Daily Montanan: Republican candidate silent after talking about ‘drunk’ Indians

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Tim Sheehy, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, appears at a campaign event in Lewiston, Montana, on September 3, 2024. Photo: Tim Sheehy for Montana

Audio catches Senate candidate Sheehy commenting on ‘drunk Indians’

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

By Darrell Ehrlick, Daily Montanan

U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy is facing criticism after two recordings from November surfaced in which he appears to have characterized the Crow people as drunk in the morning and accused them of throwing beer cans at him in a parade.

Sheehy is running as the hand-picked Republican looking to unseat incumbent Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat and Montana’s lone Democratic leader in elected federal office.

The former U.S. Navy SEAL and Bozeman businessman Sheehy made the comments in November, and those were reported first by Char-Koosta News, the official publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation.

However, Sheehy appears to have doubled down on the statements as the first recording was from a Nov. 6, 2023 event in Shelby. Four days later, Sheehy appears to have made similar remarks at an event in Hamilton. The recordings appear on the website of Char-Koosta News.

Char-Koosta News: Republican candidate for U.S. Senate talked about ‘drunk’ Indians

U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, a Republican, made numerous comments linking Native people to alcohol, according to audio published by Char-Koosta News.

Native Vote

The Daily Montanan reached out to Sheehy’s campaign for comment when news first broke on Sunday, but as of Tuesday, had received no comment or explanation.

The audio from the Shelby event has Sheehy talking about ranching on Crow reservation.

“My ranching partner and really good friend, Turk Stovall, he’s a Crow Indian and we ranch together on the Crow Reservation. So I’m pretty involved down there, going to the Crow Reservation and their annual Crow parade this year. I rope and brand with them every year. So, it’s a great way to bond with all the Indians being out there while they’re drunk at 8 a.m., and you’re roping together. Every one that you miss, you get a Coors Light on the side of your head.”

Sheehy then appears to make similar comments at the event in Hamilton:

“I strapped on a Sheehy sign to a horse and rode through the Crow Parade and if you know a tough crowd, that’s (it). They let you know if they like you or not. There’s Coors Light cans flying by your head as you’re riding by. You know they respect that. You go where the action is and they say, ‘You know, the guy’s not that bad. He rode the horse through the parade. That’s cool.’”

Calls to the Crow Tribal Executive Chairman went unreturned on Tuesday, and by mid-morning, the voicemail box was full.

Daily Montanan is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Daily Montanan maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Darrell Ehrlick for questions: info@dailymontanan.com. Follow Daily Montanan on Facebook and X.

This story is published under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-ND 4.0).