Congressman-elect Forstag says fight for working Montanans just beginning

Sam Forstag, Montana’s soon-to-be first Democratic U.S. Representative in three decades, said on Wednesday that winning his election was just the beginning of the fight for working-class Americans. 

He is going to Washington, D.C., to fight “so that every person in this country and this state can afford to work one good job and afford the basics, a roof over our head, healthcare that actually gets care when you need it, childcare and dignified retirement,” Forstag said in his first press conference as representative-elect.

“And to make sure that our public lands agencies that have underwent full-scale assault over the course of the last one-and-a-half, two years, are being rebuilt by people who actually know what it’s going to take and who actually know what it’s like on the ground to be doing that work,” he said.

Forstag, a Missoula smokejumper and former union leader, declared victory over Republican Aaron Flint on Tuesday in Montana’s western congressional district. 

Flint conceded, although the Associated Press had not called the race, even by late Wednesday afternoon. 

Addressing reporters at the Missoula County Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon, Forstag outlined a handful of priorities he wants to focus on in Congress that largely mirrored his campaign rhetoric — making everyday life affordable for Montanans and protecting public lands. 

He also acknowledged the historic nature of his victory. It came as part of a nationwide wave of Democratic wins that political analysts described as a rebuke of the Trump administration. 

“We have not had a Democrat elected to the United States House from western Montana since 1994, when Pat Williams was last sent to Congress 32 years ago, the year that I was born,” Forstag said. “And those are big shoes to fill.”

While Forstag will be part of the largest Democratic house majority since 2008, he said it’s important to craft bipartisan legislation that can withstand the “political whipsaw.”

He said his first call, after speaking with Flint, was to Montana’s other congressman, Republican Troy Downing, to congratulate him on reelection and start discussing ways to work together. 

In particular, he mentioned the River Runs Through It Act, introduced earlier this year and sponsored by Downing and retiring Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, who had endorsed Flint.

Forstag described the act, a large-scale proposal to expand wilderness areas and prioritize forest management in the state, as a good place to start working together.

He said partisanship is part of the reason the government doesn’t work well. 

“I don’t care who’s going to get the credit for actually passing legislation to make sure we’re building affordable housing, making the reforms we need to do so, legislation to save our sawmills or improve land management,” Forstag said. “All I care is that we get bills passed into law because people are suffering and drowning in costs out there. 

“So, well, if we got to give the president credit for signing a bill into law, by all means, that is how we get desperately needed aid and relief to Montanans who’ve been waiting far too long.”

Forstag will be the only Democrat in Montana’s federal delegation, and the only elected Democrat in the state in an office higher than the Legislature. 

He said that Montana needs to rebuild the Democratic Party so that people are excited to engage with it. 

“I think we saw a lot of that last night. We saw hundreds of people who were hopeful and happy to be at a political event. That’s not a common thing today in Montana,” he said. 

He added that one of the most common things he heard on the campaign trail was surprise at the turnout of young voters. 

“That is the way it ought to be,” he said. “Politics should be a place that you can feel hopeful about the prospect of our politics, our government actually improving our life on a material basis.”

Forstag said staffing up offices across western Montana would be a priority to ensure constituents have access to staff and services when they need them. 

He also committed to holding regular town halls while in office and regularly returning to the district to engage with Montanans. 

Forstag will be sworn into the seat in January.