Montana Republicans Remain Skeptical of Out-of-State Multimillionaire Tim Sheehy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 3, 2024

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rehm@mtdems.org

According to Montana Republicans, Sheehy lacks “a whole lot of depth to the issues he's talking about”
 

Helena, MT – With Montana’s primary election tomorrow, Tim Sheehy has spent the better part of the campaign dogged by skepticism from Montana Republicans who are frustrated about his candidacy: 

• Just last week, “many Republicans interviewed by the Montana State News Bureau still have a bad taste in their mouth about how Sheehy became the anointed candidate and are unsure if they will end up voting for him” after Sheehy’s candidacy was pushed by Mitch McConnell and national Republicans. As Eric Olsen, “a Yellowstone County conservative” put it: “How do you fight a billionaire club?” 

• Great Falls State Senator Jeremy Trebas took shots at Sheehy, saying Sheehy does not have “a whole lot of depth to the issues he's talking about, nor does he have a long knowledge of Montana issues like water rights and public lands.”

• Former Republican state legislator Roger Koopman published an op-ed in the Billings Gazette and Daily Caller attacking Tim Sheehy for being a McConnell yes-man. In the op-ed, Koopman claims Sheehy “wouldn’t recognize a free market principle or a conservative conviction if it bit him in the money belt” and hits him for “believ[ing] in corporate welfare when it benefits him.”

• Montana Republicans resent Sheehy for the “political assassination of Matt Rosendale:”

  • Theresa Manzella, chairwoman of the Montana Freedom Caucus: “Eighty percent of us have to agree on an issue to take it up, and [supporting Sheehy is] not an issue we agree on. Warriors like Matt Rosendale are few and far between."

  • Tracy Sharp, chair of Lake County Republican Party:“Amongst some, there is indeed a feeling that the deck was unjustly stacked against the extremely popular Matt Rosendale by out-of-state interests. Few things get under the skin of Montanans more than such influences injecting themselves into our election process.”

• Flathead GOP Central Committee Chair, Dr. Al Olszewski, posted a video attacking Tim Sheehy, saying the “party bosses now want the Montana GOP to unify and get behind their pet candidates” and called on Montana Republicans to “decline and oppose our party bosses and our rulers who are continuing to shove down our throats their demands and pet candidates.”

• Montana State Representative Bob Phalen said he is asked to unite with Sheehy, but “I will not vote for who they think I should get behind and [...] I will choose my own candidate” and endorsed Brad Johnson. 

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