Native issues are playing a big role in the U.S. Senate race in Montana, the outcome of which is being closely watched in an already heated presidential election year.

During a televised debate on Monday night, Native issues came up repeatedly as Jon Tester, the Democratic incumbent, faced Tim Sheehy, the Republican candidate, for the second time during the campaign. The most explosive moment came toward the end, when Tester confronted Sheehy for making negative remarks about Native people.

“The bottom line is this, though,” Tester said at the Montana PBS studio on the campus of the University of Montana in Missoula. “Tim, if you really feel this way about Native Americans, you ought to apologize for the statements you made about them that were totally inaccurate.”

“But yet you won’t,” said Tester, who is seeking a fourth term in office.

Sheehy, a newcomer to political campaigns, proved Tester right. The Republican candidate refused — not just once, but twice — to apologize for remarks in which he described Native people as being “drunk at 8am” and said they throw beer cans at people.

“But the reality is, yeah, insensitive,” Sheehy said at the Montana PBS debate. “I come from the military — as many of our tribal members do. You know, we make insensitive jokes and probably off-color sometimes.”

“And, you know, I’m an adult. I’ll take accountability for that,” Sheehy continued, before pivoting to an entirely different subject — the U.S. border.

“But let’s not distract from the issues that our tribal communities are suffering,” Sheehy said, failing to explain why he repeatedly — on at least four occasions — perpetuated stereotypes about Native people and alcohol during his campaign events.

Tribal leaders have been calling on Sheehy to apologize for his comments ever since Char-Koosta News first reported them on August 29. He avoided responding to media inquiries about his statements and sidestepped the issue during a television interview with a Republican friendly outlet on September 20.

“But let’s talk about our Native Americans here for a second, Tim,” said Tester, who is a former chair and vice chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, bringing up the controversy again at the debate.

“The statement you made degrades Native Americans across this country. And you can say, look, I’ll take responsibility,” Tester continued. “But, you know, apologies matter. And how you treat people matter.”

“And if you treat them with disrespect, other people will disrespect them,” Tester added. “So, like I said to begin with, you’re a big guy. Just apologize.”

Sheehy ignored the request and again shifted to the border.

“Will you apologize for opening the border?” Sheehy replied.

The fiery exchange came after a rare instance of Sheehy agreeing with Tester when it comes to American Indians and Alaska Natives, who represent about 6.2 percent of the population in Montana, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. He said the Indian Health Service, a federal agency, needs to be fully funded.

“When it comes to the IHS, you know, there’s a long history there — almost a century now — of a lot of challenges,” Sheehy said. “But a lot of it does come down to funding and access.”

But even here, Sheehy failed to embrace the issue in the same manner as Tester, who won his first election with the help of the Native vote in 2006. The Democratic incumbent explained that providing health care is trust and treaty obligation of the United States government.

“Our Native Americans, our first Americans, are a big, big part of this country and certainly a big part of the state of Montana and we have trust responsibilities to those Native American people,” said Tester. “And we need to make sure we’re living up to those trust responsibilities.”

Tester also said the U.S. must recognize tribal sovereignty over health care. Through self-determination contracts and self-governance compacts, tribes have had to repeatedly fight in the courts and in the U.S. Congress to hold the federal government accountable.

“But in the end, it’s funding,” Tester observed. “And you can take a look at the amount of money that’s spent in Indian Country for health care and it is a pittance compared to what’s spent in the private sector.”

“We need to let the Native Americans drive the bus here, but we need to make sure we’re funding it in a way that makes sense for health care for Indian Country,” Tester said.

Yet Sheehy’s comments about fully funding the IHS appeared to contradict those he made during an exchange earlier in the debate. He called for the U.S. government to get out of health care entirely — pointing to the IHS and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), another federal agency, as examples of a “sclerotic bureaucracy” that has failed Native people and veterans alike.

“The private sector is going to be able to do it better, faster, and cheaper than trying to build a government system that will not be able to handle the caseload, not be able to make the reimbursement payments needed to actually sustain those systems,” said Sheehy.

“We cannot hand our health care to the government,” he added. “That’s a pathway to disaster.”

Tester countered that privatization of health care equates to the elimination of the Medicare system. As a result, he said Sheehy’s proposal would result in the gutting of not only the IHS but the VA, both of which rely heavily on Medicare to patch up gaps in their budgets caused by inadequate government appropriations.

“Not only will Medicare go away, Indian Health Service would go away, VA would go away,” said Tester. “That’s not practical, it’s not logical, and it’s not what Montana needs. Montana needs more health care, not less.”

“The bottom line is this,” the Democratic incumbent said. “The government plays an important role and they need to continue to play an important role, especially in Medicare, VA, and IHS.”

There’s no room in the U.S. Senate for comments like the ones my opponent made against Montana’s Native communities. Tribes need a committed partner in the Senate to work on addressing the challenges their communities face—it's clear you won't get that from him.

— Jon Tester (@jontester) October 1, 2024

Yet Tester’s assertions that the IHS and the VA would be negatively impacted by privatization of government-mandated health care went unchallenged by Sheehy, who is a veteran himself, having served overseas for the U.S. military, earning combat decorations in war-torn places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Well, I’m tired of hearing politicians use veterans, you know, as a political prop,” said Sheehy, who went on to say his “friends” are not receiving adequate services from the VA, which has long had an agreement with the IHS to ensure the IHS is reimbursed for care provided to American Indian and Alaska Native veterans.

The Senate rivals also discussed public safety in Indian Country, with both agreeing that the federal government is not doing enough for tribes and their citizens. Sheehy specifically brought up missing and murdered Native women and girls, a crisis that has been of extreme significance in Montana, with the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls recognized every year in honor of Hannah Harris, a young woman from the Northern Cheyenne Tribe who went missing and was murdered in the state.

“One of the issues that we all know, unfortunately, all too well is missing and murdered Indigenous women,” said Sheehy. “And there’s not enough law enforcement out on reservations to provide a basic level of public safety.”

Sheehy attempted to link inadequate law enforcement in Indian Country to U.S border policy, blaming Democrats like President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris — along with Tester — for exposing tribes to “drug cartels” that operate in neighboring nations. In doing so, he opened himself up to criticism about a bipartisan immigration reform bill that failed earlier in 2024 after Republican former president Donald Trump, who is seeking election this year, told Republicans not to vote for it.

“Tim, if we’d have passed that bill that was up six, eight months ago, it would have made a huge difference in fentanyl across the United States, including Indian Country,” Tester said.

“We also need to plus up the FBI budget, something that, quite frankly, your party has been trying to take money away from,” Tester continued. “We need more FBI agents in this state. Why? Because it will help fight crime in Indian Country.”

Kamala Harris ❤️ Jon Tester

Kamala The California Radical’s disastrous agenda and entire Presidency hinges on @JonTester’s vote.

It’s time to put an end to the Harris-Tester agenda. VOTE THEM OUT! #RetireTester pic.twitter.com/kJORQHJiYT

— Tim Sheehy (@SheehyforMT) October 1, 2024

It was Sheehy’s comments about U.S. border policy, incidentally, that paved the way for Tester to demand the apology that tribal leaders have sought from the Republican candidate. Up until the debate on Monday night, the Democratic incumbent had not directly spoken about the controversy, which has attracted widespread national and international media coverage.

But the focus on Montana is deeply linked to high-stakes battle for the White House. Although Harris, the Democratic nominee, is highly unlikely to outpoll Trump among voters in Big Sky Country — a Democrat hasn’t won the state since 1992, and before that, since 1964 — Republicans like Sheehy are intent on tying Tester to the incumbent vice president, who is now running for president following Biden’s departure from the race.

And the outcome of the Senate race in Montana will determine which party controls the chamber. Democrats are in danger of losing their narrow hold on the legislative body should Tester fall to Sheehy on November 5.

Public polls in fact show Tester meeting such a fate. Almost every forecaster shows Sheehy in the lead, with some results even indicating the Republican has gained ground since his negative remarks about Native people were first reported by Char-Koosta News, which is owned by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, on August 29.

“Senatorial candidate Tim Sheehy’s disrespectful comments about Native people send a dangerous message — that he is okay using negative and tired stereotypes about Montana Indians in an attempt to get elected,” a published by Char-Koosta News, reads.

Leaders of the Crow Tribe also have criticized Sheehy, whose based his remarks about Indian people being “drunk at 8am” and having beer cans thrown at him about his supposed experiences on the Crow Reservation. They said his comments were “disparaging and degrading” and discriminatory towards Native people.