Sheehy campaigns in Havre

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy made a campaign stop in Havre Tuesday, meeting with members of the Hill County Commission as well as a small group of local residents at Beaver Creek Perk early that morning.

Sheehy, running in the primary to face longtime Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, only drew a few people to the meet and greet, a turnout he didn't seem to mind.

"When it comes to events like this, the smaller the better," he said.

During the meeting he talked about a range of topics including the national debt and inflation which he thinks needs to be reduced, and his general opposition to government involvement in the economy, the economy being a priority for Montana voters.

He said the nation should be working toward energy independence and that Montana's potential for energy production is being stifled.

He also talked about the southern border which he thinks is too permissive, something he connected to terrorist attacks like the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers in 2001.

Sheehy also said he believes judges need to be supportive of police, not criminals.

As for more specific policy prescriptions, he said he is a big supporter of term limits, not just for elected officials but for government bureaucrats, citing the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and J. Edgar Hoover's tenure as FBI director as cautionary tales about how much power can accumulate if people stay in high-ranking positions for too long.

He said members of Washington D.C.'s "ruling class" have been in power for decades at a time and that the United States has, in many ways, returned to the monarchy that it originally rebelled against, and the country must return to a "citizen government."

He said he supports limiting terms for elected officials, but added that he wants to limit government bureaucrats to terms of no more than eight years.

Sheehy also said he wants to spread government agencies around the U.S. putting the United States Department of Agriculture, for example, in Iowa, not Washington, D.C.

He said governments on the local and state level should have more autonomy from the federal government as well.

Expanding on that, he said the executive branch has far too much power, and the consequences of that power in the hands of President Joe Biden warrant a change in leadership.

His most specific criticism of the Biden administration was the nation's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, which was almost immediately followed by a resurgent Taliban taking over the region.

Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL whose missions included in Afghanistan, talked about how painful it was for him and many of his fellow veterans to see all of their hard work discarded by the withdrawal and how it helped spurn him into politics.

Sheehy also talked about his campaign itself during the conversation, rejecting many of the criticisms against him as "character assassination."

He said his opponents can't fight him on the issues because they know they will lose, so they resort to personal attacks, which he said he would not.

However, he did express many criticism of his incumbent opponent's record, saying Tester supports an overly permissive southern border, was "anti-energy," "anti-Keystone XL Pipeline," "pro-inflation," and "pro-abortion," as well as too close progressive Democrats in general.

Sheehy also claimed that Tester has supported Iran, which Tester's office has said is completely untrue, as is the contention that Tester is "anti-energy," or against border security.

"Sen. Tester will take on anyone, including President Biden, to do what is best for Montana. That's why he has repeatedly fought for the Keystone XL Pipeline, pushed the president to do more to secure our southern border, and stood tough on Iran, including demanding that the White House freeze $6 billion in Iranian assets."

Tester has also repeatedly called for extra resources and technology to be used to reinforce the southern border.

As for the criticism that Tester supports abortion access, his office said he stands against "warrantless government surveillance on Americans and (will) make sure no politician can get in the way of a woman's right to make her own health care decisions."

However, Sheehy also contrasted himself with some other Republicans, saying that he tries to avoid "culture war issues" regarding the focus on some of these issues to be politically impractical, while at one point in the meeting express hostility toward the idea of transgender identity.