Senate hopeful visits Kalispell to tout experience, momentum

Cora Neumann, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, arrived in Kalispell last week on the heels of an impressive period of fundraising.

Earlier in January, Neumann’s campaign announced she had raised $460,000 in the fourth quarter of 2019, with 2,500 contributions averaging just under $180 each. Neumann was encouraged by this support, especially as someone who has never run for public office.

“I feel really good about our chances,” she told The Daily Inter Lake during a campaign stop last Thursday. She touted her 20 years of experience as a “public health leader” and her experience working with public figures from both major parties.

Winning the nomination over her fellow Democrats – Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins and engineer John Mues – is one thing. But the bigger challenge for Neumann will be unseating incumbent Republican Sen. Steve Daines. Daines has already raised $5.2 million in this election cycle and is closely aligning himself with President Donald Trump, who won the state in 2016 by over 20 points.

But Neumann believes she has what it takes to spring an upset in November.

“The thing with Daines is that he hasn’t ever really been challenged,” she said. “And he’s been doing a lot of damage to the state that I don’t think the public is really aware of.”

Neumann said repealing the Affordable Care Act, which Daines had threatened to do, would “take health care away from one in 10 Montanans.”

She also cited the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act from 2017 that “was designed to benefit the ultra-wealthy.” That vast majority of Republican legislators voted for that bill while all Democrats voted against it.

“The average Montanan is not wealthy. It [the tax bill] was not representative of Montana or Montana families. So the question is, who is he representing?” Neumann said.

When asked what inspired her to run for office, Neumann talked about her children, who are 13 and 15 years old.

“I think that they feel like the future’s pretty uncertain with climate change, the economy,” she said. “Younger generations need leaders that will stand up and fight for their futures.”

But Neumann’s passion clearly lies in health care, public health and providing “affordable, high-quality health care for all Montanans.”

That passion stems from tragedy. When she was a baby, her father was killed in a lumber-mill accident due to what she said was an unsafe work environment. She said if her family had been closer to good health care, her father may have lived.

“I’ve always been really motivated to help ensure more families and communities don’t have to face that,” Neumann said.

But unfortunately, Neumann said, quality health care is still not accessible to all Montanans, especially in rural areas.

“People are driving five hours to go to the doctor if they’re from certain areas,” she said, and she wants to make sure “we have rural health clinics that are within a reasonable drive for people.”

Neumann also said she hears a lot about the challenges of recruiting and retaining doctors, nurses and other health-care providers in Montana,

“There are federal programs you can put in place to retain doctors and nurses and caregivers. I think that’s really at the heart of what I’m hearing about, just having enough health-care providers and having enough clinics open,” Neumann explained.

She said the United States has to protect the Affordable Care Act, and as a senator she would “be very focused on” keeping the act in place and making sure Montana cannot backtrack on Medicaid expansion.

She also has a “health platform” she is releasing in the coming days, which she said will “focus on incentives on health-care providers to come and serve and stay.”

Neumann is spending much of her campaign focusing on public lands and access to public lands. She used the pending sale of 630,00 acres of Weyerhaeuser land to Georgia-based Southern Pines Plantation to emphasize how important this issue is to Montanans.

Later in the evening, while meeting voters at Kalispell Brewing Co., she made a “call to action” and encouraged the packed room of attendees to press Weyerhaeuser to ensure their land will be open to public access after the sale.

“Montana has a long tradition of collaborative land management. We have a lot of public land and we also have a lot of different companies who have collaborated to make sure this land is public, as Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek have historically done,” she said. “But we don’t know what’s going to happen to this land.”

Earlier, she told the Inter Lake that full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund is “really important.” The fund – which allows federal, state and local governments to purchase land for protection and public access – was established in 1965 and is funded by royalties from offshore oil and gas drilling, according to the LWCF Coalition.

It has only twice been fully funded, though in November Daines helped advance a bill that would fully and permanently fund it at $900 million per year.

But Neumann said, “Daines has gone back and forth on it a number of times, and I think it’s really important for Montana to have leaders that are not going to waffle.”

Neumann is betting Montanans will be drawn to her track record of bipartisanship. In 2009, she launched the Global First Ladies Alliance, which involved the offices of both Michelle Obama and Laura Bush.

According to Neumann’s website, “The organization empowers first ladies around the world – including American first ladies and presidents from both parties – to stay accountable to hardworking families and use their power to do more for their constituents.”

“I started that organization in order to bring more resources to communities like communities across Northwest Montana,” she said.

Neumann recently moved back to Montana after working for the U.S. State Department and traveling and living around the world. She said most Montanans she’s run into outside of the state always dream of returning home.

“It’s the best place in the world,” she said.

Neumann said she has “never been hyper-partisan” and is seeking to attract votes as a leader who is “just interested in getting good things done.” She thinks her approach will resonate with Montanans.

“I always like to say that Montanans are practical and not political, I think mostly we care about someone’s character and if they’re good neighbors and if they’re going to help you out when you need it.” she said.

Reporter Colin Gaiser may be reached at 758-4439 or cgaiser@dailyinterlake.com