(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . No more Mr. Nice Guy: two Montana Democrats take the fight to the GOP in a red state [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-04 Ryan Busse, 54, and Raph Graybill, 35, are the Democratic candidates for Governor and Lt. Gov. in Montana. They have a tough goal. The state voted for Trump by 16% in 2020. On the other hand, Montana does have a Democratic Senator, Jon Tester — also up for reelection. So, there is a path up the mountain. For half a century, Republicans have worked hard — and successfully — to become the party of aggrieved whites. As a result, Democrats have tried to win races in red states by steering a centrist path to appeal to independents. In doing so they have downplayed traditional Democratic positions. Busse and Graybill have tossed that strategy. In an article, “In Red Montana, Two Democrats Take a New Political Approach: Attack,” the New York Times addresses the point (the paywall should be down). Democrats in Republican states have tended toward soft-spoken moderation, but Ryan Busse and Raph Graybill have charted a different course in trying to take down Gov. Greg Gianforte. The article expands. But Mr. Busse, 54, and his running mate, Raph Graybill, 35, a crusading constitutional lawyer in Montana, are testing a new approach to campaigning as Democrats in Republican states. Instead of adopting the soft-spoken moderation of, say, the governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, or the recently retired Democratic governor of Louisiana, John Bel Edwards, or even the last Democratic governor of Montana, Steve Bullock, Mr. Busse and Mr. Graybill are campaigning as fighters, eager to activate not only the state’s few progressives but also its many voters disaffected with both parties. (Mr. Busse and Mr. Graybill will officially become the party’s nominees with Tuesday’s primary.) Busse’s resume is not that of a typical urban, coastal Democrat. He was once an executive at the gun manufacturer Kimber. And he supports American’s 2A rights. However, he is on the NRA’s shit list because he is pro-universal background checks and red flag laws. Positions even a majority of gun owners support . But his mortal sin was his book ‘Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America.’ In it he details his opposition to the gun industry’s marketing practices that, as he writes on his campaign site , “encourage violence and radicalization, because those actions put innocent people in danger and jeopardize all of our rights as Americans.” He is particularly enraged by the gun lobby’s divisive but profitable message, spooned up by the easily spooked and weak-minded, that owning a war weapon will let them “own the libs.” Much of Busse’s message to Montana’s voters celebrates the liberties of the citizens whose rights are being stripped away by plutocratic and authoritarian conservatives who preach ‘freedom’ while imposing their dictatorial rules on the average guy. Busse has hammered his opponent, current Governor Greg Gianforte, for being a carpet-bagging tool of the oil and gas interests who fund the disinformation spewed by the GOP. As the NYT reports: But Mr. Busse’s campaign is focused less on the governor’s temper than on painting him as an out-of-touch outsider who is changing Montana in ways the independent, rugged West doesn’t want. Wealthy newcomers like Mr. Gianforte, who moved to Montana in 1995 after selling his software company for $10 million, have helped drive housing prices sky high, Mr. Busse has argued, and rather than adjust property tax rates to ease the rising tax burden, the Republican governor and Legislature let property taxes shoot upward on homeowners while protecting businesses, especially pipeline owners, with lower rates. In an interview on KGVO Radio's "Talk Back,” Busse called out possible self-dealing by Gianforte. He said the Governor has a house in a 75-home development where all the homeowners saw sizable property tax increases, except for Gianforte. More digging, please. Expose the crooks. On his issues page , Busse does not hide, as many timid Democrats in red states do, his people-first (aka liberal) policies. He spells out that he is pro-democracy, pro-choice, pro-public schools, pro-public lands (a big issue in the Mountain States), pro-taxes, and pro-tribal rights. Ryan believes in majority rule, free and fair elections, and the right of all eligible citizens to vote without difficulty, confusion, or harassment. Ryan is an unapologetic defender of the freedom of health care and reproductive choice and Montana’s constitutional right to privacy. Ryan and his wife Sara are the products of public schools, as are their children. Public schools are the heart of rural communities, and Ryan believes all students should have access to public education no matter where they live. Access to Montana’s abundant public land is part of Ryan’s very livelihood. In fact, protecting the Badger Two Medicine from drilling is what ultimately drew Ryan into political activism and away from the Republican Party. Ryan believes corporations and the wealthy should pay their fair share in taxes. Ryan understands and honors the importance of working government-to-government with sovereign Tribal Nations, with open-mindedness, and with respect for and attention to the unique needs, cultures, languages and traditions of Indigenous People in Montana. Busse’s love of Montana’s environment extends to his sons, Badge, 16, and Lander, 19. They were plaintiffs in a 2023 lawsuit that maintained the state’s failure to consider climate change when approving fossil-fuel projects violated Montana’s Constitution. Last summer, a judge agreed in a notable ruling — proving that global warming can be a winning issue, even in oil-drunk neighborhoods. The ruling also resonated with Busse’s running mate, Raph Graybill. His grandfather, Leo Graybill, was the president of the 1972 commission that drafted the state’s Constitution. Raph Graybill has his grandfather’s zeal for constitutionally guaranteed rights. He has sued the administration of Governor Gianforte 18 times over constitutional issues — and won every case. Including eight suits over abortion restrictions that the courts agreed violated the state’s guarantee of a right to privacy. Now, in addition to running for lieutenant governor, Graybill is leading the legal fight to get an amendment to the state constitution that would explicitly protect abortion access onto the Montana ballot this November. That is a fight every Montana woman and the men who love them should embrace. For too long, Republicans have claimed that they speak for the American people while saying Democrats are ivory tower elitists. That is pure bullshit. It is as ridiculous as the GOP’s claim to be the party of personal responsibility, family values, and law order — an absurd position for a group of cultists peeling grapes for an irresponsible, adulterous, convicted felon. Traditionally, the dispassionate analysis of America’s two major political rivals had it that the GOP was the party of bad ideas they knew how to market. And the Democrats had good ideas, which they made sound like broccoli. You could write the Republican platform on T-shirts while cynics sneered that every Democratic bumper sticker ended with the phrase ‘continued on next bumper sticker … ‘ Common wisdom had it that Republicans shoot first and ask no questions — while Democrats embrace debate club niceties. Like all generalizations, it has plenty of exceptions. Many Democrats have discovered their inner shit-kicker. And even the cheerleader of political comity, President Joe Biden, has learned you cannot feed a snake without it biting your hand. He now calls Trump a convicted felon. Democrats can win on the issues Republicans say they embrace — accountable government, personal liberty, the right to be left alone — but which they shred as soon as they are in office. And they can do it while also embracing traditional Democratic values. If that means the party supports a gun-owning hunter along with his pro-choice wingman in a Mountain State, they should just do it. And try it elsewhere. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/4/2244707/-No-more-Mr-Nice-Guy-two-Montana-Democrats-take-the-fight-to-the-GOP-in-a-red-state?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/