Helena commission candidate defends voicemail to US Sen. Tim Sheehy

Helena City Commission candidate Haley McKnight confirmed Monday she left a July voicemail saying she hoped Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy died.

In the voicemail, first reported by the National Review, she also called Sheehy a "coward" and said she hoped he developed pancreatic cancer.

In response to both McKnight’s voicemail and comments she made to the Independent Record, Sheehy spokesperson Tate Mitchell said, “We hope Ms. McKnight gets the help she clearly needs and wish her well.”

McKnight defended the comments on Monday, the eve of the city election.

“I stand by what I said in that voicemail,” McKnight told the Independent Record. “Maybe I didn't say it very tactfully. … I have no intentions of harming the senator. I'm a 30-year-old woman who doesn't work out and isn't a very good shot, and he's a military man with a security detail. He has no reason to fear me, and if he did, then he would have pressed charges back when I sent that voicemail in June or in July.”

McKnight, who is running for one of two nonpartisan City Commission seats in Tuesday’s election, is manager of Sage & Oats Trading Post and owner of Morningstar Design Ltd Co. in Helena.

“I hope that you die in the street like a dog,” she said in the voicemail, which was obtained by the Independent Record. “… You don’t serve Montanans. You serve your own private interests. All that you have done since you’ve gotten into power is do s— for yourself. God forbid that you ever meet me on the streets, because I will make you regret it.”

McKnight called Sheehy and told him she wished he got cancer because she was furious about cuts to Medicare and Medicaid spending in the Big, Beautiful Bill Act being considered at the time, she told the Independent Record.

She felt Sheehy spent his time in office “enriching” himself, and that his wealth meant he wouldn’t feel the impacts of health care cuts.

Beyond Sheehy’s actions in Congress, she said she felt “disgusted” with him, referencing comments he’d made voicing stereotypes about Indigenous communities that sparked backlash ahead of last year’s election.

McKnight said she is a nonpartisan who has liberal views and that she comes from a family of Republicans, though state campaign finance records show she donated $150 total to Democratic candidates in 2022 and 2024.

“I don't believe that this is any hatred towards Republicans,” she said. “It’s specifically hatred towards the ultrawealthy like Tim Sheehy.”

To her, the National Review article was a “cheap shot,” or a politically motivated attack from a national figure to a local candidate on the eve of an election. She said that national politicians are “very threatened” by millennials taking office who defy the “status quo.”

News of the voicemail was first published the day before Helena’s municipal election. McKnight is running against three others for two open commission seats.

McKnight said she doesn’t feel this will impact her chances of winning a commission seat. As a mail-in ballot, she predicted Monday afternoon that most votes have already been cast.

“I'm always going to fight for the people in my community, even if I'm a little bit rough around the edges,” McKnight said. “I pride myself on my fighting spirit, and this is what they can expect, if I’m elected city commissioner.”