Unearthed Audio Exhibits GOP Senate Candidate Peddling Racist Trope

In August 2023, shortly after launching his bid for the U.S. Senate, Tim Sheehy took to social media to post a picture of two horses, every with certainly one of his marketing campaign indicators strapped to its saddle, on the annual Crow Honest.

“Proud to be on the Crow truthful in the present day!” the businessman and former Navy SEAL wrote of the annual occasion on the Crow Reservation in southeast Montana.

At a pair of personal fundraising occasions a couple of months later, in November, Sheehy disparaged the Crow Tribe by peddling a longstanding racist trope about Native People and alcoholism, in line with audio recordings of the occasions first obtained by Char-Koosta Information, the official publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation, and reviewed by HuffPost.

In a single recording, Sheehy, a multimillionaire businessman who has listed “cowboy” or “rancher” as his occupation in a number of previous political contributions, talks about having helped rope and model cattle on the Crow Reservation.

“My ranching accomplice and certainly one of my actually good mates, Turk Stovall, he’s a Crow Indian. We ranch collectively on the Crow [reservation],” Sheehy instructed a crowd in Shelby, Montana. “I rope and model with them yearly down there — nice solution to bond with all of the Indians on the market, whereas they’re drunk at 8 a.m.”

“Each heel shot you miss you get a Coors Gentle can upside the top,” Sheehy added.

Stovall, the ranching accomplice Sheey talked about, is a fifth-generation Montana rancher, a board vice chairman of the Montana Stockgrowers Affiliation and operates a ranch on the Crow Reservation. He’s the son of the late Jay Omer Stovall, Jr., a former Montana legislator and “proud enrolled member of the Crow Tribe.” The senior Stovall’s obituary notes that he was “appointed by President George H. Bush to symbolize Indian and minority points in schooling and within the [U.S. Department of Agriculture] and felt referred to as to “assist give Crows a voice.”

In a marketing campaign commercial for Sheehy final month, Stovall says he’s been working with Sheehy “to strengthen Montana agriculture and to create extra alternatives for ranchers and farmers throughout our state.” Stovall goes on to accuse Sheehy’s opponent, incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, of leveling “disgusting” assaults towards Sheehy’s character and his aerial firefighting firm and ranching operation.

At a second marketing campaign occasion in Hamilton, Montana, the identical month, Sheehy boasted of taking part within the Crow Honest a couple of months earlier.

“Six weeks after I launched, one of many first issues I did was I strapped a Sheehy signal to a horse and rode by the Crow res parade,” he mentioned, including that it was a “powerful crowd.”

“They let you already know whether or not they such as you or not, there’s Coors Gentle cans flying by your head as you’re using by,” he added, drawing sporadic laughter. “They respect that. You go the place the motion is. They are saying, ‘Hey, that man’s not that unhealthy. He bought on a horse and rode by the parade, that’s fairly cool. I threw a beer can at his head and he didn’t even flinch. I like that man.’”

The Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, which represents the Crow Tribe and 10 different tribes in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, demanded a proper apology in a Tuesday letter to Sheehy’s marketing campaign, The Related Press reported.

“You ask for our votes and then you definately go to your fundraiser, paradoxically with alcohol flowing and laughter at our expense behind closed doorways, and also you insult us with a stereotype that solely seeks to severely diminish and dishonor our folks,” Bryce Kirk, the council’s chairman, reportedly wrote. “The Crow persons are not your punchline. Native People usually are not your punchline.”

Sheehy’s marketing campaign didn’t reply to HuffPost’s request for remark Wednesday. The Crow Tribe and Stovall additionally didn’t reply.

The recordings are the most recent in a marketing campaign that has been affected by scandal, from Sheehy admitting he lied to a nationwide park ranger about how he obtained a gunshot wound to questions about the viability of what he has repeatedly described as his “profitable” aerial firefighting firm. As HuffPost not too long ago reported, Sheehy has been doing harm management after beforehand advocating for federal public lands to be “turned over” to states — an effort that bizarrely included tapping a pro-transfer advocate for a TV advert wherein he casts himself as a champion of public lands.

However in perpetuating a racist stereotype about Native People, one which has been debunked and has had sweeping negative impacts on Indigenous communities, Sheehy dangers ostracizing a large portion of Montana voters.

Six % of Montana residents are Indigenous, making it the U.S. state with the sixth-highest share of Native People. The state is residence to 12 tribal nations and 7 reservations.

Sheila Hogan, govt director of the Montana Democratic Occasion, referred to as Sheehy’s feedback “inexcusable.”

“Tim Sheehy’s feedback, which play into racist and dangerous stereotypes about Native People, present simply how unfit Sheehy is to symbolize Montanans and the way little he cares about our state,” she mentioned in an announcement Wednesday. “We condemn Sheehy’s feedback within the strongest attainable phrases.”

In posts on X responding to information of Sheehy’s remarks, Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, applauded Tester’s file of advocating for Montana tribes as a member of the committee.

“Jon is from Montana so he doesn’t speak about anybody like that – particularly not the members of the 12 tribal nations in Montana,” Schatz wrote. “Jon fights arduous for Montana Tribes and doesn’t speak about them like he simply bought off a non-public jet from California.”