“It's not just this gunshot wound issue which [...] is now a multi-week story and is taking on a drip, drip character, but it's all of the other knocks that we're increasingly seeing on Sheehy.”

Questions pile up for Sheehy about his dubious gunshot wound story as he still refuses to release his Kalispell medical records

Helena, MT – Tim Sheehy’s lies and inconsistencies are creating new questions for him in Montana. Montana Public Radio outlined the numerous problems for Sheehy stemming from his inconsistent accounts about his gunshot wound pointing out his track record of dishonesty. 

Simultaneously, Sheehy is refusing to engage with the Montana press corps – keeping himself and his views hidden from the public. As Sally Mauk raised, “if Sheehy is this unaccountable as a candidate, one has to wonder how accountable he would be as a senator.”

Read more below. 

Montana Public Radio: Cash pours into the Senate race; Sheehy bullet story doesn't add up; The press gets pushed out
April 19, 2024
Sally Mauk, Rob Saldin, Holly Michels

• Sally Mauk: “Rob, Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy keeps making headlines about how he got a bullet lodged in his arm. He admits to telling lies about it, and the truth remains elusive as new information comes out. Either he was shot in Afghanistan or in Glacier Park — and if it was or was not in Glacier — Rob, there's an easy way to find out.”
• Rob Saldin: “Yeah, yeah, there is, Sally. And I'm not sure he's just going to be able to run out the clock on this one, because you're right, this could all very easily be cleared up if he released his medical records from that trip to the Kalispell hospital.
• Saldin: “Big picture, Sally, I think this story is potentially really damaging for a couple of reasons. First, it goes to the heart of who Sheehy is and how he's presenting himself to voters. The one thing he wants you to know is that he's a war hero. Well, to the extent that that is now under question, that's a significant problem.”
• Saldin: “The second reason is that it captures and reinforces what I think we're seeing Democrats zero in on as a larger, more comprehensive narrative about Sheehy, and that is that he's dishonest, that he's playing fast and loose with the facts to advance his political ambitions. So, it's not just this gunshot wound issue which just on its own, is now a multi-week story and is taking on a drip, drip character, but it's all of the other knocks that we're increasingly seeing on Sheehy.”
• Sally Mauk: “Holly, meanwhile, Sheehy criticizes the press for reporting these stories, but at the same time, he's not doing interviews with Montana reporters.”
• Holly Michels: “Looking at this follow up reporting on what you and Rob were just talking about the Washington Post had about Sheehy, we're seeing Sheehy over social media have a lot of criticism of the Post's reporting. But what we're not seeing is Sheehy talking to local press, who are also trying to do their own follow ups about this story. The campaign might issue a statement, but we're not on the phone with the candidate.”
• Holly Michels: “Prior to this, there is a profile piece the Montana Free Press wrote about Sheehy. That piece noted it was based on public records, press clippings, and a lengthy statement from the Sheehy campaign, but not an interview with Sheehy. Like you and Rob were just talking about, there's a desire to get to know more about Sheehy and his background since he is a political newcomer.”
• Sally Mauk: “Rob, if Sheehy is this unaccountable as a candidate, one has to wonder how accountable he would be as a senator.”
• Holly Michels: “Tester outraised Sheehy by more than double, and then ended this first quarter of the year with six times the amount of cash left on hand. Tester brought in about $8,000,000 to Sheehy’s $3,100,000. And also worth taking into account here that over this quarter Sheehy loaned himself $500,000.”
• TV ad featuring rancher Tim B.: “This ranch is how I make my living. We run cattle and sell alfalfa. But let me tell you what Tim Sheehy sells on his ranch; pink hoodies, trucker hats, and cute little cups with his logo on it. Tim Sheehy's not a rancher. He's a rich out-of-stater who bought a ranch to play cowboy. Now Sheehy's trying to buy our Senate seat, too. So, here's what I'm saying: Montana is not for sale.”
• Rob Saldin: “You know, this strikes me as just another example of what we were talking about a few minutes ago, that Sheehy's in some fundamental way, dishonest. This seems to be the emerging message from Democrats, right? And here we have, you know - Sheehy says he's a rancher, but in reality, is just faking it. He's more focused on hawking merch from his pretend ranch than doing anything that might get his hands dirty, which is something of a retread in itself of the old knock on Denny Rehberg from 2012 as a mansion rancher.”
• Rob Saldin: “But again, it's consistent with that narrative that we see in the gunshot story and in this ad, you’re right Sally, it's connected to that now kind of classic greatest hits attack that we've seen Montana Democrats routinely trot out about out of staters who basically they describe as carpetbaggers. And I think that probably still does resonate on some level.”