Tim Sheehy Slammed for Calling Young Women “Indoctrinated”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 8, 2024

CONTACT
rehm@mtdems.org

Sheehy dismisses Montana women who support reproductive freedom as “single-issue voters”
 

Helena, MT – A flood of new reporting is slamming Tim Sheehy for being caught on tape calling women under the age of 30 “indoctrinated” and “single-issue voters” for wanting to protect their reproductive freedoms, even sayingthat “murder is the official position of the American Democratic Party.”

Outlets like New York Times, NBC News, MSNBC, PEOPLE, HuffPost, and The Independent reported on Sheehy’s comments. Read on for another day of brutal headlines for Sheehy: 

MSNBC Joy Reid: MT GOP Sen. Candidate Says Young Women are Indoctrinated on Abortion Issues
October 7, 2024

NBC News: Montana GOP Senate candidate says women have been 'indoctrinated' on abortion
October 7, 2024
By Sahil Kapur, Ryan Nobles, Frank Thorp V and Dareh Gregorian

• Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, who is locked in a highly consequential race with Democratic incumbent Jon Tester, said in newly unearthed audio that the Republican Party needs to do a better job at winning over young women, who he said have been “indoctrinated" for years on the issue of abortion.
   

• "Young people, listen up, they’ve been indoctrinated for too long. We don’t even try to talk to them anymore," Sheehy said at an event in late 2023, according to audio obtained by NBC News.
   

• "And it’s all about pro-choice, pro-choice. Well, ‘Republicans are pro-life. They want to take my rights away and lock me up and throw me in prison.’ And I said, well, are you familiar with what the Democrats’ position is on abortion? ‘Yeah, they’re pro-choice. They’re protecting women,’” he said.
   

• “It’s called murder. That is the position of the American Democrat Party,” Sheehy said.
   

• “Tim Sheehy calling young women ‘indoctrinated’ because they value reproductive freedom just goes to show how out of touch he is with Montanans,” Tester spokesperson Monica Robinson said. “In Montana, we don’t want the government telling us what to do — and Sheehy’s position that politicians should get the final say over our health care is one of the many ways he’s trying to change Montana for the worse.”
   

• The spokesperson didn’t dispute the accuracy of Sheehy’s quotes.

New York Times: Tim Sheehy was recorded saying young people were ‘indoctrinated’ to support liberal causes.
October 7, 2024
By Maggie Astor

• “Young people, listen, they’ve been indoctrinated for too long,” Mr. Sheehy said, according to an audio recording of the event, part of a trove of recordings of him speaking at meet-and-greets and private fund-raisers that was published by The Char-Koosta News, a newspaper on the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana.
   

• He then repeated the false claim, made by many Republicans, that legislation proposed by Democrats would allow abortions “up to and including the moment of birth” and “after the moment of birth,” and said: “That’s not an abortion after they’re born. It’s called murder. Like, that is the political position of the American Democrat Party.”

PEOPLE: Montana Senate Candidate Calls Women Under 25 'Indoctrinated' for Supporting Reproductive Rights
October 7, 2024
By Brian Brant

• A Republican Senate candidate for a key race that could decide which party controls the upper chamber is coming under fire after he was caught on tape for calling women under the age of 25 “indoctrinated” for supporting reproductive rights.
   

• “Murder is the official position of the American Democratic Party,” Sheehy said.

Huffpost: Montana GOP Senate Candidate Says Young Women Are 'Indoctrinated' On Abortion Issue
October 7, 2024
By Igor Bobic

• During a campaign stop last year, Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy of Montana lamented that "young women between the ages of 19 and 30" are "indoctrinated" on the issue of abortion, according to The Daily Montanan.
   

• "They've been indoctrinated for too long," Sheehy said on recordings made public on Monday. "Abortion is their number one concern. It's all they want to talk about. They are single-issue voters. It's all about pro-choice, pro-choice, 'Republicans are pro-life, they want to take my rights away and lock me up and throw me away in prison.'"

The Independent: Republican in key Senate race claims young women are ‘indoctrinated’ on abortion in unearthed recording
October 7, 2024
By Io Dodds

• The Republican candidate in a crucial US Senate race in Montana has accused young women of being "indoctrinated" into becoming "single-issue voters" on abortion.
   

• "That's all they want to talk about. They are single-issue voters. "It's all about pro-choice, pro-choice. 'Republicans are pro-life, they want to take my rights away and lock me up and throw me in prison.'"

###