Statement by Governor Steve Bullock Responding to DNC Debate Announcement

Helena, MT – Today, Governor Bullock released the following statement in response to the DNC's debate announcement. He also joined MSNBC's Chuck Todd to discuss the DNC's decision to exclude from the first debate the only candidate in the field to have won and governed in a Trump state. Rather than join the race earlier to meet arbitrary debate thresholds, Governor Bullock did the job he was elected to do and worked through mid-May with a nearly 60% Republican legislature to ensure nearly 100,000 people won't lose their access to healthcare.

"If I had to choose between chasing 100,000 donors or getting healthcare for 100,000 Montanans — well, that's the easiest decision I'll ever have to make," said Governor Steve Bullock. "More than any other time in my life, our country needs a new leader who can win this election and move our nation forward. As I've done my entire career, that work begins by ridding our system of the corrupting influence of money in politics so we can ensure every American gets a fair shot at success. While 20 candidates are on the debate stage in Miami, I will be talking directly to voters about my record of passing progressive priorities in a state Trump won, the importance of winning the places we lost, and how we are going to beat Donald Trump once and for all."

"I knew that getting in at the time that I did would give me fewer opportunities to get on shows — with you and others. But I had a job to do. And if it ultimately ever came down to choosing between getting Medicaid reauthorized, getting 100,000 Montanans healthcare, versus getting in earlier just to try to bump on yet another poll, I'd make that same choice time and time again."

"We ought to be talking about why the Democrats haven't been able to break through both urban and rural areas — give people a reason to vote for us and not just against [the president]."

"What I'll be doing, and the way that I've always won in Montana — three times in Montana — is putting people ahead of the sort of politics or the food fights, and I think that that's how I've been successful, and I think it's what folks want out of the next candidate for president."