Staff Reports
Montana voters woke up to a mini soap opera this week: the National Republican Congressional Committee says Democrat Sam Forstag quietly removed high‑profile progressive endorsements — like Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio‑Cortez — from his campaign endorsements page. The twist? A quick look at the campaign site and archived captures shows those names still listed. Translation: either the campaign is playing copy‑and‑paste whack‑a‑mole, or the NRCC jumped the gun. Either way, Montanans deserve straight answers.
What the NRCC and conservative outlets are saying
The NRCC and several conservative sites ran with a headline that Forstag “scrubbed” Sanders and AOC from his endorsements page after using them in fundraising. They point to a September fundraising email that clearly linked Forstag with AOC and Sanders and called him a “progressive brawler.” The NRCC’s message is simple and sharp: scrub the names and you can’t scrub the record. That’s a political burn meant to paint Forstag as embarrassed by the people backing him — or trying to hide those ties from Montana voters.
The evidence tells a messier story
Here’s the inconvenient fact for both sides: the campaign’s endorsements page and Wayback snapshots we checked still show the national leaders listed. In short, the alleged “scrub” isn’t cleanly documented in the public record we can see. No public statement from the Forstag campaign was found explaining any edits, and the endorsers’ offices weren’t quoted denying support. So either the campaign briefly hid things, then restored them, or the NRCC’s scoop tilted a little fast. Either way, the conflicting evidence underscores one point: voters should expect transparency, not optics theater.
Why Montanans should care
Beyond the web‑sleuthing, the bigger issue is what those endorsements represent. Forstag’s past work with the ACLU and his public opposition to Montana bills on transgender sports and surgeries put him firmly on the progressive side of big cultural fights. If he’s leaning into union and squad support in fundraising but pretending to be a moderate on his public site, that’s dodging responsibility. Montana voters don’t need smoke and mirrors — they need a candidate who will plainly state his positions and defend them at the ballot box.
Bottom line: demand answers, not PR stunts
Whether Forstag did a quick edit to his endorsements page or the NRCC misread the internet, the episode is a reminder of how dirty politics can be. Conservatives should press the point: ask the campaign for the edit history, ask the endorsers if their backing is current, and ask Forstag why he’s dancing around national progressive branding. Voters deserve less spin and more substance — and if a candidate won’t be upfront about who’s in his corner, he shouldn’t expect Montanans to trust him in Congress.
