On Sunday, September 22, candidate for U.S. Senate Tim Sheehy held rallies in Billings, Great Falls, and Kalispell with South Dakota’s Governor, Kristi Noem.
The rally in Billings was held in an airport hanger and was attended by over 300 people. Sheehy and Noem were introduced by local legislator Jodee Etchart of MT HD 51. Etchart preached the importance of “showing up” in winning elections, a consistent theme among the speakers.
Tim started by thanking Etchart, as well as the people of Montana for helping him to grow from a relative unknown who had never run for office to now leading in every major poll for the last six months, despite being largely outspent. Sheehy stressed the importance of this election, as Republicans need to pickup the one seat in Montana to secure a majority, a chance they will not have in 2026 or 2028. His main message was a request for attendees to go out and “talk to 10 or 20 people” and explain why they are voting for Sheehy, and perhaps convince them to do the same. He ended by offering defenses of his policy positions for attendees to use in such conversations.
He cited the current struggle of hospitals in the post-COVID world, and argued that heightened government regulation of the healthcare industry has harmed more than helped, as during COVID hospitals were not allowed to perform the elective procedures that kept them financially afloat. He promised to keep hospitals open, increase access, and drive down costs. Sheehy then defended his stance on public lands, first off citing the hypocrisy of Tester’s campaign ads, as Sheehy still serves as a water-bomber pilot to protect public lands. Much like his healthcare position, he has taken a small federal government approach, saying the Montana state and local governments should have “more of a say than D.C. bureaucrats and lobbyists” when it comes to Montana land.
Governor Noem also talked about the importance of showing up, asking the attendees to “go out and win the hearts and minds” of people either not planning to vote or planning to vote for Jon Tester. She told attendees to be “happy warriors”, and cited her personal experience of converting her in-laws to Republicans simply by “loving each other”.
Noem compared Jon Tester to former Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, as a Democrat that pretends to be moderate during election season, but votes consistently with Democrats most of the time. She connected Tester to the current Harris-Walz ticket, as Tester recruited Harris to run for Senate back in 2015. She painted Harris and Walz, and thus Tester, as radically liberal. She called out Tester for failing at the border, for not supporting law enforcement, and for failing to get support for farmers.
Senator Tester held a rally in Billings as well, on the same day. However, the press was not notified or invited. Tester appeared with Tiffany Muller, the president of End Citizens United, a group aimed to end the involvement of Super PACS in elections. Jon Tester has received more support from Super PACS than any other candidate this cycle.
