Flint, Forstag trade barbs during debate for Montana’s open Congressional seat

As many Montanans were still on their first cup of coffee Tuesday, two candidates in a tightening race for federal office traded full blows in a debate, one attacked for being too crazy and the other for already being too much of a politician. 

Republican Aaron Flint and Democrat Sam Forstag are vying to replace U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, a Republican, representing the western part of Montana

Hosted by NonStop Local’s Ben Wineman, the closed door debate moderated by Montana Free Press reporter Tom Lutey and NonStop Local anchor Bradley Warren. 

For an hour, candidates took questions on a variety of topics, but didn’t give  many straightforward answers. The debate can be viewed in its entirety here. 

Flint’s background as a radio host showed. 

For much of the debate, Flint showed the skills he used during his years as the host of the conservative talk radio show, “Montana Talks.” He spoke faster, was quicker to throw out accusations and leaned into the same aggressively conservative messaging that made him popular among Republicans on the airwaves. 

On the other hand, Forstag, a former wildland smokejumper, often seemed annoyed during the debate with sighs and eye rolling. 

Sparks flew often

By the time the moderators paused for a few-minute break halfway through the debate, both candidates were talking over one another. 

Forstag repeatedly jabbed at Flint for talking like a seasoned politician and for being angry. 

“It is amazing how many words a politician can say without saying a single thing at all,” Forstag said after one of Flint’s answers.

Forstag said Flint was showing the main issue of politics — “angry rhetoric” from both sides of the aisle — rather than solving problems, and said that Flint lacked professionalism. 

Flint rolled off a litany of attacks painting Forstag as an out-of-touch, out-of-state liberal lobbyist (he said lobbyist more than 25 times), called him “phony Forstag,” and invoked New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar at least 18 times. Forstag has endorsements from Ocasio Cortez and Sanders, and Ocasio Cortez held a rally for him in Missoula ahead of the primary. 

“Phony Forstag, unfortunately he pretends to be this poor, blue-collar working-class guy,” Flint said. “He was a high-paid LGBTQ lobbyist from Portland who lobbied for all the crazy stuff.”

Forstag was registered as a lobbyist at the state legislature in 2021 and 2023, on behalf of the Montana American Civil Liberties Union, and various clients of a lobbying firm including the cities of Missoula and Bozeman. 

Flint said the race was about “common sense versus crazy,” and found many things crazy — “crazy leftists,” “crazy trans agenda,” “crazy climate alarmist agenda.” 

Going into the break, the moderator had to interject seven times before the candidates stopped speaking. 

“We’re having a lot of fun this morning,” Wineman said. “Hope you are as well across the Western Congressional District.”

They agree on a lot of broad ideas, but with different solutions

From Montana being unaffordable for many, to wanting to help working people and the idea of protecting public lands, the candidates had similar opinions on issues facing Montana, but took different stances on how to address them. 

Both candidates agreed that Montanans face affordability issues, but clashed over where the answers lie. 

Flint said he supports President Donald Trump’s plan to ban Wall Street firms from buying up family housing, but said ultimately the cause of housing costs in Montana are due to inflation and price increases from the previous Democratic administration. 

“Big government created this crisis. Thirty percent of the price of a home is due to big government regulations and red tape,” he said. “It’s also why we got to make our timber industry great again here in Montana, and that’s why I’ve got support from folks in the industry.”

Forstag said getting housing costs down is his No. 1 priority, and also said banning corporate ownership would be critical. 

He said private equity firms shouldn’t be allowed to buy mobile home parks, which has happened across the state and led to spiking prices. 

“Let’s invest to build homes that people can actually afford on the back end, and let’s make the reforms to make it easier to build them right in the center of town where people need it,” he said. “That’s how we start tackling a crisis.”

The candidates agreed on a few key issues, saying they would vote to ban congressional stock trading; both agree with banning corporate ownership of family homes; and trains. 

A question from a voter about whether they support restoring passenger rail service from Glendive to Missoula drew enthusiastic support from both sides.  

Flint said he grew up with family on both sides of the Continental Divide, and often took the Amtrak from Glasgow to Whitefish. Currently, passenger train service is limited to just the Hi-Line, and excludes most large Montana cities.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity for a southern route for the Big Sky passenger rail,” he said. “But we also have to make sure that the Hi-Line Empire Builder route is protected as well.”

Forstag said he supports the rail project, and said it represents a bigger-picture idea — projects like the southern Montana passenger rail line are “precisely” the kind of large-scale projects the federal government could tackle. 

“The role of government is not to impose a worldview on us one way or the other. It’s to actually improve our lives,” he said. “We should be stepping in to make sure that Montanans are able to get to where they need to go without going broke because they’re paying six bucks a gallon for diesel as a result of another needless, endless war.”

‘Us and them’ mentality was prevalent — just defined differently. 

Forstag painted the current state as “working people” against the rest — including both major parties. 

“We need to come together as working people and say that whatever the political pundits and party bosses might say: The working person beside you is not your enemy,” Forstag said. “We need a congressperson who answers to working people in this state, not to corporate donors, not to AI super PACs, not to political party bosses who pull their strings.”

Forstag also pointed to having endorsements from multiple Republican former officeholders, and said he would work across the aisle to tackle problems. 

Flint, on the other hand, pointed to the clear split between Democratic and Republican branded ideology, telling Forstag he attributed many problems in the country to “your side.”

“I’ve also met a lot of folks who fled these failed cities on the West Coast, like Portland and Seattle and San Francisco, and they fled the tyranny on the West Coast, and they came to Montana so they could raise their kids in faith and in freedom,” Flint said. “They were told to shut down their churches and wear the stupid masks and abide by all these mandates while their Democrat politicians were wining and dining at the French Laundry.”

The national scene

Tuesday’s debate came one day before President Trump will touch down in Kalispell for a midterm rally in support of Flint. He will be speaking at Majestic Valley Arena on Wednesday evening. 

The president is making a swing through 10 states, stopping in Alaska, Arizona, Montana and Georgia this week. Many states he’s visiting have competitive Senate or House races. 

Montana’s western congressional district is the most competitive of the three federal seats on November’s ballot, with Sabato’s Crystal Ball and Cook Political Report rating it as “lean Republican.”

But on Tuesday, Fox News released new “power rankings” that shifted Montana’s western district into the toss-up category. 

Both national party congressional committees released statements on the “decisive” debate victories by their respective candidates. 

National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Christian Martinez called Forstag a “mouthpiece for Bernie Sanders and AOC’s socialist agenda that would jack up costs, crush Montana jobs, and put Washington bureaucrats in charge of Montanans’ lives.”

“Aaron Flint is an Army veteran fighting to lower costs, strengthen Montana’s mining and timber industries, and protect good-paying jobs,” he said. “Forstag can slap a Montana label on his socialist garbage, but Montanans know a con job when they see one.”

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Montanans saw a clear contrast in the debate between “an independent, Montana-first leader in smokejumper and union leader Sam Forstag, versus political insider Aaron Flint who fights for the corrupt, out-of-state special interests.”

“Once again, Forstag proved he is focused on the issues that matter to voters, like lowering costs, ending corruption, and working across the aisle to get things done for Montanans,” spokesperson Lindsay Reilly said. “While Flint shouts into a void defending his reckless, cost-hiking agenda that’s crushing working families, Forstag is making it clear that he is the leader western Montana deserves.”