BILLINGS - Reilly Neill, a Democratic candidate running for one of Montana's U.S. Senate seats, is focusing her campaign on universal healthcare, agriculture and the cost of living.
Neill recently joined Montana This Morning to discuss her political history, her priorities, and her thoughts on the current political landscape in Montana.
Neill, who announced her candidacy the day after the 2024 election, is running in a primary against five other Democrats.
Watch the full interview here:
Question: What is you history in politics?
Answer: "Well, I first was elected to the Montana State House to serve Livingston. I ran a weekly newspaper there for about a decade, and my community asked me to get more involved when we had kind of an ineffective State House rep. So I ran first as an independent, and the Democratic Party prevailed upon me to run as a Democrat. I'm a woman, and I'm a proud Democrat, and there's one party in the state that respects women, and they said, "You're either pro-choice or pro-life. It's really tough to get elected as an independent. We don't have any independents that have ever been elected in Montana." So they prevailed upon me, this is back in 2012, to run for the State House, and I won as a Democrat and served as a Democrat."
Q: You're running against five other Democrats in this one as well. What makes you different from the rest of that?
"I announced my candidacy the day after election day in 2024. If you want to win in Montana, you have to be on the ground talking to people, and we know Montana is a big state. So I got right to work, and I've been in almost every county in the state just this last week. We started in Forsyth, went all the way to Plentywood, and came back on the ground talking to people."
Q: What did you hear from people? What are their needs the most?
"Well, we talked to all sorts of people, Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, people who are not even involved in politics. And primarily, people are talking about the need for universal healthcare, making sure that they have access to rural healthcare. And folks are also talking about our ag industry and struggling in some ways with chaotic tariffs and diesel fuel prices and the price of inputs just rising and rising. And especially in Plentywood, and I know because we've been up and down the Hi-Line, along the Hi-Line, side to side, that people are really concerned about our relationship with Canada. We really depend on trade and back and forth relations with Canada. So we heard a lot about our Ag producers, mandatory COOL (country of origin labeling). We heard about needing a clean farm bill that really looks after our small producers. And those are some of the things we were hearing on the ground in that particular region of the state."
Q: After hearing that, what are some of your political priorities if elected?
"Well, we, as I said, started on the ground talking to Montanans. And that's where our policy and platform has come from. Talking to the folks on the ground, finding out what's important to them. And across the state, again, universal healthcare. We haven't had anyone in D.C. who could really fight for that and bring it home. So when we were talking to people, we had roundtables. We've had 50 or 60 roundtables before we even started doing town halls and community forums. And that would be eight to 10 people sitting in a room and talking about what their lives look like. And we heard healthcare, healthcare, our public schools are so important. They're the heartbeats of our communities. So shoring up our public schools, making sure our teachers get paid. Those are also priorities. And of course, our Ag industry, supporting our Ag industry, because that supports our main streets on the ground in Montana. And this is what we've heard from people on the ground. And our entire campaign is Montana-led. We're being led by the messages that we hear from people in our communities."
Q: What were your thoughts when we saw that big major shakeup of Senator Steve Daines dropping out basically last minute?
"Well, he, according to a lot of folks on the ground, and my perception as well, is that he wasn't showing up for Montana. That's one of the reasons we decided to go door to door to the Senate. Because Daines simply wasn't showing up for Montanans on the ground. There are places we've been in Montana where they never have seen him. So when he dropped out of the race, I was unsurprised because he hasn't really been present on the ground. And I also hear from people, and that's on both sides of the aisle, that folks don't want party bosses, and they don't want D.C. interests controlling who they get to vote for. So I think a lot of people felt disenfranchised by Daines dropping out of the race and picking someone so quickly that no other Republican had a chance to even consider running for that seat. And they probably would have had they known what was going to happen. So once again, it's kind of a pattern Daines has had with our state. And I hope that he will continue to work for us, but there are not very high hopes."
Q: What are your thoughts on the cost of living here in Montana?
"Well, I hear about that every day. In Sidney, in Glendive, folks are telling us that the cost of housing isn't matching the wages. And it's an average, we can kind of suss out because we ask everywhere we go, how much is an average one-bedroom, for example, one-bedroom apartment to rent in Sidney, Glendive, Troy, Libby, anywhere across the state, usually somewhere around $900 to $1,500. I mean, there is a range, but if you're in Glendive, $900 a month, there simply aren't the wages to match that. So we need to develop programs that are going to help bring more jobs, more industry into Montana, taking into account the responsibility those business owners are going to have to pay Montanans fairly so they can afford to live here and that their kids can afford to live here too."
Q: What are your thoughts on bringing data centers to Montana?
"Well, I am 100% for a moratorium on data centers until we can look at all the effects it's going to have on the ground. What I hear on the ground is that Montana, much of our state is in persistent drought. I worked in the state legislature on water issues. I helped write our 40-year water plan and our water law as it stands today. And we simply don't have the water for data centers in Montana. So I am in complete support of a four-year moratorium on data centers in Montana before we go forward."
Q: What are your thoughts on President Trump's term so far?
"So far, I can say that I personally, I'm not pleased to see him upending a lot of our rule of law. For example, in Iran, we had no congressional approval to go into that country. And I will work as hard as I can to make sure that if we are going to send Montana's sons and daughters into war, there's a good reason and it follows the rule of law. And right now, watching what's happening in D.C., and we, like I said, we talk to a lot of folks, not just Democrats on the ground. That's really important in Montana to make sure everyone has a voice and that I will be representing everyone, not just Democrats. So when we talked to folks, we had a gentleman who was a Trump supporter yesterday at our coffee in Plentywood, at Cousin's Restaurant. And he wanted to mostly talk about ag, but he was really concerned that the fisheries, the lakes and ponds where he'd grown up fishing, they were being ruined by ag runoff. Now this guy's also moving grain around the state. So he depends on that ag industry. So I think there are a lot of people on the ground that we've heard from who are not particularly happy with what's happened so far, but they don't really know what to do about it. And of course, new leadership will be a big part of changing the tone of Washington and bringing home benefits for Montana."
Q: Montana is clearly a very red state. How can you put yourself for everyone in our state?
"Well, showing up and listening. Steve Daines has not shown up for Montana on the ground, not for 12 years plus. He doesn't show up in our communities. He doesn't hold town halls. I will always show up in Montana on the ground. And I let everyone know when we come into a community, we invite everyone to join us for coffee, or we go to every door. We don't just take a list and only visit the Democrats. We visit everyone. We want everyone to be part of the self-governing process. And I think that people want that. They really do. And I think that will transcend politics here in Montana."
