Rosendale Stops in Sidney, Defends Record

Matt Rosendale, candidate for the United States Senate, made a brief stop in Sidney on Wednesday, October 24. Meeting with supporters at the Meadowlark brewery, Rosendale encouraged voters to get in their early ballots or make sure to show up to the polls on Election Day. The Roundup spoke with Rosendale, who elaborated upon the controversies surrounding his campaign and his hopes for a victory on November 6.

Rosendale told The Roundup, "The race is going great. I think that we're in a good spot, but we absolutely need everybody to get their early ballots turned in or show up on Election Day. It's going to be close, but we're in a good position."

Regarding his odds of victory in a campaign that requires covering so large a geographical area, Rosendale said, "Oh, I feel great in the Western part of the state. We've had lots of face-to-face contact with people from Eureka down to Darby and in all the major towns like Bozeman, Kalispell, Great Falls, and we feel very, very comfortable about where we are. We had 150 people show up in Eureka just a week ago. We like the enthusiasm we see in every spot, but we're fighting for every single vote."

Rosendale was asked about accusations from the Tester campaign that he wants to transfer federal lands in Montana to the state. Rosendale denied the accusations.

He explained, "The people of Montana have made it exceedingly clear they don't want to see the land transferred, but they want to see it better managed. You can see that in my work on the land board, where we've opened access to an additional 45 thousand acres of public lands and miles of roads. Additionally, we've protected several thousand acres of sensitive grounds near Whitefish for trails and have harvested 47 million board feet of timber. It's all about wise management of the land and those resources."

Jon Tester's campaign has also claimed in campaign ads that Rosendale has helped insurance companies raise insurance rates. Rosendale asserted that the charge is hypocritical.

"I think it's hypocritical," Rosendale responded, "and it's worse than ironic. The general public cannot be fooled that Tester shouldn't take responsibility for the increased costs that Obamacare has caused while I've worked hard to make sure people have more options for healthcare, while making sure we make coverage available for people with preexisting and chronic conditions."

He continued, "Just to show you how far Tester has gone from the people of Montana, twelve years ago when Tester first ran he said he would never be encumbered by special interest. Now, he's the number one recipient of contributions from lobbyists in the nation. Out of all 535 members of the House and Senate, he's the number one recipient of contributions from lobbyists. Twelve years ago, Tester said we had to do something about out of control spending in Washington, but he has voted to increase the debt ceiling and the national debt has ballooned from 8 trillion to 21 trillion dollars. He literally has bought a million dollar home in Washington D.C. and has left Montana in his rearview mirror."

Rosendale concluded, "One of the most important things a United States senator is responsible for is confirming Supreme Court justices. Jon Tester voted with Obama 100 percent of the time and confirmed Kagan and Sotomayor. Sotomayor said that owning a gun is not a fundamental right; that's the type of people he's voted to confirm. When Tester had an opportunity to confirm justices for Donald Trump, he voted against him 100 percent of the time. He voted against Kavanaugh and against Gorsuch. He participated in the character assassination of both Brett Kavanaugh and Ronny Jackson, the president's nomination for Veteran's Affairs. That's not the type of conduct that Montanans want to see from their United States senator."