There are several Republican candidates running for major offices in 2020, including the U.S. House of Representatives and for Governor, however only two have received the endorsement of the President’s son, Donald Trump, Jr.

At a recent event in Helena, Trump, Jr. endorsed current State Auditor and Insurance Commissioner Matt Rosendale for the U.S. House and current U.S. House member Greg Gianforte for Governor.

Republican Congressional candidate Joe Dooling, a Helena area farmer and rancher, provided his view of the endorsements in a call to KGVO’s Montana Morning show this week.

“There are endorsements and endorsements,” said Dooling from his ranch in Helena. “Don, Jr. never talked to me, never visited me, and wouldn’t know me if I walked in the room. He has no idea that my wife is the representative for the districts where he hunts in every time he comes out to Montana. She’s trying to protect that piece of land that he hunts on from becoming Fish and Game, getting off the tax rolls and off the production rolls on cattle, trying to keep that property as a productive ranch.”

Dooling described how he received what he called a ‘real endorsement’.

“Yesterday I was in Teton County and I picked up a Teton County Commissioner’s endorsement,” he said. “Those guys have worked with Matt (Rosendale) and Corey (Stapleton) for years and they had never met me before and after 20 minutes I had their endorsement and they said ‘you’re the kind of guy that we want in Congress’. Now, that’s a true endorsement.”

Dooling pointed out the irony in the endorsement scenario.

“Here’s the irony in Don, Jr. supporting Matt,” he began. “Most of the time when he was at the Montana Club talking about how unfair Adam Schiff was being to his Dad, and I’m thinking, you’re being unfair to the candidates you just endorsed. He’s never talked to Dr. Al or Tim Fox, so for him to endorse these folks without actually sitting down and saying these are the priorities for me for Governor in a state he doesn’t live in, which is bizarre. Since he didn’t do that, then his endorsements are just as fake as ‘fake news’.

Also running on the Republican ticket for the U.S. House are current Secretary of State Corey Stapleton, Superintendent of the Corvallis School District Tim Johnson, and former chair of the Montana Republican Party Debra Lamm.

For the Democrats, the candidates are Matt Rains, State Representative Tom Winter of Missoula, and running for a second time, former state representative Kathleen Williams.

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