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I’ll never get over the “dispatches from the provinces” tone of these New York Times/Montana articles it’s wild. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/us/politics/montana-senate-bullock-daines.html?referringSource=articleShare
Wow we’re really gonna do this, huh?:
Ok I’ve got ten mins and a cup of coffee I’m gonna live-tweet my reading of this article unless it becomes too frustrating and/or offensive to me and my state :)
My bona fides, should the NYT question my Montana-ness: I’m a 34 yr old white male sitting in an old Adirondack chair on a week day with a dog at my feet and a view of mountains in the distance. It is 74 and sunny and it is late July.
Yes I am wearing a trucker cap.
Yes I am wearing a trucker cap.
I am also a sitting Democratic state legislator who flipped a Trump district and ran for Congress. But I digress!
I knew they’d do it. “Red-leaning” is East Coast code for “naturally beautiful state in which I will one day buy a second home bc Montauk/the Cape is too expensive”.
We have had Democratic governors for 16 yrs! We’re as blue-leaning as we are red!
We have had Democratic governors for 16 yrs! We’re as blue-leaning as we are red!
Ok the stuff on Bullock is good! But again the weird assumption that we’re all just baseline Republicans infects every. part. of. the. analysis.
Bullock “managed” to win re-election.
“.... difficult enough for a Democrat in a red state.”
....followed by a quote from our sitting Democratic Senator. And the acknowledgement that Montana had an alll-Democratic Senate delegation *for a century*.
“.... difficult enough for a Democrat in a red state.”
....followed by a quote from our sitting Democratic Senator. And the acknowledgement that Montana had an alll-Democratic Senate delegation *for a century*.
If I have to hear ONE MORE TIME that Bozeman got a Lululemon and that *means something* I swear to god.
The use of Bozeman v Billings is instructive here. Not one mention of Missoula, the second largest city in the state and *reliably* Democratic.
But it doesn’t fit the narrative that Democrats cannot exist in rural areas.
Plus it doesn’t have a direct flights to LGA!
But it doesn’t fit the narrative that Democrats cannot exist in rural areas.
Plus it doesn’t have a direct flights to LGA!
Ok I need to take a break to clean my collection of rifles, chop some firewood for winter, move rusty things in a pickup, and plot ways to ensure all my neighbors (who are ~80% Democrats) will be able to get to the polls in our next election.
Leaning red!
Leaning red!
I'm back. Man it was tough for the last couple hours being a Democrat outside of a major city and/or Bozeman! I ran my errands, picked up lunch at a Korean restaurant located on the Flathead Reservation, texted a friend...
...who works in public health and is promoting community compliance with Gov Bullock's mask order, and am now helping my sister build a patio. She is studying inequality and social justice at the local university.
Red state livin!
Red state livin!
What I'm getting at is the *continued* erasure of the varied lives and peoples (not least Native Americans, who were barely mentioned in this article other than as a reliably Democratic constituency) at the hands of coastal news outlets.
The rural West isn't New York, so stop trying to twist it to fit the Upstate/Downstate Republican/Democrat divide.
This matters bc national donors - national political orgs - take their cue from national media outlets.
Montana and places like it will *actually* turn red if we are starved of resources bc the imagination of coastal groups cannot comprehend the varied, heterogeneous, and at times strange expressions of partisan and personal identity in interior states.
This failure of the imagination erases places like Butte, known for years as "The Gibraltar" of labor. Missoula, w/ its long tradition of collective social action & dedication to justice (cc Jeanette Rankin). Libby, w/ its history of pollution due to a predatory asbestos company.
And every one of the 8 reservations and tens of thousands of Native Americans that are vital, living parts of Montana society.
Thank you for allowing me to rant! I'll leave with something I didn't notice at first. This picture from the article was taken *in my legislative district*, during my campaign for the statehouse. I remember that night, I remember his voice echoing off the mountains of our valley.
I remember this bc I was canvassing in the same neighborhood, and I was convinced that Trump being here meant I was going to lose. Here was THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES in my little neighborhood of 10,00 people, shouting at my voters (who had voted Republican before!).
I thought I was screwed. And worse, I thought Sen Tester was, too. Trump came to Montana 4 times in an attempt to sway us to vote against Senator Tester. It was an unprecedented (and possibly illegal) use of the bully pulpit of the presidency on such a small population.
But he failed. Montanans - that red state - did the weird thing, the unexpected thing, or maybe *the thing we always do*. We voted with our consciences. We voted for Senator Tester. And I won my district (that had voted for President Trump +11 points) by 39 votes.
A happy ending to a long thread :)
Now read this (it's Wyoming, but still): https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/06/zarif-khans-tamales-and-the-muslims-of-sheridan-wyoming
Now read this (it's Wyoming, but still): https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/06/06/zarif-khans-tamales-and-the-muslims-of-sheridan-wyoming
