For the latest issue of National Review, I traveled to Montana to report on the contested Senate race there between incumbent Democrat Jon Tester and Republican challenger Tim Sheehy. The race’s outcome may determine control of the Senate. You can read more about it here.
My visit to Montana for this story was my first time in the state. It was a fascinating experience to try to figure out the place both in itself and politically at the same time. The trip revealed some things about Montana I hinted at in my article, but on which I’d like to elaborate.
I wrote in my piece that “the state’s residents seem largely to want to be left alone, as much as possible.” This attitude extended even to their willingness to be interviewed by reporters — including me. Walking around Bozeman, Belgrade, Helena, and Butte (the four cities I visited while there), I found very few people willing to talk to me about the Senate race. One person bluntly told me: “I don’t want to talk about politics.” Another I encountered in a bar said he would rather watch the football game on TV. Their reticence made my task a little bit harder.
But it was also refreshing. Most people in this country don’t talk about politics most of the time, because they’re normal people with other things to do, to enjoy, and to worry about. As someone I encountered in Helena put it, “I’ve got more important fish to fry.” Beltway-bound political obsessives spend a lot of time talking about these things. But elsewhere, I’d guess that a clear majority of people prefer to go about their lives. That seemed to be the case in Montana.
And there are plenty of other things worth thinking about in Montana. Perhaps chief among them is its stunning natural beauty. I opened my piece by describing the state as a “vast-plained, mountain-dappled, huge-horizon land,” and noting that the skies truly do somehow seem bigger there. If anything, I’ve undersold its majesty. I only spent time in a small portion of its western half. Even that was filled with incredible sights: My description of the state was largely inspired just by driving on highways between Bozeman and Helena.
Aside from highway vistas, two sights will stick with me from my short, limited visit. Our Lady of the Rockies, a huge statue of Mary nestled in the mountains and visible from Butte, was an unexpected delight I would have wondered about had I not been informed of it in advance. And back in Bozeman, I had the great fortune of timing a run from my hotel to Montana State University so perfectly that I ran a lap on its track just as the sun began to rise over the mountains in the distance, hueing the dawn’s lightly clouded sky with red. It’s not something I will soon forget.
I closed my piece by arguing that “whatever happens in November, anyone who has ever been to Montana should hope its unique character — which you can find throughout the state, even on its highways — endures.” As someone who has now been there myself, I meant it.