A former Republican National Committee chair and two-term Montana governor is reaching across the aisle to back a Democrat in a competitive House race, giving Sam Forstag a high-profile crossover endorsement as he tries to flip a Republican-held seat.
Marc Racicot’s defection isn’t exactly a surprise — he’s endorsed other Democrats in recent cycles and has spoken out often against President Donald Trump, actions that saw him rebuked by the state party in 2023.
But despite the pushback, Raicot threw his support behind Forstag in an interview with MS NOW published Friday morning.
“He cares about what he’s doing. He’s very well prepared. He has the right priorities in terms of character and virtues and values and belief in the Constitution,” Racicot told the network. “It’s not even a close call for me to stand in Sam’s corner.”
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Forstag is running against Republican candidate Aaron Flint, a combat veteran and former conservative radio host who won the Republican primary with Trump’s endorsement.
The race is among the more competitive House contests in Montana. A June Impact Research poll found Forstag and Flint tied at 44% among likely voters. An earlier May poll from Upswing Research had Flint ahead 48% to 43%.
The seat is open after Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke announced in March that he would not seek reelection. Zinke won the district by about 3 percentage points in 2022 and roughly 8 percentage points in 2024.
Forstag, a former smokejumper who also worked for the Montana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, won a divided Democratic primary in June. He has since received backing from a range of Democrats, from progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) to the centrist Blue Dog Coalition.
Forstag has framed his candidacy as an alternative to the national political polarization he says voters are tired of.
“We’re in a hole that both parties have been digging for us,” Forstag said, according to MS NOW. He urged voters to support a Democrat “that could actually improve your life, and is actually going to prioritize doing so, because I know what it’s like on a day-to-day basis.”
Forstag would need to overcome Montana’s increasingly Republican political landscape to win the seat. But Racicot’s support gives his campaign an opportunity to make the race about more than party labels.
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