LIVINGSTON — If there was one clear theme at the Montana Democratic Party’s state convention Sunday, it’s that party members are ready to get back to winning.
“We as Democrats have one job,” Shannon O’Brien told delegates. “We must come together to do what?”
“Win!” they responded.
(Watch the video to hear more from the Democratic convention's vote for a new party chair.)
On Sunday morning, 160 delegates gathered in Livingston to vote for party officers to serve the next two years. They elected O’Brien, a former state senator and educational administrator from Missoula, as the party’s new chair.
Democrats lost their last statewide elected official last year, when U.S. Sen. Jon Tester was defeated by Republican Tim Sheehy. Tester is the only Democrat who’s won statewide in Montana since 2016.
O’Brien served in the Senate from 2021 to 2024 and was the Democratic nominee for Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction last year. She admitted 2024 was “rough” for Montana Democrats.
“It was a gut punch for all of us,” she told delegates in her nominating speech.
But she argued the party can turn things around, and their values will help them do it.
“We're the party of affordability, good-paying jobs, we're not the party for tax cuts for the billionaires and the wealthiest – and let me be clear: We are the party of liberty and justice for all,” she said. “I will do everything I can to bring us together for these values.”
The other candidate for chair was Mike Jopek, who represented Flathead County in the state House from 2005 to 2010. He said Democrats needed to make a bigger break from their recent history.
“Now we're doing nothing but losing,” he said. “I know that's a hard message for you guys to hear, but it's the truth. We're going to have to become a party bigger than just two college towns.”
Jopek, a farmer, had support from Tester and former Gov. Brian Schweitzer. During Sunday’s convention, a Jopek backer played a call from Tester over the speakers. The former senator said the party was in trouble.
“We are seen in polling as ‘woke and weak’; we are no longer seen as the party of working people or Main Street businesses,” said Tester. “So the Montana Democrat Party needs to change direction.”
In the end, O’Brien won the chair with 112 votes, to Jopek’s 39.
MTN asked O’Brien after the vote if there was frustration within the party.
“No doubt about it, Montana Democrats have fire in the belly and want to make some changes,” she said. “And we need to focus that energy on getting Democrats elected and supporting those values of affordability, of quality public education and health care that will serve all Montanans.”
Many of the people running for party leadership Sunday echoed the message that Democrats need to do more to get out to places and people they haven’t been reaching.
“We can't just keep preaching to the choir,” said Max Johansen, the chair of the Park County Democrats, who initially announced a run for state chair but instead ran for and one the vice-chair position. “We need to meet people where they are, both in person and digitally.”
Sunday was the second day of the convention. On Saturday, delegates voted on proposals to amend the party’s bylaws. One of the changes they approved calls for MDP’s executive director to provide quarterly reports on party finances.
