by Helena Lovick | Sep 16, 2026 | Democrats, Politics, Republicans
This post is from WTF406.com’s archives. You can see other archived posts by searching on a name or topic on WTF406.com’s landing page. Please hit the subscribe button if you are not already a subscriber. This post ran on August 8, 2025.
Let’s talk about “moderate” Republicans. I’ve been hearing about this perspective for years. Some political “experts” think we should support moderate Republicans when they run for districts that are an uphill battle for Democrats. This is different from the calls for voting in a Republican primary to help ensure a more reasonable politician is elected as the blog previously discussed here. Instead, the moderate Republican strategy I’m talking about includes: not investing in Democrats, not supporting Democrats in general elections, not endorsing Democratic candidates, even all the way up to voting for a Republican in a general election.
Rather than recruiting a strong Democrat and trying to put it all on the field, some people believe it is a winning strategy to not even put up a fight, roll over and give the win to a moderate. “At least we can elect someone that is easy to work with!” So….does that strategy payoff? Do these Republicans vote more moderately? Is it preferable to throw support behind a moderate Republican rather than trying to help a Democrat in a lop-sided race?
I’m going to have to say HELL NO. There’s a reason why Wayne Gretzky said, “you miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” If you want to make in-roads in a district, you actually have to work on building relationships with the voters in that district.
But another aspect of “at least we elected a moderate” is that THEY AREN’T MODERATE. Over and over again we have seen that the people who are willing to run for office as a Republican in these times are extremists. Sure, they might throw you a bone and help Medicaid expansion get across the finish line (as they did in 2025), but they throw working people and marginalized groups under the bus every day. We’ve written about GOP bigotry of the moderates and MAGA in 2023, but here we are again!
I mean just take a look at how our Great Falls area Republicans voted during the 2025 Legislative Session.
Great Falls Area Republican Legislators
First, here is your list of Great Falls area Republican Legislators with their moderate or MAGA label. The Moderate descriptor is based on participation in the Solutions Caucus, support by the Conservatives4MT PAC, and/or community perspective.
How did they vote? (Shocker – Against us and our future)
In the following table, some key votes of moderate Great Falls area Republicans are listed. Bill descriptions are listed on the left. State Senators Trebas and Emrich are consistently MAGA bigots, and they voted the wrong way on every one of the following bills. Their votes are not shown in the table. Votes are coded with a green color when they are bipartisan and pro-working people.
As you can see in the table, in the vast majority of cases, so-called moderate Republicans vote with the Republican caucus and against the people. If you’re looking for more data on how these clowns voted, you can check out the deeper dive by the Daily Montanan here.
Any Good News? What about the Democrats?
It’s worth noting that our lone Democratic legislator in the Great Falls area, Jane Weber, voted the kind, forward-thinking way on all of these bills. I also give some credit to Republican Senator Wendy McKamey for voting against her caucus significantly more frequently than any other Great Falls area Republican.
It was good to see that Medicaid Expansion in Montana lived another day with the 2025 legislature. But the Big Ugly Bill passed by our federal government (also run by Republicans) just made giant cuts to Medicaid. So what is the benefit to electing moderates when we expect nearly 40,000 Montanans to lose insurance? Sure doesn’t seem like the payoff for ditching Democrats to support Republican Lite is worth it.
What should I do to help turn things around?
Inform yourself when politicians ask for your vote. Is the way they vote kind to you or your neighbors? Is it kind to attack our environment and attack our freedoms to be who we are and to have bodily autonomy? Is that the future you want? I sure don’t.
It is a lot easier to sleep at night when you know that your elected representatives have your back. (Rather than have a knife in your back.) Let’s put up a left leaning candidate in every district and try to build some real momentum away from the rightward slide of Montana and our country. And whoever gets elected, let’s continue to pressure them to do the right thing.
by Guest Cartoonist | Aug 13, 2026 | Democrats, Independent, Politics, Republicans
Guest Cartoonist, John Moore
August 13, 2026
by Guest Writer | Aug 4, 2026 | Democrats, Elections, Politics, Republicans
Guest Post By Joe Hancock, Chair of Gallatin County Democrats
This election year, four candidates garnered enough support from Montana voters to earn a place on the ballot for our U.S. Senate race: Kurt Alme, Kyle Austin, Alani Bankhead, and Seth Bodnar. Every demand for one of these candidates to withdraw from this election is an attempt to disenfranchise Montanans who participated in the nominating process.
I’ve read two meandering letters in the past month from liberal lawmakers and lawyers with conclusions that seem to be informed by self-interest rather than common sense. If an idea seems too cute by half, it is probably a bad idea. This isn’t the first time this year that I’ve seen lawyers argue a novel legal theory meant to undermine the electoral process established in Montana Code Annotated.
While I’m frustrated by these privileged few squabbling over a senate campaign, I’m truly angry that this feckless infighting has insulated Montana Republicans from criticism as they promote dangerous new policies and fundraise on a platform of social exclusion. Working Montanans continue losing economic ground because of state and local government policy failures while these people waste time and political capital on a fight nobody wins.
The GOP put red meat on the table when their flat-tax proposal hit the front page, but so-called Democrats are digging for gristle in the dumpster. We have data, history, and experience that can inform a strong message in opposition to a flat income tax, but the loudest voices in our party have gone hoarse from screaming into the void.
A declaration of support for Alani Bankhead from a member of the Montana Democratic Party is simply a reminder of the written mission to elect Democrats to local, statewide, and federal offices to ensure a government of the people, by the people, and for the people of Montana. It is no more controversial than the MSU president announcing support for the Bobcats football team.
My role as the chair of the Gallatin County Democrats is to pursue this mission to the best of my ability, and my commitment is fueled by my belief in that mission. As a leader, I owe my fellow members my judgment, and as a person, I owe myself a faithful adherence to my code of ethics. My approach has been forged by a life of service and my sworn oaths as an airman and an engineer, committing my skills and knowledge to the public good and in support of democracy.
I expect all four candidates in this race to be on the ballot following the withdrawal deadline of August 10. Should a surprise vacancy occur on the Democratic ticket, I will ensure another qualified candidate is nominated so we can continue our mission to serve the people of Montana and give our opponents the lumber in November.
by Guest Writer | Jul 10, 2026 | Democrats, Guest Articles, Independent, Working Class
Guest Post From Gallatin County
Joe Hancock, the Gallatin County Democratic Chair and President of the MSU-Bozeman chapter of MFPE-FOCUS #8521 was born and raised in Big Timber and served in the U.S. Air Force before returning to Montana. He is committed to strengthening relationships, finding common ground among urban and rural communities, and reestablishing Montana Democrats as the party of the working class.
Multiple people have asked me if the Gallatin Democrats would consider supporting Seth Bodnar, the independent candidate for the U.S. Senate, since Jon Tester has declared that a Democrat can’t win in Montana. I do not support Seth Bodnar’s candidacy. The mission of the Democratic Party is to support Democratic candidates for office.
Democrats across Montana are already struggling for resources to help local candidates after the consulting firm composed of former Democratic Party staff, Fireweed, pushed financial support to losing Republicans during the primary. Seth Bodnar is soaking up political donations that will be wasted on another destructive top-down campaign while county and state government candidates are left out in the cold.
Democrat In Disguise?
Seth Bodnar is trying to gaslight Montana voters, masquerading as an independent while actually being a milquetoast moderate Democrat. Despite characterizing himself as “building a different kind of campaign—powered by people who are done sitting on the sidelines and ready to fight for the kind of leadership Montana deserves,” his actions tell a different story. Seth Bodnar’s campaign is funded by prominent Democratic donors, endorsed by Democratic partner organizations, and operated by former Democratic Party consultants.
These consultants are unironically branding the Republican nominee in this race as “Washington’s hand-picked insider candidate, backed by the same partisan interests that have spent years ignoring working families.” Seth Bodnar was hand-picked by Tester and dodged a primary where he would have had to compete with stronger candidates to earn Montanans’ votes.
The Choice of An Aging Establishment
Seth Bodnar has not been focusing enough on Montanans. Instead, he has been hosting fundraisers in cities like Washington, D.C., Seattle, and Atherton, CA. His money comes from donors that know nothing and care not about what Montana’s working families need or deserve.
Seth Bodnar is the face of a new Know-Nothing Party led by his benefactors, Jon Tester, Max Baucus, and Marc Racicot. These retired politicians were relevant in a time when our state was stuck in a meaningless middle that ignored rural communities and alienated the voters who live in them.
A Uniparty State For The Future
Some hope that Seth Bodnar’s candidacy will lead to the end of the two-party system in Montana. That would only happen if the resulting fragmentation of progressive voters allows Republican power to galvanize, effectively making this a one-party state for the foreseeable future.
by Guest Writer | Feb 15, 2026 | Birthright Citizenship, Democrats, Indigenous People, Native Americans
Many of us remember Tim Sheehy’s racist comments during a fund raiser for his campaign for US Senate last fall. He told his audience about a trip to the Crow Reservation for a cattle branding event when he said, “Great way to bond with all the Indians out there while they’re drunk at 8 a.m.”
Despite repeated requests for an apology to Indian people Sheehy’s response was, “I come from the military, as many of our tribal members do. You know, we make insensitive jokes and probably off-color jokes sometimes,”
Now US Senate candidate, Michael Black Wolf, who is running in the Democratic Primary to challenge Steve Daines, has issued a statement challenging Sheehy’s decision to sign on to an amicus brief before the US Supreme Court challenging birth right citizenship in the United States. It is a major priority for the Trump Administration
Black Wolf is an enrolled member of the Aaniiihnen (Gros Ventre) Tribe. He has been the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer on the Fort Belknap Reservation since January 2014. He works closely with tribal historic preservation offices from the Great Plains States and surrounding regions. He is also running for US Senate in the Democratic Primary.
In his statement on the birthright citizenship challenge, which we are reprinting in full at the end of this post, Black Wolf said this about Sheehy, “He wants to replace our birth right with a litmus test of earning your citizenship through “singular allegiance”. Senator Sheehy is reviving the logic that being ‘too Indian’ makes you “less American”. Sheehy’s gross attempt to turn back the clock to a pre-1924 era is a sick attempt to use the supreme court to erase the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act.
Here is the full text of his statement:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MICHAEL BLACK WOLF for U.S. SENATE
Michael Black Wolf for United States Senate
PO Box 210 Hays, MT 59527
Media Contact: info@blackwolfformontana.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Feb. 3, 2026
Montana Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate Michael Black Wolf Issues Statement Regarding Senator Tim Sheehy Amici Curiae Brief Signing
HAYS – Senator Tim Sheehy signed a Supreme Court amici curiae brief with several other United States Senators and Representatives to challenge birthright citizenship. The brief explicitly utilizes Supreme Court legal precedents, specifically Elk v. Wilkens (1884), that were historically used to deny citizenship to Native Americans. This brief is a direct threat to Tribal sovereignty by weaponizing these supreme court decisions.
Sheehy is attempting to validate antiquated mind frames and legal interpretation from the 19th century which said that Indigenous People were “aliens” in our own lands, lands which my ancestors continuously occupied for thousands of years. Sheehy’s gross attempt to turn back the clock to a pre-1924 era is a sick attempt to use the supreme court to erase the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act.
Sheehy’s thinly veiled concealment of his attempt at taking away the long standing 14th Amendment Right of Citizenship millions of Americans rightfully have is revealed under the light of truth. It is a longstanding fact, if you are born in the United States of America, you are a citizen, no question. Sheehy’s brief attempts to frame that only those with “exclusive” loyalty are within U.S. jurisdiction. In fact, all people on this soil are subject to its laws and protections. He wants to replace our birth right with a litmus test of earning your citizenship through “singular allegiance”.
Senator Sheehy is reviving the logic that being “too Indian” makes you “less American”. This is a 19th-century prejudice being used as 21st-century law. All of Montana’s Tribal Nations, all Federally Recognized Tribal Nations and true Americans throughout the Country should be vehemently opposing this outrageous attempt at culling our fellow Americans from their birthright. For all Native Peoples in this country, this brief challenges the very foundation of dual citizenship and Tribal Sovereignty.
Even though there are many non-Natives who enjoy dual citizenship here in the United States and other countries throughout the world, Sheehy would have all of us believe the ridiculous notion that birthright citizenship is a “national security threat”. The brief compares the children of those without status to “invading soldiers”. The scathing irony is this: Native Americans, the original inhabitants of this land, were the first to be labeled “aliens” under this exact legal logic. We are the true First Americans.
Tim Sheehy had the audacity to pose with several members of my own People from the Fort Belknap Indian Community, smiling for a convenient “photo op” all the while hiding his intentions of attempting to take those individuals’ citizenship away with extreme prejudice along with the rest of us First Americans and this nation’s marginalized people.
I strongly encourage tribal leaders and tribal organizations to issue a unified statement condemning the use of anti-Native U.S. Supreme Court precedent as a weaponized attempt to rip away the rightful citizenship of Americans. Senator Sheehy’s brief is a “Constitutional vs. Statutory” trap. It is very dangerous to present a distorted argument that the 1924 Act that enacted the policy for Native American citizenship is a “gift” from Congress. If citizenship is merely a “gift” from Congress (statutory), it can be taken away by a future Congress as a statutory gift rather than a constitutional right from the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment was framed to be universal to prevent politicians from picking and choosing who counts as a person. Using historically racist Native American exclusion as a “model” for modern immigration policy suggests that citizenship for any group is temporary and subject to political whim. The 1924 Act merely corrected a historical refusal to acknowledge the constitutional truth that the 14th Amendment gives all born on this soil citizenship.
Montana deserves a Senator who understands that Tribal Sovereignty and American citizenship are not in conflict. Montana deserves a Senator who understands that both are foundational to our amazing states identity. That is why I am running for United States Senate. I will stand and fight for all Americans; not just a small select group of entitled people. In Montana, we don’t believe our rights are a “gift” from Washington—we know they are ours by birth, and we will not let 1880s logic dictate our 2026 future.
Michael Black Wolf
Democratic Candidate
United States Senate
by Ken Toole | Feb 11, 2026 | Democrats, Indigenous People, Native Americans, Whitewashing History
“Montana’s Indigenous People survived these attempts at erasure; to disregard this history undermines future generations and risks the repetition of these atrocities.” – Lance Fourstar
Last March Donald Trump issued an executive order titled, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History. Without getting into the details of the order, suffice it to say it is Trump’s effort to reshape historical facts to fit his bigoted view of history as a 1950’s western movie. And now it has landed in Montana at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument.
In a flurry of activity to comply with Trump’s order at Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana, exhibit text that described the United States being “hungry for gold and land” and breaking promises to Native Americans was ordered changed or removed. Another text describing how U.S.-run boarding schools for Indigenous children “violently erased cultural identities and language” was also deemed not to comply with Trump’s policy.
The whitewashing of history has attracted the ire of many people in Indian Country. The Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council voted unanimously, 11-0, to oppose any changes to existing displays at the monument. Northern Cheyenne fought at the battle along with Lakota and Arapaho Tribes. Northern Cheyenne Vice President Ernest Littlemouth said, “We’re here just to confront what Trump’s trying to do. We want to teach our youth our history. That’s why we got the signage up there.”
Fourstar, who is currently running for the House District 31 in the Montana Legislature, said, “Removing mentions of the United States breaking promises to Indigenous People and the violent erasure of cultural identities in U.S.-run boarding schools is an affront to historical truth. The effects of intergenerational trauma from these policies remain apparent today. We must protect the truth to ensure these harms are never repeated.”
For more information:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576908326703
https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-news/tribe-federal-officials-differ-over-proposed-sign-revisions-at-little-bighorn-national-monument
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2026/01/27/national-parks-signs-censorship/
