I cannot thank you enough for being a part of this team. Over the past year your generous donations, hours of volunteering time, and outreach to your friends and neighbors absolutely blew me and our candidates away. Thank you for being part of this fight with us. We wanted to send you an update on how Tuesday night went:
We went into the 2022 Midterm election clear-eyed. Every odd was stacked in the Republicans’ favor– they had the map, the national environment, the money and the name recognition.
Our candidates worked hard and we significantly outperformed national Democrats and beat back against a bleak national environment. We are proud of the incredible work of our candidates and our volunteers. We had some tough losses and some remarkable wins.
- Democrats flipped a Trump+14 seat by ten points (HD 28).
- We won a Trump+2 district (HD 84) and we flipped a district that Trump tied (HD 96).
- We held the two highest-profile Senate races that were heavily targeted by the Republicans and outside groups – Sen. Pat Flowers and Sen-elect Willis Curdy.
- Montanans sent a loud and clear message that they do not want Governor Gianforte to be able to buy his own Supreme Court justice and soundly defeated Lobbyist Jim Brown at the polls.
- Montanan voters also delivered a strong message that they do not want legislators to insert themselves into their private health care decisions.
Monica Tranel put up an excellent fight against Ryan Zinke – and held him within less than 4 points in a district he was heavily favored to win, while outperforming Joe Biden’s numbers in the district.
Ryan Zinke won his races with a stunningly low margin, despite having name recognition, despite favorable national electoral conditions for Republicans, despite a R+6 map, and despite outraising his opponent three to one, funded by out-of-state PACs and special interests.
The truth is more people voted against Ryan Zinke than for him.
We also suffered some tough, very narrow losses on Tuesday - but we are so proud of our candidates and how hard they worked. We managed to hold off a red wave – the Republicans now have a supermajority in the legislature, but not by a big margin. They may have a numerical supermajority, but they likely will not have a functional one. The Republican caucus in the legislature is very divided, and in order to pass extreme ballot initiatives and come after the constitution, they’ll need their entire caucus to fall in line: they can’t afford any of their members voting against them. All the Democrats have to do is convince a few moderates not to dismantle the constitution.
Our legislators heading to Helena in January are battle-tested advocates who are ready to get to work to build a Montana that’s better for all of us. Montana Democrats will lead—like always—on the issues that actually matter to Montana families: increasing affordable housing and child care, investing in our schools and our health care system, protecting our constitutional rights and making sure billionaires are pulling their fair share.
The fight continues. We are wasting no time – we’ve got our eyes on the legislative redistricting process (which kicks off this month), the 2023 session and the 2024 Election. Join us in holding the Republicans accountable.
Thank you so much,
Sheila
The Montana Democratic Party is the party of the people. We welcome to our cause Montanans of every color, creed, and condition. Our history as a party teaches us that by working together and speaking as one, we can move society forward, especially when we raise our voices for those among us with little money, influence, or acceptance.
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