Democrat Kathleen Williams won Montana's House primary slow and steady, county by county

[BlueMTexpat]

I am so thrilled for Kathleen Williams and hope that her winning run continues. There were some excellent Dem House candidates, but she was the one who prevailed. If they all encourage their supporters to join in to support her (Heenan and Kier already have), she may very well be able to rid the House of one of its more loathsome GOPer scumbags, Greg Gianforte (R-Felon).

Wednesday, people were still trying to figure out exactly how Williams, 57, pulled off the win. There had been no public polling in the race to suggest Williams’ victory was truly an upset, but campaign observers throughout the primary season considered her a long shot. There were three candidates announced for the race before Williams launched her campaign late last October. A little more than two months later, her campaign war chest was just $73,000. John Heenan and Grant Kier, the presumed frontrunners, each had $250,000 at that point. Williams didn’t have that kind of coin until May.

But what Williams lacked in money she made up in time. With her slide-in camper fitted to the bed of her pickup, Williams zigzagged 1,100 miles of Montana back roads in a week. Wherever she was invited to speak, she went. Wherever she wasn’t invited, Markoff called to book a room.

“I kid you not," Markoff said, "When we were scheduling a meet and greet in Ekalaka, the first person I asked to help me set up the event laughed at me. He said, ‘Are you serious? You’re actually going to send your candidate to Ekalaka?’ I had to assure him I wasn’t faking it or losing my mind. There are parts of the state that don’t see candidates frequently, and showing up makes a big difference.”

There are 6.8 Montanans for the each of the state’s 147,040 square miles. In some places, the concentration is much more. In Carter County, where Ekalaka is the county seat, the density is far less. Tucked away in southeast Montana, the county’s emptiness is used for flight training by B1-Bombers from nearby Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. Williams' trip there earned her a commanding 57 percent of the Carter County vote. That’s 16 votes of Williams' statewide total of 37,146. There were a lot of county victories like that in Williams’ win column.

https://billingsgazette.com/news/government-and-politics/democrat-kathleen-williams-won-montana-s-house-primary-slow-and/article_a06d5f14-519a-5e4d-be22-5b84dfb4c5a1.html

Williams is one of the many Dem candidates in 2018 who understand that it isn't just about the money (although money always helps!). It's about meeting the people and listening to their concerns so that they really feel that they have a say in how their government works.

Bravissima, Kathleen!

[RandomAccess]

1. Very impressive

I hope to hell she wins. SOMEONE needs to take down Gianforte.

[BlueMTexpat]

2. The best thing that she has

going for her is that she actually meets with the voters. That really means something in MT, as it likely does in many other states.

Gianforte, like all current GOPers, is scared to death of meeting with actual voters. He went on a "listening tour" in 2017 before his felonious encounter with a reporter. But since then, he won't meet with constituents because of "security risks."

https://themontanapost.com/2018/05/23/congressman-gianforte-wont-meet-with-montanans-because-of-security-risks/
...

When pressed for an answer about a town hall meeting, the staffer put the caller on hold, presumably to check with a superior, before returning with the news that potential security threats prevented Gianforte from holding pre-announced and public meetings.

This is the Republican playbook today. Whether it’s EPA head Scott Pruitt concocting bogus stories about security risks to justify flying first class or a Congressman in one of the safest states in the country acting like he’s too chicken shit afraid to meet with the people he pretends to represent, Republicans are making it clear that they have no interest in the concerns or opinions of the ordinary people who should be at the heart of our democratic decision-making and they have abandoned the ideal that government works best when those who represent us listen to us.