Bullock, Tester, Racicot rally Montanans, blast Trump and talk Bodnar Senate run

Beers and friendly jabs were flowing as three former icons of Montana politics took the stage in front of a full and fawning bar crowd in downtown Helena on Thursday.

Jon Tester and Steve Bullock, two of the last Democrats to hold statewide office, and former Gov. Marc Racicot, a kind of folk hero for Republicans who no longer see themselves as such in the Trump chapter, spent nearly two hours reflecting on this moment in political history and answering audience questions.

Each displayed hallmark traits of their past tenures in public service: Tester, an irreverence for decorum and a plain-spokenness that veers into rabble-rousing; Bullock, a knack for working the room and his go-to outfit of jeans, a sport coat and cowboy boots; Racicot, a steady, almost dulcet delivery and a self-proclaimed struggle to keep things brief.

All three offered a frank rebuke of the second term under President Donald Trump and free-wheeling commentary on the stakes of this year’s midterm elections.

In what at times felt like a night lifted from a different era, the three political heavyweights articulated a vision of government in which a critical mass of small, individual actions from regular people can move the levers of power.

Metaphors were the currency of choice to describe the slow but steady pace of change when people get involved in the political process. Bullock spoke about finding the red line. Racicot likened it to sand moving through an hour glass.

But perhaps the greatest applause line of the night was Tester’s rousing call for people to protest outside the state Capitol in Helena, a direct response to Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration’s quiet decision last month to halt permitting for weekend rallies on the government building grounds.

“Right across from the Capitol is a perfectly good street that you can pack,” Tester said. “You can project your voices right to the Capitol and let them know how it’s the people of this country that control the government, not the government that controls the people.”

The energy Thursday night rivaled, or perhaps eclipsed, any single Democratic affair hosted in public over the last year, even though Bullock and Tester are both now years removed from office. Brothers Tapworks, a bar in Helena’s walking mall that Bullock owns with his brother, was at capacity an hour before the event began. The crowd offered applause after nearly every comment from the stage and at one point, Tester told reporters they should have held it at the Helena Civic Center so more people could attend.

Current events

Much of the evening’s air time was spent weighing in on the issues of the day, including Medicaid cuts tucked into the federal budget bill passed last summer, efforts to overhaul current election law and the ongoing military action in Iran.

Bullock, who as governor championed Montana’s inaugural passage of Medicaid expansion, said cuts to rural health care will have devastating consequences for families; he offered the hope that it could be what pushes people to change their vote.

“People are going to suffer, and it’s so damn unfortunate because it’s unnecessary,” Bullock said. “But maybe some of that suffering is when people will say, you know what, we deserve better than this government.”

Tester, who in 2024 was ousted from his Senate seat by GOP newcomer Tim Sheehy, drew a straight line from cuts to rural hospitals to the decimation of the communities in which they exist. He said the hospital in his home of Big Sandy is “hanging on its fingernails.”

“If you aren’t near health care, you cannot live in that community,” Tester said. “So this will evacuate the really, truly rural parts of this country.”

Some of the trio’s most vociferous criticism was directed at the Trump administration’s actions around regulating elections.

Racicot called the SAVE Act, a sweeping piece of federal legislation that would impose hefty proof-of-citizenship requirements on voters, “an effort covered in slime” and a “cynical attempt to try and suppress voters in this country.”

And nefariously rooting out voters or undermining trust in their ballots, all three agreed, threatens the democratic foundation upon which this country is built.

“I’ve lost elections. Losing elections sucks, but the acid test of a democracy is actually honoring the will of voters when you lose or your party loses,” Bullock said.

Montana's 2026 elections

Tester, Bullock and Racicot cast this year’s midterm election cycle as vital to curbing the power of the Trump White House.

Maneuvers by two members of Montana’s federal delegation in the twilight hours of the state’s filing period to unexpectedly forgo bids for reelection and endorse the swift entrance of new candidates is a blatant attempt to stifle voter input, they alleged.

Asked by an audience member whether they would back Seth Bodnar, the independent candidate for U.S. Senate and former University of Montana president, Racicot proffered the most full-throated support. He referred to Bodnar as an exceptional candidate and touted his resume that includes military service and business acumen.

In a subtle nod to the Democrats in the mix, Tester, who was tied to Bodnar before he jumped into the race, said “come August, early September, if you’ve got no momentum, if you don’t have any energy behind your campaign, you probably ain’t gonna win. … if they're honest with themselves, they’ll drop out.”

Bullock, who lost to Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines in 2020, dodged the question slightly, but didn’t shut down the idea that Bodnar could be the best bet at taking the seat out of GOP hands.

“The most important thing to me is making sure that Montana is on the right track, being represented by the people that will actually reflect Montana and Montana's values,” he said. “There's a long time between now and the election, and we'll see what happens.”

Despite the collective decades spent in elected office, all three men suggested they had won elections thanks to a cocktail of good luck, hard work and supportive families. And they encouraged those who showed up at the taproom feeling angered by the current moment to consider what they can do to get involved.

“The guy who knocked down the East Wing also thinks he can knock down our democracy, and he’s wrong,” Bullock said. “The State of the Union at the end of the day, it's stronger than he thinks, and it's more determined than he can imagine, and tougher than he'll ever be. And it's not because of three former electeds that makes it that. It's each of you that are frustrated at times and say, I'm going to do more than yell at the TV today. I'm going to do more than feeling helpless and hopeless. It really does begin and end right with all of us.”