No One Voted For This

Montana is at the forefront of a brewing midterm backlash and it’s powerful and personal.

While Trump and Elon Musk are indiscriminately murdering government agencies and cutting services certain to impact all areas of the country, some of the earliest and most severe massacres, executive orders, and congressional budget actions have impacted agencies and programs particularly important to this state. In other words, Montana is a few weeks ahead of the rest of the country.

News coverage from one of many recent protests and rallies in MT, this one in Missoula on March 9

We depend heavily on properly staffed National Parks to help fuel our tourism industry. Extractive economies and outdoor enthusiasts are also dependent on professionals in the US Forest Service (USFS). Montana has one of the highest per capita population of veterans in the country at nearly 9%.¹ More than 20%² of our annual K-12 education funding comes from the Department of Education. Public lands are sacred to Westerners, especially here in Big Sky country. Montana has a long list of badly needed environmental cleanup projects. We have the highest percentage of Canadian and Mexican imports of any state at more than 94%.³ Our healthcare system is rural and relies heavily on Medicaid.⁴ Our extensive Native American population and seven reservations depend on federal agencies and programs, especially for health care.

Just days after the election, Trump, Musk, and their congressional sycophants launched surprise attacks on it all, as if they purposefully targeted Montana.

USFS firings hit us hard.⁵ These professionals are respected community members. Without them, campgrounds will be closed, trails blocked, roads will be inaccessible, critical wildlife will suffer, and destructive fires are more likely.

Montanans Protesting USFS and National Park Service firings

Both Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks are reeling from staff cuts.⁶ As a result, Americans can expect park closures and disruptions during our short summer tourism season, and when that happens our local businesses dependent on tourism will suffer.

The Trump tariffs are particularly disastrous for Montana. Housing supply costs are already through the roof, and will get worse as much of our lumber comes from Canada. Most fertilizer used by Montana farmers is also imported from Canada. No one here thinks tariffs are a good idea.⁷

News coverage of North Central Montana resident Nathan Keane on the farm his family has owned since 1912

Montana veterans are sure to face staff shortages and long wait times in VA facilities that have already been neglected and defunded.⁸

Trump and Musk have been floating the idea of selling public lands to create a sovereign wealth fund and Republicans in Congress have adopted budget rules to grease the skids for those sales.⁹

Hundreds fill the MT State Capital in February to protest the threat to public land

Thousands of professionals set to work on mitigating past environmental damage will be out of a job. Streams and lakes will remain polluted. Unemployment will go up.¹⁰

One of many signs protesting DOGE cuts to federal fire and trail crews in Montana

Our proud but struggling public schools will face an even more uncertain future, while the Department of Education is destroyed by a professional wrestling executive who is leading the private school voucher movement.¹¹ There are no private school options for almost all of our 396 school districts.

Medicaid cuts of more than $800 billion proposed in the new House budget will dismantle much of Montana’s rural health care, likely end ambulance services, close multiple rural emergency hospitals, and endanger the lives of our most vulnerable populations.¹²

At first, we were shocked, but now Montanans are angry about this needless destruction.

You may be one of those Americans who upon hearing this news is tempted to say “screw ‘em, they get what they vote for.” If so, you are not alone. I’ve heard it a dozen times this week. But I’m asking you to embrace the real truth: despite a lopsided Trump win in this state, almost no one here voted for this.

How could they? DOGE did not even exist as an idea until at least two weeks after the election. This mindless government destruction was never even considered by voters. Yes, there was Trump campaign chatter about tariffs and education, but most voters assumed there would be a modicum of reason and planning involved in those changes, or they took Trump at his word when he feigned ignorance of Project 2025. Many assumed that this term would be like the last; mostly blow, not as much show.

To get an idea of how this might play out for 2026, we need only compare the first few weeks of the Trump administration to 2008-2010, the last big structural shift in government following a change election. In the runup to the ‘08 election, Barack aimed at big structural change. He campaigned on what would become Obamacare, promising to “Create a national health insurance exchange through which individuals could purchase the public plan or qualified private insurance plans.”

Obama cruised to victory with a 7.3% margin and a 365-173 Electoral College landslide.¹³

Unlike the shockingly fast and irresponsible structural shift being forced by DOGE and Trump, the legislative process that remade government health care policy in ‘08 gave all citizens a front-row seat to two years of negotiations undertaken by our representatives in our Congress. Obamacare was passed into law by transparent votes signed by the President in March 2010. It is now so popular that even show-boating House Republicans have given up on foolishly forcing repeal votes.¹⁴

Even with all that campaign and legislative transparency Democrats got “shellacked” in the 2010 midterms, losing 63 seats in the House and seven seats in the Senate.¹⁵

Montanans, and other Americans in flyover country, could hear defeat rumbling in our bars and hunting camps before the election. The lesson was clear: even a beneficial, well-planned, and openly pursued national change takes some getting used to.

Now there is a new, deep and predictive rumble of dissatisfaction in Montana. In just a few weeks, protests involving hundreds of people are springing up in our towns. Once boisterous MAGA Republicans like Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Ryan Zinke are in hiding. Zinke closed his Bozeman office in what appears to be an attempt to avoid contact with angry voters.¹⁶ If Daines or Zinke were brave enough to hold open town halls, there would be hundreds of angry people in attendance. And so of course, there will be no town halls.

It’s only going to get worse for Republicans like Zinke and Daines because, unlike past fleeting MAGA bombast, this mindless destruction is real and has a long tail.

That’s why the list of Republicans vulnerable to midterm defeat will probably expand. Zinke, who only won his 2022 midterm race by about 3 points, is already on the shortlist of 2026 targets. ¹⁷

Zinke’s district, where much of the protests and rallies are happening, is very winnable for a Democrat. In fact, one just did it. Jon Tester lost his statewide senate race, but he won Zinke’s District.¹⁸ If outrage builds like it did in 2010, it’s not inconceivable that Steve Daines could be vulnerable too.

One of many signs challenging Montana’s all-Republican delegation at recent protests in MT

Last year I campaigned as a Democrat for Governor in every corner of this state. We held 187 events and drove nearly 200,000 miles. I connected with thousands of people, but the national party headwinds were too much to overcome. I’m here to tell you the wind is already changing.

Democrats cannot afford to sulk over past defeats or harass people for votes they already cast. Now is the time to bring people into the fold for 2026. Look back to 2010 when voters delivered harsh judgment after structural change that helped tens of millions of Americans. Trump’s and Musk’s change ain’t that. This is a surprise attack five-alarm-radioactive-dumpster-fire kind of change.

Are big wins possible? 70 seats? Senate seats too? It’s possible; districts swung against Obama by as much as 15 points, but the 2026 tally depends on how early and smart we fight. Democrats have been pretty good at the politics of division, and subtraction. Those are big-time losers. Time for laser focus on the politics of addition, or what we used to call “winning.”

Want to do something to help? For starters, let’s stop blaming and start appealing to things we hold in common. Repeat what a lot of Montanans are already saying: “None of us voted for this!”

1. https://www.axios.com/2024/11/11/veterans-population-map

2. https://www.montanarightnow.com/montana/montana-braces-for-new-tariffs-impacting-trade-with-canada/article_52eeed04-f847-11ef-9bd9-2f7262574e0d.html

3. https://usafacts.org/answers/what-percentage-of-public-school-funding-comes-from-the-federal-government/state/montana/

4. https://www.manatt.com/insights/newsletters/health-highlights/2025-annual-report-medicaid-in-montana-1

5. https://montanafreepress.org/2025/02/20/a-cascading-effect-forest-service-park-service-workers-who-lost-jobs-amid-mass-layoffs-explain-rippling-fallout/

6. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/04/trump-doge-federal-layoffs-national-parks

7. https://montanafreepress.org/2025/03/06/montana-ag-producers-expect-challenges-with-trumps-new-tariffs/

8. https://apnews.com/article/veterans-affairs-cuts-doge-musk-trump-f587a6bc3db6a460e9c357592e165712

9. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/republican-plan-privatize-sell-federal-public-lands-west/

10. https://www.mtpr.org/montana-news/2025-02-13/frozen-federal-funds-leave-montana-businesses-and-restoration-projects-in-limbo

11. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2024/12/02/linda-mcmahon-trump-education/76448914007/

12. https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/house-republicans-pass-budget-blueprint-medicaid-cuts/740970/

13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_United_States_presidential_election#:~:text=Obama%20received%20the%20largest%20share,would%20be%20broken%20in%202020.

14. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/republicans-abandon-obamacare-repeal-rcna49538

15. https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States/The-2010-midterm-elections

16. https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/concerned-missoulians-visit-zinkes-office-to-protest

17. https://www.axios.com/2024/12/13/jeffries-2026-elections-republican-seats

18. https://electionresults.mt.gov/