BILLINGS — Former president Donald Trump will be in Bozeman Friday as he stumps for Republican Tim Sheehy for the U.S. Senate race. Billings resident D’Vaughn Hayes will be there because he says he wants to see a historical moment.
“I do plan on attending, mostly just to see a former president live in person a few weeks after an assassination attempt,” said Hayes Monday.
Hayes considers himself an independent when it comes to political parties, but he said his current views align more with the right.
“If the Republican Party had a better candidate, I would happily vote for somebody other than Donald Trump,” Hayes said. “I just go back to how many of the things that I align with that he represents, and what does that look like on the other side, and which side checks more boxes.”
Billings resident D’Vaughn Hayes
He said attending the rally wouldn’t have any influence on his decision in the Sheehy’s bid to unseat Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester or the presidential race.
“I think if people are unsure or on the fence and they go to the rally, then it could. But I also think that most people that go to a rally are probably already convinced,” Hayes said.
Paul Pope, a political science professor at MSU Billings, agrees.
“I bet this rally will have no real impact at all. I think the voter turnout and how the vote is going to go in Montana” is not going to change, said Pope.
Pope said that in the past, the candidates that Trump has endorsed have not done well in elections.
MSU Billings political science professor Paul Pope
“The ones that do make it through the primary, the majority of them tend to lose,” Pope said.
In 2018, Trump made four stops in Montana, mostly in support of Rep. Matt Rosendale in his Senate race against Tester. Tester won that race by 3.5 points, his largest margin of victory of his three races for Senate.
“So maybe Sheehy’s one of the losers, maybe not. We’ll wait and see,” added Pope.
We haven’t seen recent polling numbers for the Sheehy-Tester race, but Hayes isn’t as concerned about that as he is with the bigger picture.
“I think we need to get away from the identity politics, and from bashing the other side so much, and focus more on what does each candidate have that they can offer us, what is their record, and what does life look like under that particular person,” Hayes said.
