by Judy Killen
HUNTLEY — A national grassroots organization is visiting Montana voters in an effort to support the nomination of Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Marilyn Musgrave, vice president for government affairs for Susan B. Anthony List, told the Yellowstone County News in an interview Wednesday morning that the organization has targeted Montana as a “battleground” state in the upcoming November election and of key interest in the Kavanaugh nomination and confirmation hearings.
She said more than 500 volunteers are blanketing the state this week in an effort to persuade them to ask Sen. Jon Tester to confirm Kavanaugh in time for the next Supreme Court session to begin on Oct. 1.
The idea is that after the Susan B. Anthony List volunteers contact them, those voters contact Tester or one of his local representatives to ask him to vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
The group’s intent for Tester is to “give him yet another chance to do the right thing,” Musgrave said. “I hope that he will listen to his constituents.”
She said Tester voted against confirming Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017.
“We work really hard to elect good people,” she said, noting that President Donald Trump carried Montana in the 2016 election by 20 percentage points. They want to continue — and, hopefully, build on — that success in this election, she said.
People tend to respond positively to personal contact, she said.
“You see TV ads, you hear a lot of radio,” Musgrave said, “but there’s something so personal about having someone show up at your door.”
She’ll be in Montana through Friday, she said, but Susan B. Anthony List volunteers will stay in Montana through the election, with special attention as absentee ballots go out to voters on Oct. 12.
“We’re getting close to the election and so everything intensifies,” she said.
The organization wants to reach as many individual voters as possible, she said, noting recent surveys that show the Montana U.S. Senate race is close.
“If the polls are right, a few people can make all the difference,” she said.
