Montana GOP Candidate Tim Sheehy made lots of comments and statements when he met with the Tribal Executive Board.

Sheehy, 38, paid the council a “listening session” when he stopped by the Tribal Building Monday, August 12, 2024. While he was here he made numerous statements about his campaign.

Here is a fact check of some of the statements that stand out.

Statement

“I never advocated for the privitizing of Medicare,” he said.

Fact

Tim Sheehy, a lead contender for the Republican Senate nomination in Montana, said earlier this year that he wants to privatize the U.S. healthcare system, according to audio obtained by Semafor.

The comments, made at an August meet-and-greet in Glasgow, Mont., were captured on an audio recording obtained by Semafor. Speaking to a group of attendees, Sheehy argued that the Affordable Care Act’s subsidies for insurance coverage and other federal health programs had inflated the cost of medical treatment.

“Our hospitals have been built around federal healthcare subsidies. In my opinion we need to return healthcare to pure privatization,” he said.

Statement

My opponent has spent nearly $30 million in ads attacking me. My ads are about me and what I plan to do.

Fact

According to a report compiled by the Montana Free Press, spending on advertisements that are anti-Sheehy total $10,278,903.

There has been less spent on messaging focused on incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, but that messaging has been mostly negative, with $7.4 million spent on ads opposing the three-term senator and farmer from Big Sandy. Ad spending supporting Tester amounted to $407,346.

More Jobs, Less Government is a Political Action Committee that’s spent solely in Montana’s Senate race, and has spent in roughly equal measure supporting Sheehy and opposing Jon Tester. It reports $13.5 million in resources.

Statement

When I was in the military, we were never taught about the Indian wars and military history. The military is ashamed of their history.

Fact

Military actions of Indian tribes and their contributions to warfare have been a part of United States Military history for generations.

In Washington DC, there is a monument at the Pentagon that is in tribute to Native American contributions to the war efforts during periods of conflict. From the Revolutionary War to the recent war in Afghanistan, American Indians have served the United States armed forces.

In the 1800’s, many Tribes that refused to move were left to military suppression, forcible eviction and even massacre by the U.S. government. In 1839, before Texas joined the United States, the government demanded that Indians remove immediately or face the entire destruction of their possessions and the extermination of their tribe. Many Indian massacres have been improperly labeled as “battles” and the murders of innocent Indians not fighting were justified by the military.

Statement

I’ve spent time with indigenous people in Afghanistan. They share many similarities with the indigenous people of America.

Fact

There is no such thing as an “indigenous Afghan.”

Afghanistan is a multiethnic and tribal society. Not one group is technically “indigenous.” It includes Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, and Uzbek, as well as the minorities of Aimaq, Turkmen, Baloch, Pashai, Nuristani, Gujjar, Brahui, Qizilbash, Pamiri, Kyrgyz, Sadat, Mongol and others.

Indigenous Americans are “quasi-sovereign,” meaning we have self governance rights but it’s subject to the United States government. That is why the Tribes cannot open their own nuclear power plant, or grow marijuana.

“Indigenous Afghans” produce opium in huge quantities. They have not felt the full effect of colonization.

They are not the same.

Statement

“I’m pro immigration, we should have a right to know who is coming in and why,” he said.

Fact

It might depend on where the immigrant comes from.

Sheehy has been avoiding local media since his candidacy, but the people who speak for him have certain viewpoints that have never been officially condemned.

According to the Daily Montanan, of Bozeman, there was a concern raised over material being circulated by someone who Sheehy pays on his campaign. “Moreover, we recently learned that one of Tim Sheehy’s paid staffers circulated hate speech and supported (by reposting) white supremacist, racist, and anti-LGBTQ views on social media. Caleb Oriet, the paid staffer, has said on social media that Black people are “the most criminal, dependent and socially destructive part of the population.” He also leads the Montana chapter of the American Populist Union, which promotes a white supremacist and neo-nazi platform, including antisemitic, racist, and anti-LGBTQ messaging.”

Statement

We don’t have money to advertise locally in smaller newspapers.

Fact

According to the Federal Election Commission, Sheehy spent $9,289,068 on himself for ads and $7,463,557 a difference of $1,825,511