Fresh from a Trump rally in Bozeman, Montana’s Republican candidate for Senate made a brief visit at the Fort Peck Tribal Headquarters.

Tim Sheehy paid a visit to the Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board Monday, August 12, 2024. The GOP candidate made a stop in Poplar with tribal leaders during the regular full board meeting. Sheehy said he was mainly there to listen to concerns but he did take some questions from the TEB.

Sheehy, 38, is the owner Bridger Aerospace, a private company used to help fight wildfires. He recently resigned from the company to focus on his senate campaign, and it was recently reported in the Washington Post his business lost $77 million last year and $20.1 million in the first three months of 2024. Sheehy recently received an endorsement from GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump.

Vice Chairman Charles Headdress, who chaired the board meeting, welcomed Sheehy and thanked him for his visit. He then went around to the 11 council members present (councilman Wayne Martell, Chairman Justin Gray Hawk, and Sgt.-At-Arms Cubby Damon were absent) for their questions and comments.

While he did take questions, Sheehy did not directly answer any question from the TEB.

Councilman Justin Dupree asked what he would do to improve access to Veterans Administration health care services. Sheehy, who is a veteran, said this issue concerns him as well. The fixes for this program are not medical or financial, it’s usually red tape in place from bureaucratic policies of the federal government. There is no reason for this, and that is why laws like the Veterans Choice Program could help. If it’s enacted as advertised, it allows eligible vets to receive care from non-VA facilities, instead of waiting for an appointment.

If he’s elected, Sheehy said he would be one of two vets in the Senate that were wounded. Nobody in charge at these organizations seem interested in fixing these problems, he said, but he stopped short of offering any solution.

Councilwoman Roxanne Gourneau said she didn’t know who Sheehy was until he started running for office, and she has been working for the Tribes her entire adult life. What did he intend to do for Indian country, Gourneau asked. Many people assume Indians vote Democrat and not Republican. We are looking for strength in people, and Gourneau said she didn’t think he was that kind of person. The people who speak for him have launched attacks at Senator Jon Tester.

“If shaming someone out of their seat is going to be your popcorn then I have a problem with that,” Gourneau said.

She is aware of the out-of-state people coming into Montana and buying up land and closing it off to people. Sheehy is perhaps best known for buying up acres of land in Montana and charging people thousands of dollars to hunt in these places. The land on Fort Peck is something that belongs to the Tribes and he or anyone else will never get their hands on it, she said.

Now, he is here asking the Tribes to get involved in an election with a government that is oppressing American Indian people. Regardless of who is running for leadership, the system itself is broken and has been for generations. That’s what’s wrong with the whole campaign, people are looking at the candidates and not the system and she wanted to know what he has to say about that.

Sheehy said that shaming the other candidate is a practice that started with Tester, who has spent nearly $30 million in attack ads against him, his family, and business. In his own commercials, Sheehy said he focuses on himself and what he’s going to do when elected. If people are going to apply that standard to him, then Sheehy said they should apply it to Tester as well.

As a Minnesota native, Sheehy said he grew up around the Great Lakes tribes in the region and saw how they were able to establish casinos and generate profits for the tribes.

Being a veteran, Sheehy said there is no mention or studies of the military history against the Indians. They don’t teach it because they are ashamed of their history, he said.

As far as indigenous concerns, Sheehy said when he was in Afghanistan he spent about eight months in a “mud hut” with an indigenous Afghan and his family. The man served as a translator for the military, and his tribe was similar to American Indian tribes in the fact that they live in tribal communities and they are ignored by the Afghan government. This same indigenous Afghan and his family were almost left behind when the United States pulled their troops from the country. Though he managed to apply for assylum, his family ended up in Canada and the man ended up in Michigan and the way the system is set up has made reuniting the family impossible.

Councilman Lawrence Hamilton asked how the Tribes could curb the presence of drug cartels on the reservation.

They shouldn’t be called cartels, Sheehy said. These are multi-million dollar corporations that would be worth billions if they were listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and it’s an insult to our nation and our poorest citizens, he said.

These are the people being devastated by the meth and fentenyl crisis, and he is wanting to fight for lower and under privileged people, Sheehy said.

“I’m pro immigration, we should have a right to know who is coming in and why,” he said. As for the problem, he said one of the things they need to do to better coordinate law enforcement agencies to work together.

“When you get in, don’t forget us,” Hamilton said.

Councilman BJ Johnson asked why Sheehy wants to privatize Medicare and how is this good for Indian Country. The Tribes rely on Medicare/Medicaid to regenerate spent health care dollars allocated by Indian Health Service and Tribal Health. Sheehy has said in the past he is for privatizing health care needs for Montana citizens.

More government control is not good, he said. Look at the national office thousands of miles away making determinations as to what an individual needs for their care and making these kind of approvals without being there to see the person in question. There is too much bureaucracy when it comes to health care, and more government isn’t the answer, he said.

Sheehy said he never advocated for privatizing Medicaid. Look at pure privatization and pure government, the government is regulating health care. Handling more and more control to the government rarely leads to the good outcome of the people, he said.

Councilman Terry Rattling Thunder cautioned the rest of the council about making any kind of resolution endorsing one particular candidate. There is a risk that could come from backing one candidate over the other because if the one they don’t endorse wins then it will make things much more difficult.

Vice Chairman Headdress asked Sheehy what his thoughts were on the comments made by former President Trump when he was campaigning for President in 2016. Trumps infamous comments were regarding the late Arizona Senator John McCain, and he asked why was McCain considered a war hero because he was captured, and that he was a loser because he was captured.

McCain was in the Vietnam war. In 1968, his plane was shot down over northern Vietnam and he spent five and a half years inside a Prisoner-of-war camp. He refused an early release that would have freed him but left the rest of his fellow soldiers behind.

This kind of talk has dominated the election, and it’s a shame to hear this come from both sides during this time of year, he said.

He did not answer the question or call out Trump for those comments publicly.

Sheehy thanked the rest of the council for their time. He was presented with small gifts from the TEB before leaving the meeting. He was led around the building on a brief tour.