Montana Senator Steve Daines held a press briefing on Thursday morning from his office in Washington, D.C. and made several comments in response to questions by reporters.

Daines began by praising what he sees as the start of a ‘Red Wave’ with the Commonwealth of Virginia electing Republican underdog Glenn Youngkin as governor.

“This was a win for parents, and this was a win for freedom,” said Daines. “It was wonderful to see the strong response and the massive voter turnout there in Virginia, and to see Glenn Youngkin become the next Governor of Virginia. I think this red wave that we're seeing at the moment is only going to intensify as we turn the corner to 2022 and the elections. I think we're going to see this in Montana with our new U.S. House seat. And I think it bodes well for the Republicans to pick up that house seat as well.”

Daines also praised Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen for leading the charge to disassociate Montana with the National School Board Association.

“I was very glad to see the Montana School Board Association stand up for Montana parents and students and announced their withdrawal from the National School Board Association next summer,” he said. “Montana parents have made their voices loud and clear. They're not going to be silenced or intimidated by President Biden and the Department of Justice who are threatening to send law enforcement after them for providing input at school board meetings about their children’s education.”

Daines also commented on the efforts by some to allow school boards to trump the authority that parents have over their own children.

“They don't want to have the school board's dictating without parental input on these important questions of their children and their health and safety,” he said. “We saw that was a big issue in Virginia on Tuesday night. When you had the Democrat candidate McAuliffe say that the parents should not be providing the input to school boards. I mean, that is chilling. And I hope the parents will always have the primary voice in their child's education and on policies.”

Daines was asked about the latest effort to require COVID vaccinations for healthcare workers through threats of massive fines by OSHA.

“We are in the midst of challenges with our frontline healthcare heroes who are trying to take care of Montanans every day and to put in place a mandate like this that would cause I think many of our healthcare workers to walk off the job,” he said. “It's a crazy idea. This will add even greater problems than we already have in the healthcare system. If we already have a shortage of healthcare providers, this is going to make it worse, so I'm firmly opposed to it.”

Reporters from all over the state asked questions of Senator Daines.

LOOK: Here are the pets banned in each state

Because the regulation of exotic animals is left to states, some organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, advocate for federal, standardized legislation that would ban owning large cats, bears, primates, and large poisonous snakes as pets.

Read on to see which pets are banned in your home state, as well as across the nation.

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