Missoulian week in review: Local news recap for Aug. 10-16 (2024)

MISSOULIAN STAFF

Here are some of the headlines from this past week in the Missoulian. To read the full stories, click the link on each headline:

The city of Missoula's 2025 budget did not change in sizeWednesday after a day of attempted and failed funding tweaks, although one more meeting is planned on Monday to consider a few additional amendments.

Councilors spent six hours Wednesday debating cuts to staffing, land programs andtransferring funds between departments to save money, but none gathered enough support to pass.

One amendment would have transferred funding from the city's private security force—Black Knight Security, which the city contracts with to patrol near shelters— to help pay for a street maintenance worker.

The change originally passed 6-4 before Ward 5 councilor Stacie Anderson changed her vote from yes to no.

“This is the center of Ovando,” Patti Bartlett said, sitting at her desk in the "big room" of the Ovando schoolhouse.

Ovando School celebrated turning 100 this year. It’s grown from a one-room schoolhouse since opening in 1924 to now having an expanded space and recreational areas, but its role as a community anchor in Ovando is unchanged.

“You don’t find that in bigger schools,” Bartlett said. She's one of the school's two teachers and instructs fourth through eighth graders.

A formal celebration of the anniversary earlier this month drew a few hundred people. They brought with them dozens of photos of old school classes that former students and families unearthed from attic boxes and storage bins. Some date back to the early 1900s.

“It’s sort of like a big puzzle with everything,” Barb McNally said of putting the school’s timeline together. “Somebody brought in a handful of papers and things recently I haven’t looked through yet, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh wow, there’s another treasure chest!’”

The next legislative session will be awash in proposals to address a spike in property taxes.As Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s property tax task force finalized its recommendations this week, legislative Democrats have put forth plans and the governor’s challenger in this fall’s election has his own pitch.

Over the last two years, Montanans have seen first a dramatic increase in the appraised value of their homes and later a corresponding spike in property taxes, averaging a jump of 21% statewide.

That’s led to anger around Montana and a demand for solutions from lawmakers in the upcoming session that starts in January. There’s also been plenty of finger-pointing, as Gianforte put the blame on local county budgets, while commissioners pushed back saying they’re limitedby the state in what they can levy. Minority Democrats say majority Republicans failed to pass any meaningful legislation, and Ryan Busse, the Democratic candidate for governor, said Republicans were at fault for failing to pass a bill to adjust the rates different classes of properties are taxed.

Gianforte on Thursday at the final meeting of his property tax task force put his support clearly behind at least one of the proposals the group came up with— a homestead and "comstead" exemption that aims to lower the tax rate for primary residences and long-term rentals, along with smaller commercial taxpayers. Because the amount of money the state needs to collect in property taxes doesn’t decrease, that means the proposal would increase taxes for non-primary residences, short-term rentals like Airbnbs and larger commercial properties. The meeting happened on the same day Montana homeowners could begin to apply for property tax rebates passed last legislative session and paid for out of a surplus.

A Missoula man was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years in the Montana State Prison, with all but three suspended, for groping an elementary student at the 2022 Western Montana Fair, and two charges of animal cruelty.

The sentence means that Frank Matthew Rodriguez, 50, will remain on probation until 20 years from now, regardless of when he is released from prison.

Missoula District Judge Leslie Halligan sentenced him to a total of four years in prison for two felony counts of aggravated animal cruelty, with one year suspended. She sentenced Rodriguez to a concurrent 20-year prison sentence for the single count of felony sexual assault involving a minor, all of which was suspended.

“Given his history with regard to other offenses … and given the fact that there were additional charges that resulted subsequent to these offenses, I do think a period of incarceration, of prison, is appropriate,” Halligan said.

The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday unanimously upheld a lower court’s decision that a medical provider performing an abortion on a minor is not legally required to receive consent from parents.

Abortion is legal in Montana under judicial precedent from the 1999 state Supreme Court order known as Armstrong. The case asserted that the state constitution’s right to privacy protects abortion access to the point of fetal viability.

Wednesday’s opinion, authored by Justice Laurie McKinnon, settles one element of a decade-long legal battle over how that right to privacy interacts with the rights of parents in a child’s abortion care.

“We conclude that minors, like adults, have a fundamental right to privacy, which includes procreative autonomy and making medical decisions affecting his or her bodily integrity and health in partnership with a chosen health care provider free from governmental interest,” she wrote in the opinion.

A little over a year ago, Alex Gray of Missoula was homeless and living at the Johnson Street Emergency Shelter.

But then the Trinity Apartments, one of the largest affordable housing developments in Montana, were completed.

With 202 affordable rental homes at two different sites, the project was built with the help of numerous partners, including the nonprofit Homeword, the Missoula Housing Authority, the city and the county.

For some of the people who found homes there, it was a lifesaver.

A Missoula man died after crashing a pickup truck near Evaro Wednesday night.

The 53-year-old was driving southbound on U.S. Highway 93, south of Evaro, when he drifted off the road and struck a guardrail, according to the Montana Highway Patrol report. No other vehicles were involved.

The truck overturned and the driver was ejected, the report states. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Missoula County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jeannette Smith didn’t immediately respond to a message Thursday asking if the man’s name had been publicly released.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte requested President Joe Biden declare a disaster in Missoula and Powell counties on Wednesday, another step toward getting federal relief for millions in estimated damages.

The governor's office said in a letter on Thursday that damages to public infrastructure— including powerlines, roads, and tree removal costs— have exceeded $3.7 million.

"The damages this event incurred to trees and electrical systems are extensive, putting a financial burden on the communities and electrical co-ops," Gianforte wrote. "We fully expect this damage estimate to increase as the recovery process moves forward due to unquantified damages incurred to the University of Montana's research facilities and fluctuations in debris estimates as drop off piles continue to grow daily."

The powerful windstorm that blew through Missoula and other western Montana towns on July 24 left downed powerlines in the area's rivers and trees scattered on streets, yards and homes.

A Missoula city councilor used the threat of budget cuts on Wednesday to rail against a municipal court that he says has “thrown out any sort of accountability” for property crimes.

Councilor Bob Campbell, a retired city police officer who was elected to the 12-member council last November, introduced an amendment to cut $255,000 from the municipal court's annual budget. But his explanation of the proposal quickly turned into an extended critique of the court’s operations under a trio of former public defenders elected to the bench in 2021.

“We’ve totally thrown out any sort of accountability for those that commit criminal acts within the city of Missoula,” he said, referring specifically to theft and shoplifting charges. “I feel like we’re taking into account the needs of the offender over the needs of the safety of the public, quite frankly.”

Campbell also used a budget hearing last month to air his grievances over the court’s handling of misdemeanor offenses. He acknowledged the amount was only an estimate of the costs of administering the city’s pretrial assistance andshelter courtprograms, along with a new court administrator position Campbell’s proposal would eliminate.

After a last check of the explosive charges, U.S. Forest Service blaster Steven Petesch and two other explosives expertsscooted around McKinley Lake's shoreline deep in the Rattlesnake Wilderness, ready to breach an archaic, 100-year old dam.

The blasting team dug several 5-foot holes for the explosives into the ground, covered each charge and connected them to the detonation system using a thin cord. Ateam of conservation workers awaited anxiously atop a glacial boulder above the lake, unsure what to expect.

Three. Two. One, andPetesch pressed the remote detonation button.

The middle of the damn erupted in a barrage of dirt, rocks and logs that shot hundreds of feet into the air. A dust plume enshrouded the lower half of the lake. Giant rocks landed 200 feet away.

When everything settled, the real work began.

"It looked like no man's land for a while," Missoula Associate Director for Ecosystem Services Morgan Valiant said as he stood in a school bus-sized gap between the slopes of the remaining dam.

The city of Missoula plans to use its emergency homelessness declaration from 2023 to supplement its 2025 budget, which would allow the city to partially fund a one-time spending request for the Johnson Street Emergency Shelter.

The money from the declaration, roughly $409,000, would be raised outside of the normal local budget system, which state law caps at a certain amount each year. No vote by the public will be required to use the money.

"I am suggesting we use it for two reasons. One, it is a one-time tax increase ... and secondly, it does direct those funds specifically to the Johnson Street Shelter,"Missoula Mayor Andrea Davis said on Wednesday. "It does not pay for it in totality."

In 2023, then Missoula Mayor Jordan Hessdeclared an emergency over homelessness, reasoning that the population was increasing and resources would be needed to support the city.

Under state law, declaring an emergency allows the city to levy an additional two mills, or $409,000, for the next fiscal year. Money available from the declaration could be budgeted the following fiscal year, which falls into the city's current 2025 budgeting process.

Missoula County Superintendent of Schools Erin Lipkind now has the responsibility of appointing a vacant board seat after a call for applicants by Missoula County Public Schools wasn't filled this month.

The open position is for a trustee that lives within the Seeley-Swan, Seeley Lake, Sunset, Potomac and Clinton school district boundaries. Jennifer Vogel resigned from the board in early June after four years of serving, creating the opening.

The deadline was previously extended to Aug. 8. A special meeting to interview applicants that day was canceled due to a lack of candidates.

Providence Montana announced on Wednesday plans to open a new $18 million health care center in the former Bed Bath & Beyond building at Southgate Mall in Missoula in the summer of 2025.

The new facility will house a dedicated urgent care clinic, a primary care clinic and a Providence Heart Institute general cardiology clinic. It will also have radiology and laboratory services on the site.

"This project has been in the works since November 2022 when Providence recognized the need to enhance access to quality health services due to the rapid population increase in Missoula and Ravalli counties and western Montana,” said Bill Calhoun, chief executive of Providence Montana. “We're not only establishing a new facility that’s conveniently located, but also expanding a system of care to better serve our communities.”

Amber Norris, the executive director of strategy and business development for Providence's Montana service area, said there's been a surge in population growth in western Montana over the last 15 years. The new center will add 35 to 50 jobs once it's fully operational.

A former Missoula doctor criminally charged with sexually assaulting multiple patients is now facing an additional civil lawsuit in connection to two survivor's claims, including one woman who alleges the defendant told her she wouldn't be believed because of her race.

Tyler J. Hurst, 40, has beenpreviously accused of raping or sexually assaulting 15 womenduring his time as an emergency room doctor at Community Medical Center. He has pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges, including six felonies, in Missoula District Court.

In the new lawsuit filed Wednesday, two of Hurst’s accusers are asking a jury to award damages for two counts of sexual battery, for injuries including “severe psychological distress, emotional anguish, humiliation, embarrassment (and) loss of self-esteem.”

One of the women alleges that in an emergency room visit in December 2022, Hurst touched her inappropriately until she began crying and saying she was uncomfortable. He then gave her shots for pain, nausea and a muscle relaxer, the lawsuit states, locked the door and raped the patient.

When two portable toilets popped up across the street from the home of David "Doc" Moore on July 25, he thought there could have been a kids' camp or maintenance work in the area.

It wasn't until one of his neighbors called the city when he found out that Bellevue Park, which he sees from his front window, was listed on the city's website as one of several areas for overnight camping in Missoula's parks.

"No one ever came to our door and said there would be a homeless camp across the street," Moore, a former state legislator, told the Missoulian on Monday.

The frustration over the toilets led Moore and other residents near Bellevue Park in Ward 4 to post signs, padlock the stalls and call the city to halt any plans to use the park as an overnight refuge.

Several neighbors argue that Bellevue Park, on the valley floor near Missoula's South Hills, is away from most homelessness services and frequented by children. They also claim allowing people to camp there could lower their property values.

Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Sid Daoud told the Montana State News Bureau that top Republicans from the Montana GOP chairman to Donald Trump encouraged him to drop out of the contest.

The deadline to officially exit the race closed Monday and Daoud will be on the ballot.

In addition to Trump and Montana Republican Party Chairman Don "K" Kaltschmidt, Sen. Steve Daines and an unidentified Tim Sheehy campaign staff member also spoke to him about dropping out, Daoud said. Daines chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, one of the main groups responsible for gaining a Republican Senate majority back. Most of those implicated acknowledged talking to Daoud but denied encouraging him to step aside.

Trump was in Montana on Friday to campaign in support of Sheehy, the Republican nominee for Montana’s U.S. Senate seat currently held by Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester.

Daoud said he was contacted by a Sheehy campaign staffer Friday morning, the day of the Trump rally on Montana State University’s campus. Daoud told the campaign he had work in the Flathead (where he lives)until 2 p.m., so he was not planning on attending the Bozeman rally that evening.

But then there was a plane waiting for him.

This week, there are two indie music festivals, new art exhibitions by notable Montana artists, and a book launch for poet laureate Chris La Tray's memoir, "Becoming Little Shell."

Missoula's community cinema is screening the annual CatVideoFest, along with "E.T." and the Sundance-approved coming of age drama, "Didi."

—Charlotte Macorn, for the Missoulian

The University of Montana broke ground on Tuesday on its first new residence hall in 30 years, a project the Missoula flagship says will offset increased housing needs that have come withenrollment growthin recent years.

The university’s new 171,000-square-foot residence hall is tentatively set to open in the fall of 2027, boasting 600 beds. It’s being built on the southwest end of campus, next to Pantzer Hall.

“If there's one issue that Montanans understand right now, it’s the importance of accessible, safe, affordable housing,” UM President Seth Bodnar said on Tuesday, nodding to Montana’s housing shortage and rising cost of living. “Our students feel that challenge particularly acutely,” Bodnar said.

The new hall, which has yet to be named, will have the largest bed count on campus, with mostly double rooms.

This month, artists from Indigenous tribes in Montana will make their way to New Mexico for the 102nd Santa Fe Indian Market, one of the largest and most prestigious Native art markets in the country.

The market, organized by the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA), will take over several city blocks in Santa Fe on Aug. 17-18. The event will also include Native fashion shows, an awards ceremony for the best art shown, a live auction and a gala.

“It is certainly one of the premiere locations to show Native art,” said Del Curfman, Crow, who will be participating in the market for the ninth time. “Santa Fe is unique in that way that Native art and culture is very supported here, and there’s a lot of history here, and so it’s kind of like the Native art mecca.”

Curfman, who is based in Santa Fe, will be showcasing a series called “Faces of our Land.” For the project, he interviewed several Native people from various tribes, then painted them in their traditional and contemporary clothing. Those interviews, along with a short documentary, will accompany the series at the market.

The Miller Peak fire southeast of Missoula is mostly contained and fire activity has been minimal, as recent rains have lowered — but not eliminated — wildfire danger across the region.

The national-level incident management team overseeing firefighting operations on the fire,which ignited July 14, issued its final update Friday before handing management of the fire over to a local team from the Lolo National Forest on Sunday morning. The fire was 2,724 acres and 86% contained Friday. Eighty-one personnel were working the fire,down from more than 600 a few weeks earlier.

By Tuesday, 52 people were assigned to the fire, which is10 miles southeast of downtown Missoula and just over 5 miles west of Clinton. Hand crews were working to maintain and monitor containment lines around the fire, according to an online update from the Lolo.

Missoula's City Council held off on approving a large subdivision in East Missoula on Monday night, opting instead to take more time to consider the project after neighbors brought concerns of increased density and traffic.

The Aspire subdivision, located along the Clark Fork River on undeveloped land, would add 172 single-family homes and 10 multi-dwelling units on 35 acres of land, which would be built in several phases between 2025 and 2035.

The developers requested to annex the land into city limits and grant 11 variances, which are exceptions to city building code.

HELENA— When Evan Thompson entered the University of Montana law school campus in 2008, the last thing he wanted to do was study Indian law.

Thompson grew up in Heart Butte, a town of 621 people on the Blackfeet Reservation. He watched former classmates leave the community to pursue Indian law and move back home to work in the tribal court system. He wanted something different.

Plus, Thompson got a taste of Indian law during his undergrad at Montana State University. The subject, Thompson said, made him feel “fascinated and pissed off at the same time.”

Now, Thompson, 42, serves as general counsel for the Blackfeet Nation and Chippewa Cree Tribe. He also represents several tribal housing authorities and works with tribes to modernize codes and update policy.

Five greenhouses tucked away in the Orchard Homes neighborhood of Missoula produce over a million seedlings every year to help reforest Montana's wild landscapes with native trees and other plants after wildfires.

The Montana Conservation Seedling Nursery, operated by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, recently added its fifth greenhouse.

"The greenhouse will grow hundreds of thousands of seedlings each year to help reforestation efforts in underserved communities and on Tribal lands throughout the state," said DNRC forestry communications coordinator Anna Lau in an email.

The newly built 4,320-square foot Anaconda Greenhouse (they’re all named after mountain ranges) is part of what nursery manager Michael Butts calls the “reforestation pipeline of the state.”

The Missoula County commissioners last week unanimously approved a huge 445-housing unit major subdivision near the Wye west of Missoula called Grass Valley Gardens. (Recently, it wasbeing marketed as Grass Valley Farmsbut the name has since changed.)

"This will add to our housing stock," said county commissioner Dave Strohmaier. "I recognize full well that this is going to be a change on the landscape at this location and it might be jolting ... but this is exactly the sort of changes for this area this commission envisioned when we adopted the land use planning map for this area and when we adopted zoning."

Located on 187 acres of currently empty grazing land on Highway 10 West, just west of Deschamps Lane, Grass Valley Gardens will be 218 residential lots with a mix of single-family homes and apartments. There will also be seven commercial lots and a large community farm.

The developers, led by Matt Mellott of Grass Valley Farms LLC, said they've submitted only the first four phases of what they hope will eventually be a 13-phase subdivision.

Waded Cruzado, who has served as president of Montana State University for nearly 15 years, announced on Monday that she will retire in June 2025.

In aletter sent to the entire student body, Cruzado called her time at MSU “an incomparable honor, the memory of which I will hold close to my heart for the rest of my life.”

Cruzado took the job at the flagship university in 2010, making her the 12th president to sit at its helm.

Since then, MSU has surpassed previous highs in nearly every major university metric including enrollment numbers, research, fundraising and student retention rates.

There were a total of11,162 students enrolledin MSU undergraduate programs for the fall 2010 semester, the first of Cruzado’s tenure. As of the fall 2023 semester, that number had reached14,885 undergraduate students, making it the largest university in the state.

Officials have identified a man who died in a fatal crash outside Bigfork last week.

Dusty Fratzke, 43, was headed northbound on Montana Highway 83 and appeared to be making a left turn when he crossed into oncoming traffic, according to the Montana Highway Patrol report.

Flathead County Sheriff Brian Heino released the victim's name Monday. The man was a Bigfork resident, Heino said.

A southbound SUV struck Fratzke's vehicle when he was making the turn. Both of the occupants in the SUV were injured and transported to Logan Health "with serious injuries," the MHP report stated.

Fratzke was pronounced dead at the scene.

Nearly 150 people huddled in a basem*nt room at Carroll College to hear a former GOP governor and state constitutional convention delegate give them tips on how to “preserve” their democracy in a 90-minute discussion on an issue that one speaker described as teetering between encouraging and foreboding.

“We won’t be talking candidates tonight. We’re not talking about political parties. We’re talking about democracy,” Helena-area League of Women Voters Co-President Sharon Haugen told people packed Wednesday into the Avila/Desmet room for a discussion the league hosted featuring former Gov. Marc Racicot and Mae Nan Ellingson, who was the youngest delegate at the 1972 constitutional convention.

Ellingson said it “doesn’t take a noted scholar” to see there could be a potential breakdown in democracy.

“It’s in full view of anyone who has access to the normal news,” she said, adding the most alarming development was the absence of a peaceful transfer of power in the 2020 presidential election.

“Now we have a candidate who is unwilling to say he will accept the results of the 2024 election. That, my friends, does not bode well for us."

The Missoula Organization of Realtors has a fund to provide housing relief for Missoula County residents affected by the July 24 windstorm. Plus, Missoula's airport gets funding and a new store called Kyiyo Mercantile on the east side of Glacier National Park opened on Aug. 6.

Tribal leaders and community members will gather in Fort Shaw on Thursday, Aug. 15 for a “Day of Remembrance” to honor the children who died at Indian boarding schools.

From the 1800s to the 1970s, Native children were taken from their homes and forced to attend government-funded Christian boarding schools, where they were emotionally, physically and sexually abused. The explicit mission of these schools was cultural genocide. Some children died at these schools and were buried in unmarked graves. Tribes suffered language and culture loss as a result, and historical trauma persists in Native communities today.

Established in the late 1800s, the Fort Shaw Indian School was one of several boarding schools in Montana.

The event, free and open to the public, will kick off at 10 a.m. with remarks from Iva Croff, liberal studies division chair at Blackfeet Community College, and Carol Murray, a boarding school survivor. Attendees will also have an opportunity to share their stories, and the event will conclude around 2 p.m. with a tour of the cemetery.

Members of Montana’s congressional delegation were also invited.

The day after the July 24 violent windstorm that swept through Missoula and surrounding areas and sent thousands of trees and limbs crashing down, a "quick reaction force" of volunteers began lending a helping hand.

And still, over two weeks later, the volunteers from Team Rubicon are hard at work removing debris from yards, streets and alleys in town.

Team Rubicon is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that sends volunteers, many of whom are military veterans or first responders, all over the United States and the world to assist in disaster recovery efforts.

They don't just show up without an invitation. They were contacted by the Missoula County Office of Emergency Management to assist after the storm.

In all, they had 73 total volunteers work in Missoula since the storm and they've removed 32,000 cubic feet of debris from people's yards and public areas free of charge.

If a gallery exhibition in western Montana is titled “True Places,” you might be expecting landscape paintings. Yet one common thread tying together these four artists (three painters from the Treasure State and one ceramic artist from Minnesota) at Radius Gallery is the implication of stories and animals as central protagonists.

The title, “True Places,” is taken from a section of “Moby Dick” describing the island that Queequeg, a crew member on the Pequod, hails from: “It is not down on any map; true places never are.”

Gallery co-owner Lisa Simon said the idea for the show began with the pairing of painters Kaetlyn Able of Bozeman and Jennifer Eli Indreland of Billings.

“There’s so much synergy between them,” she said. “They’re painting animals but they’re in another realm.”

She saw a common element of enchantment, perhaps allusions to storybooks, and from there, “the life of the mind,” the “place” in the title. To round out the show, they invited another painter, Jared Shear, to continue a series he’d begun based on Melville’s novel.

BOZEMAN — In a rambling hour and 45 minute speech Friday night, former Republican President Donald Trump attacked Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and lauded his opponent, Republican political newcomer Tim Sheehy.

Much of Trump’s speech wandered across subjects, often doubling back on different topics. It was dominated by the southern border and hits against Democratic presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris and Tester, including insults about Tester’s appearance.

Trump spoke to a full Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on Montana State University’s campus. The event was held in support of Sheehy, but Trump mostly focused on his own tight race against Harris. Trump is in Montana for the fifth time in recent years and all the visits have been to campaign against Tester.

"Tim Sheehy is going to be an outstanding senator," Trump told the crowd. "Sheehy, you've gotta vote for him."

Sheehy is in a tight race with Tester, a three-term incumbent, with recent polling showing the contest in a statistical tie. Montana’s Senate seat is one of the Republicans’ most coveted in the nation, as they see it as a main barrier between them and a Senate majority.

—Victoria Eavis and Carly Graf, Lee Montana State News Bureau

In his first campaign rally since Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 presidential election, former President Donald Trump attacked Walz and rallied support for a crucial Senate seat in Montana.

"If Comrade Walz and Comrade Harris win this November, the people cheering will be the pink-haired Marxists, the looters, the perverts, the flag burners," Trump said, invoking a common butmisleading line of attackthat seeks to paint Democrats’ policies as socialist.

Trump took the stage later than expected at his Friday night rally in Bozeman.Trump’s vice presidential running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, did not attend.

In his speech, Trump zeroed in on the state’s Democratic senator, Jon Tester, criticizing the votes Tester took to support major legislation passed under President Joe Biden’s administration, such as the Inflation Reduction Act. Tim Sheehy, the Republican running to unseat Tester, spoke alongside Trump.

Trump also criticized Harris and Biden on issues such as immigration and the economy. We fact-checked five of his claims. For the full fact check, visit Missoulian.com.

—Caleb McCullough, PolitiFact

BOZEMAN— The jubilation began well before Donald Trump took the stage in Bozeman on Friday evening.

Erica and Nicholas Tinker arrived at the rally from Billings first thing Friday morning. They wanted to be sure to get a spot.

"All I care about is Trump," Erica Tinker said. "I know God has his hand on him."

Trump’s first rally in Montana since 2018 saw a surge of fans descend on the Montana State University campus, creating a scene that felt more like a festival or a rock concert than a political event. Fervent supporters in Trump T-shirts, hats and jackets mingled for hours before lines formed outside of Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. The campaign stop was intended to give first-time GOP candidate Tim Sheehy a bump in his bid for the U.S. Senate over Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester, but Trump was clearly the main draw.

The Tinkers are confident that Trump will win this election, feeling even more optimistic after the attempted assassination on July 13. Many who spoke with reporters on Friday said they were angered by the assassination attempt— nearly all suggested Trump survived through divine intervention.

"So many people have realized it happened for reason," Erica Tinker said. "I believe he continues to point people to the Lord Almighty."

—Seaborn Larson and Carly Graf, Lee Montana State News Bureau

Speaking to a packed Rialto theater in downtown Bozeman Friday night, Democratic governor candidate Ryan Busse referenced the Republican elephant in town.

"I heard about a political rally, the center of the political universe, I wanted to be there. I wanted all of you to be there. The center of the goddamn political universe, right here in the Rialto," Busse told the crowd. "Also they’re having some kind of weirdo couch-surfing thing over here a couple blocks (away). Never heard of them."

Busse took the stage downtown as prominent Republicans in Montana spoke in advance of former President Donald Trump’s large rally and speech at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on Montana State University’s campus Friday night. And while it was impossible for the counter rallies held around town to compete in size, those who opposed Trump’s visit to Montana worked to make their presence known.

That included Busse’s event in coordination with the Montana Democratic Party, as well as a reproductive rights rally at the Bozeman Public Library and a protest to oppose Trump directly near his rally site on Montana State University’s campus.

While much of Busse’s remarks focused on his own race and highlighting his campaign’s criticisms of opponent Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s policies, the Democrat made a point of amping the crowd up for U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a third-term Democrat seeking re-election against Republican political newcomer Tim Sheehy.