Spineless Leadership Throws Country under the Bus

— March 27, 2025 —

Let’s be honest about the moment we’re in. This isn’t some ordinary political season. It’s not a debate over taxes or regulations or who’s got the slickest ad on TV.

This is a full-blown crisis of leadership.

When Montanans look to Washington, what do we see? Two senators—Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy—so wrapped up in loyalty to power that they’ve forgotten who they work for.

Let’s start with the facts.

Daines and Sheehy voted to confirm Pete Hegseth—a weekend cable news personality with no serious defense experience—as Secretary of Defense. They knew he was unqualified. They knew he was reckless. But they voted for him anyway, not because he was right for the job, but because they’re too spineless to say no to Donald Trump.

That’s not just political cowardice. That’s a betrayal of the Montanans serving in uniform. Our sons and daughters are overseas defending the Constitution while Daines and Sheehy cozy up to a man who dodged the draft and lied about bone spurs.

Let that sink in.

Sheehy, Montana’s newest senator, treated Hegseth’s confirmation hearing like a joke. Instead of asking about command readiness or national security, he asked the current Secretary of Defense how many pushups he could do. Seriously? Is this junior high? Are we choosing our military leaders based on frat-boy fitness tests now?

Meanwhile, Sheehy’s record shows he does take one thing seriously: fleecing taxpayers. His personal fortune doesn’t make him an expert in leadership. It makes him someone who thinks accountability is optional and photo ops are more important than policy.

Daines and Sheehy have chosen loyalty to a personality cult over loyalty to the people of Montana and that choice has consequences.

Just look at the recent reporting on Hegseth’s reckless behavior. After being confirmed, he allegedly shared classified details about U.S. military operations in Yemen with a journalist—via text message. Unsecured. Leaked to a media outlet. A literal felony. The director of the CIA was on the same thread and either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

That’s not leadership. That’s incompetence on a historic scale.

What did Daines do? He voted for both of them. That tells you everything you need to know about whose side he’s on—and it’s not yours.

I’m not here to play partisan games. I’m proud of the issues my party stands for—public education, reproductive freedom, protecting our land and water. Defending Hegseth goes beyond party.

This is about national security.

This is about whether Montanans can trust that their sons and daughters won’t be put in harm’s way because a senator wanted to score points with the president.

Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy are failing Montana. They are unserious men in a deadly serious moment. When democracy is on the line, when classified information is being leaked, when unqualified extremists are being handed power, we don’t need more sycophants in D.C.

We need people with backbone.

I’m running because I believe Montana deserves better. I believe in listening before lecturing, in facts over slogans, in leadership rooted in courage, not cowardice. I believe that when you raise your right hand and swear to uphold the Constitution, that oath means something.

Daines and Sheehy lack the integrity to uphold their oaths. They’ve made it clear they’ll follow Trump and Elon Musk off a cliff if it means staying in good favor. I won’t.

I believe democracy is still worth fighting for.

This isn’t a status quo time. This is go time and we don’t have a minute to waste.