Montana’s Messina Says Dems Need “A Wake Up Call”

Enter your number to get our free mobile app

When Greg Gianforte (R-MT) was sworn in Monday as Governor of Montana, he was sworn in after receiving more votes for a first time governor than any other candidate in Montana history. He also scored the highest margin of victory than any other first term governor going back all the way to 1920.

But it wasn't just Gianforte, Republicans across the board in Montana swept the state with huge victories. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) defeated sitting Gov. Steve Bullock (D-MT) by nearly 10 points, and he beat him by 16 points in the bellwether Yellowstone County. And it wasn't just Republicans in Montana, Republicans all across the country did much better than expected.

To that, former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, who used to serve as chief of staff to a former Democrat senator from Montana, says Democrats need "a wake up call." As The Daily Caller reports, here's what he had to say on MSNBC:

I think in the elections in November you had much bigger turnout than the models suggested on the Republican side, and then Democrats tanked on some of the key issues, and then Trump became the first to win the undecided vote, and the party won the undecided vote because people went back to his economic messaging,” Messina explained. “So my party needs to have a wake-up call to say how do we move the voters or we’ll lose the congressional majorities in November of 2022.

For those of you who missed it just before Christmas, Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) also knocked his fellow Democrats for failing to combat the Defund the Police movement and violent riots that took place across the country. He also made the exact same point that I made after watching the Black Lives Matter protest in downtown Billings, Montana. Protestors claiming to speak for "indigenous people" attacked police. I responded by saying that if you talk with leaders on our reservations, they'll tell you we need more police, not less. Here's what Tester told the NYT:

And I think the whole idea about defunding police is not just bad messaging, but just insane. And I’ll tell you why. The area where we have the greatest poverty in the state of Montana is Indian Country. And where do we need more police officers than anywhere else? Indian Country. I mean, that’s a fact. Because of poverty, crime is more prevalent. We need more police officers, not less.