On Election Day, Candidates Daines and Graybill on KGVO Radio

On Election Day, KGVO spoke on the Newsmaker's line to two candidates up for election or reelection, incumbent Republican Senator Steve Daines and Democrat Raph Graybill, candidate for Attorney General.

Daines said the final 48 hours before Election Day were a whirlwind of travel and activity.

“In the last 48 hours Peter, I literally went from Libby to Lewis town to Sydney and it was just a wonderful trip around the state,” said Senator Daines. “The enthusiasm that we're seeing across Montana for this election is like I've never seen before. We had that rally with Donald Trump Jr. up in Kalispell on Saturday night, Halloween night. We had Ted Nugent and Donald Trump Jr. And I'll say that's a night I'll never, ever forget.”

Daines was asked about the Youth Vote that was released last Thursday that put both him and President Trump in the winners circle for the election.

“I think about my days growing up in Montana, that you learn your politics and your worldview, oftentimes around the kitchen table from your folks,” he said. “And so those kids are expressing probably views that have been shaped by their parents and  grandparents and so we're just we're pleased to see the enthusiasm.”

Daines was also asked about his feelings, or the feeling of any candidate when they hear or see negative ads targeted at them.

“Truly I just shut out the ads,” he said. “I remember something like that told me years ago. My Dad's a marine. He's 81 years old. He'll be with us tonight. He always said, ‘you keep your skin thick and your heart tender’, and I think that's good advice. It doesn't matter which side of the aisle you're on. I have great respect for anybody who will put their name on the ballot as a candidate.”

Daines also included local candidates in his thoughts.

“Those legislative candidates and those local elections can also get pretty brutal.” He said. “And this is a fight. It's a battle. It's contrasting ideas. There could not be more at stake right now for our country. This is literally I think a consequential moment in our nation's history.”

Also on the Montana Morning show on Tuesday was Democratic Attorney General candidate Raph Graybill, who provided some of his personal background.

“For the folks that don't know me, I'm a fifth generation Montanan,” said Graybill. “I grew up in Great Falls and have an 18 month old daughter, and I have the honor of fighting for you as Governor Bullock's chief legal counsel. Because of the fights we took on there, particularly fights to protect health care, and fights to protect our open spaces and public lands. I'm running to be your next Attorney General and I would appreciate your vote.”

Graybill, in his 30’s, said even though he was educated at Columbia, then at Oxford, England as a Rhoades Scholar and then a law degree from Harvard, he cherishes his Montana roots.

“This is my home,” he said. “This is a place where my great great grandparents came and set up a drugstore in East Helena and it's been home ever since. And I care about this place. I worry about this place and some of the threats to what it means to live here, and there's no place I'd rather raise my daughter than here.”

Graybill outlined some of the issues he would pursue if elected as Attorney General.

“You know, on day one, I'm going to get involved in this anti-health care lawsuit that's before the US Supreme Court, and I'm going to tell them to stop it,” he said. “I'm going to join in as a party and say, in Montana, we care about the people we love, and we don't believe that insurance companies should have the power, just so they can make more money, to take away health care from people who have pre existing conditions.”

Graybill is running against Republican Austin Knudsen, former Montana legislator and the current Roosevelt County Attorney.

The polls close at 8:00 p.m.