It’s Election Day 2025! Here are the topics for today’s column: 

• Election Day 2025
• Sheehy’s Voicemail
• Shutdown Day #35
• SNAP Partially Funded
• Trump on 60 Minutes
• One More Thing

ELECTION DAY 2025:

Today (Tuesday), there are Municipal General Elections across Montana. Information about the election in Great Falls can be found HERE. 

Here in Great Falls, I am supporting Jasmine Taylor for Mayor, Casey Schreiner for City Commission, and Matt Pipinich for City Commission. I hope you will join me.

There are also several important races all across the fruited plains.  

In Virginia and New Jersey, there are gubernatorial races. There is a race in New York City for mayor. In California, there is a statewide special election about redistricting. 

Make sure you get out and vote! 

SHEEHY’S VOICEMAIL:

A Helena City Commission candidate left a nasty voicemail for U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) in his Helena office. 

The National Review broke the story. Here is the transcript:

“Hi, this is Haley McKnight. I’m a constituent in Helena Montana, and I just wanted to let you know that you are the most insufferable kind of coward and thief. You just stripped away health care for 17 million Americans. And I hope you’re really proud of that,” McKnight said in an apparent reference to the GOP-passed reconciliation bill’s Medicaid reforms. “I hope that one day you get pancreatic cancer and it spreads throughout your body so fast that they can’t even treat you for it. I hope that you die in the street like a dog. I…oooooohh. One day you’re gonna live to regret this.”

The National Review contacted McKnight and reported the following:

Reached by phone on Monday morning, McKnight did not walk back the comments. Instead, she doubled down on her view that Sheehy is unconcerned with regular Montanans and is solely preoccupied with enriching himself and his personal business interests while in office.

I don’t condone threats being made to elected officials. Mature, educated people don’t make threats. I was a U.S. Senate staffer and received threats, including death threats. The U.S. Senate Field Office where I worked was vandalized several times.  

The interesting thing about this whole incident was that the voicemail was left at 1:10 pm on July 1, 2025. Today is November 4, and we’re just finding out about it? 

Either the Sheehy staffers need some training on how to promptly retrieve voicemails, or the information was released to try and defeat McKnight in the municipal election. I’m thinking the latter.

Sheehy’s team could also use some help answering constituent correspondence. I am beginning to think Tim Sheehy is an “accidental Senator” – he was in the right place at the right time and had the right amount of money to bankroll his candidacy and get it off the ground. He does not seem that interested in the job. 

The Helena IR covers the story HERE. The Montana Free Press (MTFP) covers the story HERE. 

SHUTDOWN DAY #35:

Today is day #35 of the Trump Shutdown. That ties the record for the longest shutdown. Guess what? Donald Trump was President during the other 35-day shutdown, which happened from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019. 

Do you see a pattern here? 

SNAP PARTIALLY FUNDED:

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that President Donald Trump’s administration said Monday that it will partially fund SNAP for November, after two judges issued rulings requiring the government to keep the nation’s largest food aid program running.

I am thankful for the Judicial branch – it’s about the only thing keeping the MAGAs in check. 

TRUMP ON 60 MINUTES:

President Donald Trump did an interview with Norah O’Donnell that aired on 60 Minutes Sunday night.  

Initial reports say that Trump lied or provided false information about 18 times. (Source)  O’Donnell tried her best to hang with Trump, but he was aggressive and did not let her control the interview. She was criticized heavily on social media for her interview.

You can read the transcript HERE. You can watch the extended interview HERE.  

ONE MORE THING:

Whenever I try to eat healthy, a chocolate bar looks at me and snickers…

## VOTE ##