Montana
Montana deserves better than attack ads and political junk food • Daily Montanan
Let’s talk about attack ads. You know the ones—ominous music, grainy photos, and a narrator who sounds like they gargle gravel for a living. We’ve all seen them. We’ve all heard them. And at this point, we’re anesthetized. Political Novocaine.
Enough.
Montana deserves better than campaigns that treat voters like raccoons rummaging through ideological trash cans. We deserve ideas, not insults. Debates, not drive-by smear jobs. Sunlight, not sludge.
And that brings us—unavoidably—to incumbent Sen. Steve Daines.
Rather than showing up in Montana for public town halls, rather than standing in front of voters and answering unscripted questions, Daines has perfected a different approach – absence. He won’t hold a public town hall. He won’t face constituents. Instead, Montanans get something else entirely—well-financed, vicious attack ads, launched long before an election and even before a candidate has formally declared.
That’s offensive.
If you won’t show up, don’t send a hit piece in your place. Montana is not a focus group. Democracy is not a mailer campaign. And an attack ad is not a substitute for showing your face and answering hard questions.
Daines should show up. Sending a slick, cynical attack ad instead doesn’t cut it.
Now let’s be honest about what just happened—because it tells us everything we need to know.
University of Montana President Seth Bodnar resigns his position, and before he even announces a campaign, before he files for office, before he says a word about running, Republicans launch a vicious attack ad.
Day. One.
That’s not confidence. That’s fear.
You don’t unload the attack ads that early unless you’re scared stiff.
No welcome. No thanks for service. No “let’s debate the issues.” Just straight into the gutter, guns blazing, facts optional. Misleading claims. Flat-out untruths. The political equivalent of throwing a punch before the bell rings.
Shame on them.
This is exactly why Bodnar is such a compelling candidate. The very speed and savagery of the attacks are the tell. When the ideas are weak, the attacks get loud. When the record can’t compete, the mud comes out early.
Here’s a radical thought: What if candidates held 56 debates across Montana? Fifty-six. One for every county. Let voters ask questions. Let candidates explain who they are, what they’ve done, and what they actually plan to do—rather than explaining why their opponent is apparently the third cousin of Satan.
Crazy, right?
Attack ads don’t persuade; they poison. No one watches one and says, “Wow, that really enriched my understanding of public policy.” They say, “I hate all of you now.” These ads ruin television, make public service unattractive, and convince good people that running for office isn’t worth the personal abuse.
Attack ads are why decent people stay home and cable news stays rich.
This isn’t the Montana way. Or at least, it didn’t used to be.
Which brings me back to Bodnar.
Under his leadership, UM stretched to new heights: roughly $300 million in infrastructure improvements—much donor-funded; R-1 research status (a very big deal); rising enrollment; better retention. He took on a tough job and exceeded expectations.
Now, according to reports, Bodnar may run for the U.S. Senate—as an independent. And suddenly the political establishment loses its mind.
Let’s pause on something important: Bodnar is a real public servant. Full stop.
First in his class at West Point. Rhodes Scholar. Truman Scholar. Green Beret. Multiple combat deployments. Lieutenant Colonel in the Montana National Guard—still serving. Leadership under fire isn’t theoretical for him; it’s lived.
This guy didn’t read about leadership—he graded it.
He taught economics at West Point. He served as a senior executive at General Electric. He knows how large, complicated systems work—and how to fix them.
So what do the attack ads do? They lie.
They claim Bodnar raised tuition by 30%. False. Tuition is set by the Board of Regents, appointed by Gov. Gianforte. If you’re angry, aim accordingly.
What Bodnar actually did was create the Grizzly Promise: Students from families earning $50,000 or less attend UM tuition-free—about a quarter of undergraduates. The average Montana student paid around $3,000 a year in tuition. That’s not an increase. That’s a lifeline.
They claim he’s anti-woman. Also false. His record includes hiring and promoting accomplished women across campus leadership—law, business, conservation and beyond.
Montana deserves truth—not attack-ad garbage. Not politics as a blood sport. Not tribal stupidity served with gusto.
Public service should not require body armor.
This is a call for higher integrity and higher discourse—from every party and every candidate. Tell us your vision. Tell us your ideas. Tell us how you’ll make Montana stronger.
And if you’re already in office, show up. Face the people you represent.
Just spare us the lies, the fear-mongering, and the political junk food.
Montana deserves better. And we should demand it—loudly.
BOZEMAN — Aaron Flint and Al Olszewski, Republican candidates for Montana’s Western District U.S. House race, squared off Tuesday in their party’s only scheduled debate before the party primary.
The two debated for about 90 minutes at Bozeman’s Calvary Chapel before an audience of about 120 people. Bozeman anchors Gallatin County, which is second in Republican votes only to Flathead County within the 18-county district.
Natural resource jobs, affordable housing and U.S. military attacks on Iran dominated the discussion. Each question drew 12 minutes of response. Both men called for an end to stock trading by members of Congress, and for federal budgets to be passed on time through regular procedures.
The Montana GOP sponsored the debate. Candidate Christi Jacobsen, Montana’s secretary of state, was unable to attend, according to state Republican Party Chair Art Wittich. State Senate President Matt Regier moderated.
Among the highlights: Flint mentioned no fewer than eight times that he is endorsed by President Donald Trump. Olszewski mentioned Trump by name only a couple of times.
Never too far from Flint’s talking points were “far-left socialists,” whom he credited for “gerrymandering” the Western House District (which has delivered comfortable wins for Republicans since first appearing on the ballot in 2022). The 2026 election cycle was the target of Democrats on the state’s districting commission, Flint said. (Both Democrats on the commission that drew the district in 2021 voted against its current configuration.)
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Aaron Flint — grandson of Glasgow newspaper publishers, 25-year veteran of local TV and radio journalism and first-time political candidate — touts “deep relationships” with his talk show listeners. Will that audience translate into enough votes to overcome a crowded Republican primary?
The near faux pas of the night came during Olszewski’s discussion of good-paying jobs in trades and natural resources: “Trades jobs, natural resource jobs, you know, high-dollar, white-collar jobs, our remote workers who have moved into Montana, and we’ve adapted an economy around them. You know, these are the people, and those are the jobs that will bring our kids home, those high-paying white-collar jobs, or a good natural resource job in western Montana, in one of those mines, or, you know, you know, a sawyer or a hooker” — big pause — “as in timber, not the other way around.”
The line that didn’t land: Flint tried and failed to get audience applause for the 2024 defeat of Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester by Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy — an unseating Flint campaigned for.
“How many of you out there are so glad that we finally got rid of the flip-flop, flat-top liberal senator, Jon Tester? How many of you are so glad we finally did that?”
After a silence, Flint explained to people watching the debate on Facebook that the audience was just being polite.
“They’re waving because we can’t have disruptions. See, they’re good rule followers here in the Republican Party,” Flint said.
Asked how to alleviate Montana’s housing affordability crisis:
Olszewski: “The only way you can afford an expensive house is you’ve got to have a job that pays good money. Tourist jobs provide rent and roommates. Trades jobs, natural resource jobs, high‑dollar white‑collar jobs … those are the jobs that will bring our kids home.” Dr. Al, as Olszewski is widely known, said Wall Street investment buyers are distorting housing prices and the federal government has weakened the dollar.
Flint: “Thirty percent of the cost of a home is all due to red tape and regulations … It costs $100,000 to build a home before you even put a hole in the ground.”
Flint said reviving Montana’s timber industry would lower home values and added, “I support President Trump’s ban on these big Wall Street firms buying single-family homes. I think that’s something that we’ve got to get across the finish line.”
“We can deliver when it comes to making the Montana dream affordable again by delivering affordable housing. But another piece is promoting trades and trades education to build up our workforce.”
Asked how Congress should respond to the Iran conflict:
Olszewski: “I supported our president with what happened in Venezuela. There’s a $25 million bounty on basically someone that was killing our people through drugs, right? I’m not so happy with what’s going on in the Iran war. I’m not a warrior. I’m a physician from the military that fixed military people … What my perspective is, is that countries can win wars, but people do not. They don’t come back.” Olszewski said Congress will have to decide whether to authorize further use of military force and set terms in about 10 days.
Flint: “Let me just say this. We are sick and tired of these forever wars, and we do not want to see a long-term boots-on-the-ground Iraq-style nation-building exercise, and I think President Trump shares that mission as well. Let me also say this about Iran. First off, [former Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro is behind bars. [Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei is dead, but the far-left socialists are on the march in Montana.”
Asked about reforming Congress:
Olszewski: “What our congressmen and congresswomen have to understand is that if you’re in the House, the House belongs to the people, and they need to, first and foremost, represent you, not themselves, not special interests. It’s not about sound-bites. It’s about actually getting work done and governing.” Olszewski said the House needs to pass a budget based on 12 agency appropriations bills before the end of each federal fiscal year, a process known as “regular order.”
Flint: “We need to return to regular order and get single-subject bills and get these appropriations bills done one by one. If they can’t get a budget done, they shouldn’t get paid. And we need a ban on congressional stock trading. Because I think part of the reason why the American people are so frustrated with Congress right now is because … they believe that Congress is so useless, because we’ve got some of these politicians back there that are getting rich off the backs of taxpayers.”
Neither candidate offered a plan for cutting taxes, once a staple of Republican platforms. Both supported reductions in federal spending without identifying particular cuts.
Voting in Montana’s 2026 primary election begins May 4 and ends June 2.
POLSON, Mont. — Two motorcyclists crashed on Highway 35 near Polson after failing to negotiate a left-hand curve, leaving one man dead and another hospitalized, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
Two motorcycles were traveling southbound on Highway 35 when both drifted into a guardrail. Both drivers were separated from their motorcycles and ended up on the other side of the guardrail.
A 58-year-old Polson man was confirmed dead at the scene. The second driver, a 45-year-old man, also from Polson, was taken to the hospital with injuries.
Alcohol is a suspected factor in the crash, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
The crash is under investigation.
KALISPELL — A Flathead County man is turning a personal rock bottom into a lifeline for his community by starting a free, late-night ride service to keep drunk drivers off the roads.
Adam Bruzza started Big Sky Sobriety Shuttle LLC, a free ride share service for people who have been drinking, after realizing he was struggling with addiction.
Maddie Keifer reports – watch the video here:
MT man starts free, late-night ride service to keep drunk drivers off the roads
“I just wanted to give people who do still drink the option for a safe, sober ride home,” Bruzza said.
Bruzza said a devastating mistake behind the wheel became a turning point where he decided enough was enough.
“I was charged with a DUI October 22 of 2024,” Bruzza said.
After a few months focused on his sobriety, Bruzza channeled his energy into his community by starting the shuttle service.
He operates the shuttle in his personal pickup truck. Riders can reach him by phone, text or social media at any time of day or night at no cost.
“I just wanted to give others the opportunity to not get a life changing charge,” Bruzza said.
Bruzza works with bars to connect riders with his service. Although the Big Sky Sobriety Shuttle is a new endeavor, he has already seen a big impact.
“The community response without a doubt has been unconditional love and support that makes my heart all warm and fuzzy,” Bruzza said.
Bruzza also shared a message for others who may be struggling with addiction.
“Your life is worth it, there are people that care out there and it is okay to ask for help,” Bruzza said.
To learn more, click here to visit the Facebook page.
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