Jonathan McNiven
Well, Folks, as many of you saw on the front page of our newspaper this week, we have made the choice to endorse Montana U.S. Senate Candidate Tim Sheehy over MT Senator Jon Tester. This decision was not taken lightly as we have never publicly endorsed a candidate before in this manner in the 10 years since taking the helm. There were a number of additional reasons for doing this that I felt were more appropriate in my Meanderings column than in our editorial column. If you agree or disagree, please send us a letter to the editor and let us know at letters@yellowstonecountynews.com. Make it 500 words or less and put your name at the bottom of your letter with your town or city. We’ll get it in our next week’s paper.
But before explaining why, I want to remind you that we will publish our special edition of “Meet the Candidates” questionnaire and responses in next week’s paper for all the local candidates. The absentee ballots go out in the mail Friday, October 4th so their response will allow our readers to get to know them a little better.
Here are some additional things I considered in endorsing a candidate. 1. If you remember in our August 30 edition of YCN, we ran a story in regards to an unprecedented number of Yellowstone County current and former officials, 60 to be exact, put out a statement endorsing Tim Sheehy for Montana’s U.S. Senate campaign as they saw the historical significance of this Montana race on a national level. All of these officials are active in the Yellowstone County area from commissioners, city council members, mayor and elected state legislators. I’m sure they have a good pulse on the race in Yellowstone County and their constituents, even when some were staunch Matt Rosendale supporters, all came together in unity of Tim Sheehy. The number of them all coming together showed strength in numbers. I believe 80% or more of those get the Yellowstone County News so they would be in favor of our decision to endorse as they are our readers as well.
- The top two Montana voter issues from recent polls are the economy and border security. I found it very interesting that Jon Tester has not been a very strong voice on border security over his 18 years in U.S. Congress but then “demanded” we secure our border publicly on his campaign website in January 2024 now that his re-election conversion campaign kicked off. He’s voted more than 90% of the time with the Biden/Harris agenda and, in fact, was the vote in many controversial votes in the last years which seem to not align with Montana sentiments. But these recent votes were not the straw that broke the camel’s back, but his track record the last 18 years in Congress is plenty of material to filter through to see where he really stands. Look at the record, not just his campaign talking points. Montana residents are not low information voters, but informed citizens that will call a spade a spade and know how to filter through the campaign jargon out there.
- As the owner and publisher of the Yellowstone County News for 10 years and involved in local politics since about 2008, I have not seen Jon Tester visit this area hardly at all as other elected officials have. I’ve seen Governor Greg Gianforte, Zinke, Daines, and other US Congressman like Matt Rosendale stop by office many times just to say “Hi”, but I can’t remember Jon Tester ever taking the time in his 18 years in Congress to stop by our newspaper and do a sit-down interview or even call our newspaper or even send us information unless its campaign time. In fact, the first time I remember his campaign even reaching out to me personally was this year when they sent out their “Republicans for Tester” press release. Other than that, crickets. On the other hand, Tim Sheehy has been very active pounding the pavement and meeting with lots of folks. Tim Sheehy even came by our office in August and did an interview with my reporter (even though I was not able to be here). Tim Sheehy took the time to get to know our staff, do an interview and talk about the issues that face our readers in this area. I expect Tim Sheehy to do more of that if elected, not just show up during campaign season. It’s not like our newspaper office is located in a very obscure location in Montana in Tim-buk-tu, we are located next to the biggest city in Montana so he could have stopped by at least once in his 18 years.
Finally, the importance of this Montana Senate seat will possibly affect the layout of the U.S Senate and legislation for years to come. If Montana voters have any say in how they want our country to run and what kinds of policies they want to see, then its paramount that we all vote as it will come to voter turnout in Montana. As 80% of Yellowstone County residents vote absentee ballot, we will report on the results regardless if they are in favor or not of Jon Tester.
In the meantime, see you in the paper, or listen on the radio or online at www.ycnsports.com
JDM
