In a typical election, the most grating political posturing in Montana is white men bragging about guns, hunting, fishing, and other macho pursuits. But this year a new obsession is generating political noise in the state: China.
In one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races in the country, where Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock is running to unseat Republican Sen. Steve Daines, China has become a boogeyman deployed by both parties—but particularly by outside Democratic groups pushing for Bullock’s election. It’s a surprising partisan flip of the anti-China script routinely deployed by Republicans, notably President Donald Trump. And its lasting impact may be demonizing Asians in a state that’s 88.9 white and frequently far removed from the machinations of geopolitics.
