Editor's Note: After publication of this story, Montana Democratic Party chair Shannon O'Brien announced that Jonathan Wind Boy has withdrawn from the race amid allegations of sexual abuse. More reporting to come.
Democrats seeking their party's nomination for the state's U.S. House seats met in Helena last weekend to debate. The eastern district candidates differed in their plans to address health care costs. In the western district debate, candidates traded sharp criticisms over union backing and 'dark money.'
Eastern district Democrats differ on health care fixes
Democrats competing to represent eastern Montana in the U.S. House took to the debate stage in Helena this past weekend. The three candidates covered many issues, including how they each plan to address health care costs.
The Democrats vying for their party’s nomination to run in the eastern district are Brian Miller, a Helena attorney, Sam Lux, a farrier from Great Falls, and Jonathan Windy Boy, a state senator from Box Elder.
They agree on several issues, including opposing the Iran war and repealing the One Big Beautiful Bill. They argue the bill’s cuts to Medicaid funding will be detrimental to rural Montana.
On health care costs, Miller says the Affordable Care Act hasn’t worked because of its broad mandates. He proposed having each state create their own public health care systems.
“So let’s let it come from the ground up. Some states will come up with good ideas, some will try things. Let’s let the experimentation occur and it’s going to take a minute. We have to be patient,” Miller said.
Lux agreed that the ACA is not working as intended. He called for repealing the subsidies recipients use to pay for private health coverage on the marketplace. He said that funding should instead go toward building a single-payer system; A system, “That can actually provide basic coverage, opt-in coverage, for every single American.”
Windy Boy says he supports a universal health care model. But said he’s more concerned with the recent funding cuts and tighter eligibility requirements for Medicaid expansion.
“If the best we can get out of this Congress is having Medicaid reinstituted back in the system, I’ll support that, too.”
Whoever wins the primary will face Republican incumbent Rep. Troy Downing, who’s unopposed in the GOP primary. Libertarian Patrick McCracken and independent Michael Eisenhauer are also in the race.
Union support, 'dark money' divide western district Democratic candidates
The race is heating up for Democrats in Montana’s western congressional district. The four candidates have largely been cordial, but traded sharp criticisms during a Helena debate over the weekend.
The candidates are Matt Rains, a veteran and Simms rancher, Sam Forstag, a Missoula smokejumper and organizer, Russell Cleveland, a veteran and entrepreneur from St. Regis, and Ryan Busse, a Kalispell author and former firearms executive.
Cleveland was the first to aim criticism at Forstag for being endorsed by the federation of unions, AFL-CIO. Cleveland argues Forstag will be beholden to their support of data centers in Montana.
“We have to be careful about who we hitch our wagon to," Cleveland said. "Now is not the time for picking the best show pony. It’s picking who’s going to stand up for the best interests of Montana.”
Busse accused Forstag of encouraging dark money to flood the race.
“One of the tenets of my campaign is that I think we should hold ourselves to a higher standard – Democrats to a higher standard,” Busse said.
Forstag responded that he’s not taking corporate PAC donations, and returned fire for both Busse and Cleveland for running with vast personal wealth. He said he’s proud to be endorsed by unions.
“We got folks on this stage, someone who’s worth $25 million, coming after the only working class candidate in this race for support from labor unions. We should be outraged,” Forstag said.
Rains was left largely unscathed by his opponents. He’s taking a looser approach to campaign finance and accepting PAC money, saying it’s going to take millions of dollars to run the race until November.
“As much as I love to know that the grassroots movement is there and split four ways, it’s not going to get us across the finish line and we’re going to be looking at a Republican back in Congress representing Montana,” Rains said.
Whoever wins the June 2 Democratic primary will advance to the general election. The western House seat is open as Republican incumbent Ryan Zinke did not seek reelection.
