Daines, Bullock go head-to-head race for U.S. Senate: Steve Bullock

Democratic Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who cannot run for re-election to that office due to term limits, is challenging the re-election bid of U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont.

Bullock said his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic is a testament to how he would be in the Senate.

"From the beginning, the federal government said this was locally executed, state managed and federally supported disaster, health emergency," Bullock said. "... We took aggressive actions up front in Montana, and those aggressive actions with Montanans responding is what, at the end of the day, has led us to the point where we're still among the lowest in the nation, and our economy is rebounding much quicker than most states in the country."

Too much has been put on the states to figure their way through this, from the lack of the unified testing strategies to personal protective equipment, he said.

"I hear in every corner of the state that folks are frustrated. D.C. doesn't work for them and even in the middle of a huge health and economic crisis it's too divided to tackle these problems," he said. "So the approach that I'd take in the Senate is just as I have as governor, to try to do what's right for all Montanans, bringing in Republicans and Democrats together."

He said Montana's Medicaid expansion, has not only been a lifeline to rural hospitals where Montana hasn't even lost one, but provided 90,000 Montanans with accessible care.

That is something Daines has been against every single step of the way, Bullock said.

"I think I'll be able to bring a perspective that, we've saw it in this past week, where any discussion about additional assistance ... they don't care about Democratic and Republican gains they just want to actually see stuff get done," Bullock said. 

He said he has a 12-year record in state government of actually getting things done for Montanans.

"Bringing people together - 100 percent of my accomplishments have been legislative accomplishments have been bipartisan, and knowing that Montanans care less about Democrats and Republicans than actually getting stuff done," he said. "As governor, I've never had the luxury just to give speeches or take six weeks off during the summer during a pandemic. 

"I think what we've been able to see is, both what I've done in the past working my best for all of the interests of Montanans and it's a real difference between Steve Daines and I," he added. "We cut the business equipment tax for every small business in the state and what you saw out of his tax cuts were trillions of dollars for literally the largest corporations, and what Montana's got is their share of trillions in (federal) debt where we actually balanced our budget in Montana and we put money away."

The federal government has seen an increase in the deficit even before COVID, he said.

He said in Montana, they worked across party lines to expand health care for Montanans, while Daines voted time and time again to strip away that coverage.

Daines has voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

"The real difference is who you are going to be fighting for. Just as I have as governor, I have tried to wake up each day and fight for all Montanans even those who may not always agree with me," Bullock said.

Multiple attack ads by PACS are running against Bullock and against his opponent as well.

"I don't watch that much TV," Bullock said, laughing. 

One attack ad against Daines says he helped Proctor and Gamble outsource jobs to China, but he and Proctor and Gamble say the jobs in China had nothing to do with job cuts in other countries including the US, just that Proctor and Gamble were developing new markets in China.

Bullock said he knows Daines helped set up factories in China that employed Chinese workers.

"To my understanding, he was working for Proctor and Gamble when American employees were laid off," Bullock said.

Montana has seen that jobs are lost to businesses shipping their profits and their employees overseas, and Daines never stood up for Montanans during that he stood up for the corporate tax breaks, Bullock said.

On an attack ad against Bullock featuring former Navy SEAL Robert O'Brien, who says he is the SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden, links Bullock with defunding the police, rioting, and anti-patriotism. 

"I was attorney general, the state's chief law enforcement, Montanans know we actually increased funding for the law enforcement and I don't support defunding the police," Bullock said. "I've always worked to honor our commitment to our veterans and those who've served and in the Senate I'll continue advocating on their behalf - that's everything from, that was Medicaid expansion helping 10,000 veterans and their families or fighting to secure funding for the veterans' home in Butte that Senator Daines voted against.

"I do think there's great division in our country," he added. "We have to address that division, but just as I have as governor, be it supporting the police or knowing that I'm standing as a commander in chief of the National Guard - sending soldiers and airmen into theatre, that's something I take very seriously."

Bullock said there are real differences between him and Daines, including health care, he said, when it comes to who is one fighting for, workers and small businesses or someone else?

"This is important to all Montanans in a number of different ways - we need an independent voice for all Montanans, not just party leaders, not just the corporate interests and I do believe if Washington worked more like Montana, where we set aside our differences and get things done, we would be better off," Bullock said. "... Last legislative session, reauthorizing Medicaid ... or getting the largest infrastructure bill passed in our state's history, especially coming out of the largest health crisis and economic crisis in about century we're going to need people to roll up their sleeves and get things done, not just sort of fall into their partisan talking points, and that's something I've always done as eight years as governor, and that's exactly what I'd do as senator is focus on results for Montanans."