Why Today Might be the Day I’m Disappointed to be a Montanan

Wednesday night, Greg Gianforte and the Montana state of mind

In order to understand how Greg Gianforte was elected just one day after assaulting a reporter, you have to know a little bit about the state.

If you come to Montana, you’ll find a variety of almost anything you can imagine; from small towns of less than twenty, to cities of over 100,000. You’ll find plains and over 100 mountain ranges, skyscrapers and grain elevators. And of course, at some point you’ll run into the people of Montana.

Montanans are a little different from the rest of the nation, which can be both a blessing and a curse. Montana is a little different because it’s quite possibly the most isolated state in the country (with the obvious exceptions of Alaska and Hawaii. You might be thinking “Well it’s no more isolated than any other state”, but it is.

Only Wyoming, Vermont, North and South Dakota, Alaska and Delaware have smaller populations. Parts of Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Delaware are all within a three hour drive of a major cities; Denver, Minneapolis, Omaha and countless major east coast cities. Montana, however, is different.

The nearest major city to Montana’s most major city (Billings) is Denver, which is nearly 600 miles away. This gives Montana a little different view of the world than everyone else.

I have spent my entire life in Montana (with the exception of nine months I spent living on the North Dakota/Minnesota border). At first, like most young people, I hated it. I hated the isolation. I hated not getting anything “exciting” or “fun”. But when I came back, I fell in love with the state.

Montana’s isolation is part of it’s charm, we are a bit of a mystery up here. We have a different way of thinking. A tend to want to discard the thoughts of those on the outside.

No, we don’t ride our horses to school, yes we have internet, no we don’t only have two types of music. When you tell someone you’re from Montana, it’s a source of pride… or at least it used to be. Now, Montana’s isolation seems to be its downfall.

Since I moved back to Montana in 2009, I’ve watched people in the state change. Like much of the nation, we’ve become more polarized when it comes to politics, and that has never been more evident than it has over the last seven months.

In November, Montanans elected Donald Trump by a nearly two to one margin over Hillary Clinton, just as he did in most red states, especially in our region.

But that was a national election. That Montana went for Trump never surprised me. The closest the Democrats have come to winning the state in a presidential election since 1992 was in 2008 when Obama lost by only 2% to John McCain. Outside of that, Montana has gone red in every election since 2000 by nearly 20 points.

It’s never been any illusion to me that Montana is a red state. I know that. I live with it. When it comes to our Senators and Governors, Montana has always bounced between Democrat and Republican. But that’s about the only place you’ll see blue. The State Legislature is over 60% Republican. Since our representation in the House was reduced to one in 1992, Republicans have controlled the seat since 1997. So when it was announced that Ryan Zinke, our Congressman since 2015 would become the Secretary of the Interior under Donald Trump, I was under no illusion that the seat would stay with the Republican Party; then I found out who was nominated.

The Montana GOP nominated Greg Gianforte, the failed 2016 gubernatorial challenger to Democrat Steve Bullock (who is not particularly revered in the state). Gianforte was perceived to be an outsider from New Jersey; Montanans are not particularly fond of outsiders. Gianforte was defeated by the incumbent Bullock by nearly 4%.

I was surprised by the nomination. Gianforte wasn’t particularly highly regarded, but then the Democrats nominated a weak candidate in Rob Quist, who they did a poor job of vetting, as it eventually came out that he had issues with debts and questionable financial claims, I realized it did not matter that Gianforte was not well regarded; any perceived weakness in a Democrat is death in the state.

I held out a bit of hope the state would opt for the Montanan over the out-of-state millionaire, not because I thought he was a good candidate, rather because he was (in my opinion) a better representative of the state having lived here his entire life. Despite this, from the beginning it did not look good.

Gianforte received endorsements from the three major newspapers of Montana: The Billings Gazette, The Bozeman Daily Chronicle and from the most liberal part of the state, The Missoulan.

Then on the eve of the special election, May 24, Greg Gianforte was charged with misdemeanor assault for attacking a reporter.

Over the next 24 hours, I watched as Gianforte’s supporters found reason after reason to justify the assault.

On many political issues, I have some amount understanding why they are so divisive. But this one seemed pretty cut and dry. A candidate for Congress assaulted a reporter for asking a simple policy question.

Yet, I watched as many of my fellow Montanans called the reporter names, blamed him and accused the “liberals” of some plot. Even after the audio came out. Even after Fox News, known around the nation for its conservative sympathies backed the story of the reporter. Even after charges were filed against Gianforte, it stayed a partisan issue.

Then election day came. I watched hopefully thinking that maybe, just maybe, the state I love would give the nation an example of overcoming the partisanship that has started to divide it over the last decade. My heart was hoping, but my brain knew better. After all, Montana did not bat an eye at Trump’s various (sexual) assault allegations, nor his dodgy financial dealings (which somehow became an issue for Montanans regarding Quist).

Then I woke up this morning and Mr. Gianforte had become Congressman Gianforte. Despite being charged with assault, Montana could not overlook the divide between Democrat and Republican. Somehow, a man who can not handle being asked a simple question was better than a guy who had struggled financially.

How much of this had to do with Montanan’s disdain for the outside world? How much of it was about wanting to “stick it to the man” and the “liberals”?To me, it was about all of that. A need to buck the outside world, a need to not fall in line. A hatred of the media that has become sadly prevalent over the last two years.

So today, for the first time, I sit here disappointed in my state. In the great people of my state. We somehow decided condoning behavior such as Gianforte’s on Wednesday was okay. Our want to be independent from the influence of the outside world, made us look to the rest of the nation like the most ignorant state in the union.

Gianforte stayed silent throughout the day Thursday. He apologized during his victory speech.

In 2017, towing the party line is officially more important than being a decent human being.