GOP: Person-to-person contact bringing victories in elections

In late October, Republican Bruce Meyers was going door to door on Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation looking for votes in his seemingly uphill effort to get elected to the Montana House in a district that includes Rocky Boy, Fort Belknap and some surrounding farms and ranches.

"They thought I was trick-or-treating," Meyers recalls with a laugh. People offered him candy.

Candidates had never gone door to door in Rocky Boy, he said. Democrats always assumed they would win.

The tactic apparently worked. though.

Meyers was elected, ousting Clarena Brockie of Harlem, who was seeking her second term as a Democrat.

That kind of person-to-person contact is that has helped Republicans win elections in the once-solid Democratic Hi-Line, said Andrew Brekke, Hill County Republican chair who has overseen a string of GOP successes in the past few years.

Republicans know they can win if they want it bad enough and are willing to work at it, he said.

People like the door-to-door contact, and Republicans have shown they are willing to get out and work for votes.

People are also excited to see new faces running, Brekke said. Democrats have nominated people who have served for years, and sometimes voters want to see someone new, he said.

Republicans have nominated candidates who want the job and are willing to work for it, he said.

Demographic changes and political currents notwithstanding, the GOP candidates' determination is what has made the difference, he said.

The current line of GOP victories started six years ago when Wendy Warburton was elected to the state House. That triggered GOP victories two years later, when the party had a clean sweep except for the heavily Democratic Native reservations.

This year, all Hi-Line representatives to Helena will be Republican, except for State Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, who is in the middle of his second four-year term.

The wins have emboldened Republicans. Many bristle when people call their wins upsets.

"It's not a revival any longer. We have staked our claim to the state Legislature - I think we've won 12 of the past 13 legislative races here," said State Sen.-elect Kris Hansen, who defeated longtime senator Greg Jergeson.

In winning, Hill County Republicans have overcome a nearly 2-1 enrollment Democratic enrollment edge.

Many Democrats, tired of their party's stands on issues such as social matters and gun rights, are willing to listen to Republicans make their case.

This is especially true of younger voters, they said.

"Havre is not a polarized community like Bozeman, where the left is far left and the right is far right with no middle to speak of," Hansen said. "Havre is a middle-of-the-road community and doesn't see eye-to-eye with the far left's gun-control, extreme environmentalist, big government philosophies."

Discussing issues such as Second Amendment rights is an effective way of getting through to young voters, Brekke said.

Younger people have been more receptive to his message on the reservations, Meyers said.

Natives tend to be social conservative and to the right on many issues, he said.

But there has been a dependence on the federal government to finance reservation programs for the poor, he said.

He has posed the question to people on the reservation: After decades of the present system "are you better off then you were 40 years ago?"

"For the overwhelming majority, the answer was no," he said.

He said Republicans followed his advice and have "gotten out of their comfort zone" by working and campaigning with Native groups.

Republican Sen.-elect Steve Daines and Rep.-elect Ryan Zinke campaigned on the reservation.

He remembered especially that Daines went around the reservation shaking hands with elders and young people, not just tribal leaders who are usually the focus of Democratic campaign efforts.

Such efforts have broken down longstanding apprehensions about Republicans, Meyers said.

"When I was growing up, I was taught 'don't trust anyone who is white, rich or Republican,'" he said.

Republicans say they know they will always have to work harder if they want to win in a county that has a 2-1 Democratic enrollment edge.

They have a harder time in presidential elections when there is generally a larger - and more Democratic turnout.

President Barack Obama carried the county in 2012 and Gov. Steve Bullock and Sen. Jon Tester won by large margins.

But in 2014, Daines carried the county, though not by the large margin he won by statewide.

And Democrats dominate the Hill County Courthouse.

Brekke said most county officeholders are not partisan Democrats, and finding candidates to oppose them are difficult.

Hansen and Brekke said they would like to see nonpartisan elections for some or all of the county offices.