Originally published in the print edition of Yellowstone County News on 11/18/16.
The dust is now settling on one of the most successful elections for the Montana Republican Party in modern times. I want to report what we accomplished, who we all want to thank for their contributions of time and treasure, and what our plans are for the future.
Statewide — federal
Montana Republicans were successful in 6 of the 7 statewide races on the ballot. Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by nearly 100,000 votes in Montana, and Congressman Zinke beat Denise Juneau by 16 percentage points. I am happy that Nancy Pelosi burned $500,000 in her wasted effort to help Juneau, revealing the lack of appeal of the Democrat message in Montana. This was a huge strategic mistake for Montana Democrats and with Trump’s election Juneau now has no backup plan.
Statewide— state
Montana Republicans were successful in winning four of the five races for the Land Board. Corey Stapleton was elected Secretary of State, where he will lead an effort to restore integrity to our election process, including eliminating the improper practice of strangers collecting voted ballots and adopt measures to insure that people are not voting in multiple states.
Tim Fox was re-elected as Attorney General, where he can continue to fight government overreach by the EPA and other agencies.
Matt Rosendale was elected Auditor, where he will be busy implementing whatever comes out of the new Congress and President to Repeal and Replace Obamacare. And finally, Elsie Arntzen was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction, where she will be returning control to our local school boards and parents. Our only loss was that of the governor’s race.
Greg Gianforte fought a hard and expensive race, but was unable to overcome millions of dollars in spending by the Democrats and their Dark Money allies. However, the fact that his race drew all the fire enabled us to elect all our other candidates by huge margins. We owe Greg and Susan a debt of gratitude. Thank them when you see them.
Public Service Commission
I want to first congratulate Tony O’Donnell for read more
