Thanks for starting your week with The Western Word. Here are the topics for today’s column:

• Municipal General Election
• Sheehy -More Missed Votes 
• MT-01 Dem Candidates
• One More Thing

MUNICIPAL GENERAL ELECTION:

Great Falls Mayor Cory Reeves, who is running for reelection, posted a photo of his city of Great Falls paycheck for being the mayor. That was very odd.

The amount of the check was 0.00. Reeves commented about the photo, writing:

If you had any doubt that I only serve as Mayor for the pay, well, here is a copy of my paycheck! In fact, I write the City a check every month for $102.00 to serve as your Mayor. This isn’t about money for me, it’s about being a public servant and moving our City forward, together.

A little later on, he explained:

…after taxes, my net is $36, but because we are on City health insurance, the split is 80/20 so therefore I write my $102 monthly check to the City. Not complaining, just making sure all know I don’t serve for some “big” paycheck, which is often referred to! 

The horror! The horror! 

I doubt Reeves posted it to show he does not get a “big” paycheck. I wonder if he is planning on trying to raise pay for the mayor and commissioners, which means the taxpayers will be paying more. They can do that by voting themselves an increase, just like they can do in Congress.

The mayor and commissioners probably need a pay raise with all the increases in taxes, rates, and fees they have imposed on the citizens of Great Falls in the past few years!

SHEEHY -MORE MISSED VOTES:  

I was checking to see how my two Senators voted last week and saw that Montana’s junior U.S. Senator, Tim Sheehy, missed more votes. 

Sheehy missed three votes (#585-587) on October 23. (Source) 

One of the votes (#585) was a “bill to appropriate funds for pay and allowances of excepted Federal employees for periods of work performed during a lapse in appropriations…” 

The other two votes he missed on October 23 were to confirm a federal judge and to invoke cloture on the nomination of a federal judge. 

I checked his official website and could not find any information about the missed votes. The website Govtrack.us reports that Sheehy has missed 18 votes in 2025. (Source) 

MT-01 DEM CANDIDATES:

There are at least two Democrats who plan to run for Congress in the MT-01 Congressional District. 

In case you missed it, the Montana Free Press (MTFP) reported last week about Russell Cleveland and Matt Rains:

One month after pledging to fight for more of the state’s rural vote, Democrats have fielded not one but two western House district candidates with ranch roots and military experience.

Russell Cleveland, 40, of rural Stevensville, who has been a candidate since March, drew a challenger Thursday in Simms native Matt Rains. Both tout ranching family roots and Republican parents. Cleveland is a former aviation electrician in the U.S. Navy. Rains is a West Point graduate and Army Black Hawk helicopter pilot. 

The MT-01 race may be the Democrats’ best (only?) shot to win a race in Montana in 2026, but incumbent Republican Ryan Zinke will be tough to beat. He won his last race by about 8 percentage points. 

There will be the Trump factor. Although Trump is well-liked in Montana, he is not doing well in the polls nationally. Who knows what shenanigans he will pull to anger the independents and moderates between now and November 2026? 

It appears that the Montana Democrats have some hope, and hope is a wonderful thing to have. 

ONE MORE THING:

Kids today are soft. I died once when I was five, and my mom made me walk it off.  

## HAVE A GREAT WEEK ##