Montana Democratic Party Leader Pushes Back on National Narratives About Quist Race

Hours before Thursday’s Montana special election, which features self-styled ‘Bernie Sanders Democrat’ Rob Quist, the head of the Montana Democratic Party made a number of comments to TYT Politics that may run counter to perceptions of the race you may have seen in the national media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1JC8h9FReA

Asked if the nomination of Quist should be regarded as a shift in direction for the party — perhaps representing an accommodation of an emergent, populist Sanders wing — Nancy Keenan, executive director of the Montana Democrats, replied in the negative.

“I don’t think it’s a shakeup of the status quo,” she said. “I think he’s a guy that looks like Montana, is Montana, and is to his bones, he’s the fabric of Montana.” Notwithstanding his reputation as an insurgent seeking to capitalize on Sanders’ successes, there’s reason to believe that Quist actually represents continuity for Montana Democrats, rather than any kind of radical departure.

To the question of whether national dynamics have any relevance for the state of things in Montana — whether broader anti-Trump resentment is translatable into local electoral outcomes — Keenan said she’s in regular contact with “Indivisible” groups that have sprouted up to oppose Trump. “I communicate daily as much with the [local Indivisible] groups across the state as I do with my Central Committees.” She said she liaised with the groups to orchestrate protests when Mike Pence visited the state earlier this month.

As for whether the unrelenting focus by national Democrats on Trump’s potential collusion with Russia is resonant in Montana, Keenan averred: “I think mostly it preoccupies the people in DC… what’s happening 24/7 on the news […] doesn’t consume their day-to-day living.”