On the Record delivers insights and opinions from Montana’s most influential newsmakers and experts in conversation with the reporters and editors of Montana Free Press. It’s been a summer of frustration for Montana Democrats, with many of the party’s high-profile leaders opting to back independent candidate Seth Bodnar for U.S. Senate instead of party nominee Alani Bankhead. Near the red-hot center of the skirmish is Emily Marburger, the party’s executive director, who is backing Bankhead, while some members of her executive board have swung to Bodnar. Some party members have called Marburger to encourage the executive director to help pressure Bankhead to drop out of the race. Bankhead has remained in the race. Marburger is moving forward with plans for a bottom-up party rebuild, even as hard feelings about the Senate race continue to pull bricks from the party’s foundation. For example: in Gallatin County, where the central committee endorsed Bankhead in July, the Bankhead-supporting chair resigned. In Toole County, the central committee last month gave Bankhead a vote of no confidence. Friday, the Pennsylvania native and former small-town mayor was in Bozeman for a PR event with a state Senate candidate and a meetup with party officials in Gallatin County. She was driving west after meeting with Democrats in Glendive, Miles City and Billings. Riding shotgun was Marburger’s canine icebreaker, Toasty. Our conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.  Lutey: Where do you see the party coming out of the other side of the U.S. Senate race? The folks who participated in the Bodnar rapture, as I’ve come to call it, you would like them to come back, would you not? You don’t want to salt the earth? Marburger: Obviously, some of those folks [Democrats who supported Seth Bodnar] and I had very different ideas of what this Senate race should look like and what should be happening right now.  People are raw right now. It wasn’t just some people calling me with, you know, threats and demands. It was also people calling me sometimes in tears because folks that they felt brought them up in the Democratic Party, who they thought taught them their Democratic values … Lutey: Are they patching things up? Marburger: What I’m seeing happening is people coalescing underneath the down-ballot candidates right now. Even if we can’t agree on this Senate race, let’s agree that we want to move Montana forward. We want to get Sam Forstag elected. We want to get state House and state Senate candidates elected. These county commissioners, these sheriffs. I’m still going to support Alani, our Democratic candidate, because I’m the executive director of the Democratic Party. But dang, if you want to support Bodnar, I’m not going to hate on you. “I’m still going to support Alani, our Democratic candidate, because I’m the executive director of the Democratic Party. But dang, if you want to support Bodnar, I’m not going to hate on you.” Lutey: Rural Eastern Montana, because the Republican vote is so strong, can be extremely tough for Democrats. One question I usually ask candidates is whether there’s anyone to meet them when they head east. Marburger: It’s pretty close to the opposite in some communities. How it is right now is a disservice to the candidates, because it makes those campaigns work harder. If we’re doing this right, those candidates are rolling into town with an agenda that the people in that town have set for them. “This is what you need to experience. This is who you need to talk to, and this is the group of people I can pull in to hear from you if you want to have an event here.” Lutey: You’re starting from scratch in some of these places. Marburger: Something I’ve been really focused on is making sure that we move toward having a central committee in every county in this state, and, you know, at this point we have one coming up in Prairie County, which is very exciting. We have a lead in Valley County, and hopefully in Glacier we can get something up and running pretty soon here. But we’re going to start an effort to send out information to people we believe would be Democratic and maybe want to hear from us to see if they want to get involved. So we’re going to start a program to see if we can get a point of contact in every county to make sure that we have something going there, because that’s where I think this all starts. Come the second week in November, I want to be calling all those people. Tell me what seats you have open next year. If you don’t know, let me teach you how to find out. So when that filing deadline comes about, we are ready to roll and we have Democrats running all over the state and at every level. Lutey: We’re two years away from a presidential election, all the statewide offices will be on the ballot. Who do you have?  “I want to make sure that, for people maybe thinking about running, one of their first thoughts is, ‘I should call Emily and talk this through,’ not because I want to be a gatekeeper, but because I want to make sure that people know what the party has to offer, what this network is.” Marburger: We have people who are showing interest, and I’m always happy to chat with anyone else who might be thinking about the idea. You wouldn’t be doing your job if you didn’t ask for names, but I’m not gonna do anyone like that right now. I want to make sure that, for people maybe thinking about running, one of their first thoughts is, “I should call Emily and talk this through,” not because I want to be a gatekeeper, but because I want to make sure that people know what the party has to offer, what this network is. Lutey: What’s next on your Bozeman agenda? Marburger: Let’s see, I’m meeting [Senate District 32 candidate] Kelly Kortum because Toasty is going to endorse him shortly. Lutey: Toasty is doing endorsements? Marburger: “Uh, do you not follow “Toasty in Montana” on Instagram?” Lutey: I don’t.  Marburger: She just this morning endorsed [House District 54 candidate] Janine Coole at the Yellowstone Air Show. I didn’t realize what a can of worms I would open by offering endorsements from Toasty, but everybody wants one. She’s my hype dog.  The post On the Record: Democratic Party Executive Director Emily Marburger appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less