KALISPELL – The weather was cold in the Flathead on Monday, but for some Republicans, the fervor over this year’s midterm elections still had not cooled off. It was enough to bring several hundred of them to Kalispell to see Vice President Mike Pence.
Pence stopped in the hopes of electing Matt Rosendale to the U.S. Senate and Representative Greg Gianforte to full-term in the House.
The rally topics included economic reform, immigration, and control of the Supreme Court.
There were no early morning lineups and while many of the attendees said they had already voted, they were interested in seeing the Vice President and showing support for the GOP ticket.
With Senators Lindsey Graham and Cory Gardner standing by, Gianforte and Rosendale both made one final pitch for votes.
“We’re getting America back on track and the American dream is back,” Gianforte said.
“To help Steve Daines and Greg Gianforte represent the people of Montana. That’s what I’m going to do,” Rosendale said.
As with other rallies across the state, many messages criticized Montana’s senior senator, Jon Tester, for not supporting President Trump and his nominees for the VA and Supreme Court.
“Matt Rosendale is a man who will stand for the conservative values of the people of this state,” Pence said. “I think it’s time to vote ‘no’ on Jon Tester and vote to make Matt Rosendale the next Senator from the great state of Montana.”
But the Democrats have been just as busy. Both Tester, and House candidate Kathleen Williams had packed schedules through the weekend.
“I think the reason Matt Rosendale is bringing all these people into the state is because, quite frankly he wants to privatize our public lands,” Tester said. “He wants to privatize education. He wants to kick people off healthcare that have pre-existing conditions. He wants more dark money into these races. He can’t campaign on that stuff in Montana or Montanans will vote for me. So he’s got to deflect and distract.”
On Monday in Black Eagle, Tester and Williams held a Get Out the Vote rally at the Black Eagle Community Center with Governor Steve Bullock, Lieutenant Governor Mike Cooney, and Supreme Court Clerk democratic candidate Rex Renk.
The rally touched upon issues concerning voting, public lands, and healthcare.
Now that the candidates have fired their closing arguments, it’s up to the voters.
-Reported by Dennis Bragg/MTN News
