Montana Republicans to Tim Sheehy: “No Thanks”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 28, 2023
CONTACT
monica@mtdems.org
The GOP primary heats up as local Montana Republicans voice their frustration with the “D.C. establishment” trying to pick their candidate
Helena, MT – Trouble is brewing for Montana Republicans. Montana conservatives are “frustrated with what they perceive as unwelcome outside influence” in the GOP primary in the U.S. Senate race, setting up a clash between the DC “establishment vs. grassroots.”
Mitch McConnell recruit and Montana newcomer Tim Sheehy has had a rocky first month in the race, and today, reporting from Daily Caller revealed that local Republicans aren’t liking what they’re seeing:
Daily Caller: ‘Establishment Vs. Grassroots’: Montana Conservatives Balk At Republican Leadership’s Senate Pick For 2024
July 28, 2023
Montana Republicans voiced frustration to the Daily Caller News Foundation about political newcomer and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy for being what they view as the D.C. establishment’s Senate candidate.
The state’s conservatives questioned how a candidate with no elected experience could beat Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester in 2024, and told the DCNF they’d rather see GOP Rep. Matt Rosendale vie for the seat.
“For the grassroots movement, and people who knock doors and put up the signs and are busy for conservative Republican candidates, we have no idea who Tim Sheehy is — it’s ‘Sheehy who?'” Dr. Al Olszewski, chairman of the Flathead County GOP, told the DCNF. “He’s a ghost, he has not been involved in local politics or statewide politics.”
[...] grassroots Montana conservatives are frustrated with what they perceive as unwelcome outside influence attempting to sway the primary race.
“You’ve got really ultimately establishment vs. grassroots in Sheehy and Rosendale,” Darin Gaub, co-founder of Restore Liberty and Montana state director at the Freedom Caucus Network, told the DCNF.
Montana conservatives who oppose Sheehy argue that, among other things, he lacks name recognition and political experience in the state.
“What we’ve got right now is an unknown who appears to be 1) either trying to buy a seat, 2) heavily endorsed by the establishment in D.C., regardless of the fact that some of them aren’t Montanans, like McConnell,” Gaub told the DCNF.
Several Montana conservatives, like state Sen. Dan Bartel, criticized Daines for tapping a longshot to go up against Tester[.]
Nearly all of the Montana activists and operatives who spoke to the DCNF also characterized Sheehy as a “war hawk,” citing his previous stance on the war in Ukraine. Sheehy’s social media posts from last year resurfaced where he called for intervention and “soldiers, planes, bombs and bullets” for Ukraine.
Tusken argued that Sheehy’s change of opinion on the war indicates that “he’s not necessarily a man of principle” and is “willing to take whatever message he’s told to send out.”
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