As The Missoulian pointed out, Montana’s Democrats underperformed among Native Americans in the 2022 midterm election. Congressman Ryan Zinke (R-MT01) performed very well in western Native American support in places like Glacier County, while Congressman Matt Rosendale (R-MT02) also performed well in eastern Montana.
If you read the Missoulia article, what is the answer from the Montana Democrats as to why they did so poorly? Excuses, excuses, excuses. That’s basically all we got from the Democrats here in Montana if you ask me. They not only lost both congressional elections in the east and west, but also in the legislature. They will have a super-minority in the state legislature in the coming session, which starts in January.
David Knobel came up to me on the radio recently and made a great point as we were discussing this story. One of the excuses they come up with here for doing so poorly in Indian Country is that the Democrats are basically saying that Native Americans didn’t know where to vote. They didn’t know where the polling stations were. What? Are the Montana Democrats seriously claiming that Native Americans couldn’t figure out how to vote, and that’s why Native Americans didn’t show up to vote for you? Unbelievable.
What’s another excuse. It was cold outside on election day. Serious? Are you kidding me? Native Americans learned how to survive in the bitter cold of Montana long before you and I got here.
And then they basically had another excuse. They claim that local voters are not that enthusiastic about the midterm elections. Well, that goes for non-native voters too.
That’s just shocking when you think about what Montana Democrats are actually saying about Native Americans across Montana.
To me, there are a couple of obvious reasons why Indians not only didn’t want to turn up in large numbers for the Democrats, but why more and more turned up for the Republicans. Who do you think is suffering most from Jon Tester and Joe Biden and Democrat politics right now? Gas prices, inflation, the fentanyl crisis on the Blackfeet Reservation — these are hitting the rural areas, and our reservations in particular, much harder than even the larger Montana cities.
I also think that respect matters, as Congressman Zinke pointed out in the Missoulia article mentioned above:
Zinke said he believes he got support in Glacier County “because I have tremendous respect for the Blackfeet Nation. Blackfeet are warriors,” he said. “And I respect warrior culture…
The Democrats and their “Washington knows best” policies have been disrespectful to Montanans overall, especially when it comes to tribal energy projects.