and well.”
The Flathead County Republican Central Committee released its official election guide, which recommends a slate of Republican candidates for state and local office and Montana Supreme Court candidates Cory Swanson and Dan Wilson. The guide also urges voters to reject the three constitutional initiatives on the ballot.
The election guide lists Republican state Rep. Courtenay Sprunger, state House candidate Lyn Bennett and district court clerk candidate Sara Fredenberg as “other Flathead candidates that registered as Republican,” but does not endorse them.
The Flathead County GOP has called CI-126 and CI-127, which would create top-four primaries and majority winner elections, respectively, part of a “radically harmful out-of-state movement to overthrow conservative elected officials in Montana.”
Local Republican groups have rallied against CI-128, which would guarantee an explicit right to abortion in the state constitution, calling it “extreme” and “misleading.”
The Flathead County Republican Women on Wednesday waved signs in downtown Kalispell, urging voters to support GOP-backed candidates and reject the three ballot initiatives.
Zinke met with voters in Bigfork on Saturday, while Sheehy made weekend stops in Townsend and Manhattan.
“If you are Tim Sheehy’s voice, he will be your voice in the United States Senate for the next six years,” Arkansas Republican U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton said during a campaign stop over the weekend, where he rallied with Sheehy and Montana’s Republican Sen. Steve Daines.
Montana residents can check their voter registration and find their polling place here. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow. Those who are not registered to vote can do so at the Flathead County Elections Office today until noon, or tomorrow beginning at 7 a.m.
Read more about the candidates running for Legislature in the Flathead and Tobacco valleys here.