Forstag rides a ‘blue wave’ to victory in House race

MISSOULA —The second floor of the historic Florence Hotel erupted in cheers just before 11 p.m., when the first Missoula County vote results were released, and again 30 minutes later when Gallatin County made its first drop — both heavily favored Democrat Sam Forstag.

In a statement released at 11:48, Forstag’s campaign declared victory in the race for Montana’s western congressional race.

The Associated Press had not called the race as of midnight, but Aaron Flint has called Forstag and conceded the race.

Flint’s campaign did not respond with further comment.

Montana will send send Democrat to D.C., after two years of an all-Republican delegation and for the first time in the U.S. House since Forstag was born.

“This win is the work of thousands of Montanans who are sick of a politics that puts working people last, and who are ready to send one of our own to Washington to make it work for us,” Forstag said in his statement.

In Montana’s most competitive federal race, Forstag and Republican Aaron Flint have been locked in a tight race since polls closed at 8 p.m., with Flint gaining a lead when conservative Flathead County began reporting in his favor.

But as of 11:45 p.m., Missoula’s reported 43,000 votes broke 71%-to-27% for Forstag, and Gallatin’s 37,00 votes are reported at 61%-to-37% for Forstag.

Speaking to his supporters, Forstag said they were making a statement with each reported vote drop.

He talked about the feeling of helplessness he felt when the “other party” took power two years ago and began gutting sections of the government, hurting his fellow U.S. Forest Service workers and wildland firefighters.

“When a lot of people were hurting and a lot of promises were being gone back on, we had some folks come out here, and we talked about the fact that right now it feels like we’re fighting a hell of a fire,” Forstag told the crowd of around 200. “We are fighting greed, burning out of control, and we talked about the fact that it’s just like on a wildfire when you are 17 hours into a shift, swinging a tool or running a chainsaw, and that local engine or hotshot crew shows up. They’re not just bringing manpower or water; they’re bringing the kind of hope it’s going to take to fight this thing.

“And friends, we just took another swing at winning this thing.”

The New York Times estimates fewer than 70,000 votes are left to be tallied in the state and is forecasting the race to go to Forstag.

“Like we have said at 80-plus town halls and meet-and-greets across the state, like a Russian smokejumper said in National Geographic many years back: Well, what smokejumping is? It’s for three minutes, fly like eagle, for three weeks, dig like mole,” Forstag said, surrounded by his campaign team and family on stage. “And friends, we’ve been digging for a long time, but tonight, let’s fly.”