CORA NEUMANN: I think it starts and ends with the drive that I have and where it comes from. Unfortunately, I’ve dealt with a lot of loss in my life, like many Montanans have. When I was a baby, my father died from a lumber mill accident and just a few years ago I lost my brother suddenly due to a brain aneurysm. We were fortunate enough to have family and community gather around us and help us rebuild and carry on, but that type of loss teaches you about what really matters. It makes you deeply compassionate because you realize that other people are often facing struggles of their own. And loss makes you fiercely committed to ensuring the same thing doesn’t happen to others.

MOJO: You grew up in Bozeman, went away, out of state, to pursue a professional life, not unlike your Republican opponent, Sen. Steve Daines and thousands of other Montana young people. But then you came home. What called you back?

NEUMANN: Beyond my deep love for my state, I came home to serve and fight for our families. Steve Daines is putting our kids’ future at risk by dismantling environmental protections, passing tax bills that put working families last, and consistently threatening the health care that so many of our families rely on. I can’t even comprehend that a Montana senator would be actively putting families in harm’s way like Steve Daines does. He’s a disgrace to our Montana values and way of life, a threat to our children’s future, and I couldn’t stand by and watch any more.

MOJO: You’ve said you emblemize the reality that many Montana young people have—they must leave to establish themselves but dream of coming home, a desire that also includes their parents.

NEUMANN: I went out to into the world to build my experience and skills, like so many young people of Montana. And everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve taken Montana with me—in my values, in my work ethic, in my dedication to service. But like most of us who venture out, we know that all paths will eventually lead us home. As a friend recently said, “Montana has the longest umbilical cord in the world.” Now I’m back to serve and make sure that Montana is a place where our children have the opportunity to stay and thrive.

MOJO: One of the commonly-held perspectives from voters has been the lack of fresh faces in Montana's political scene and the same old script playing out of establishment Republicans vs. Democrats. You have said, "I am not a classic politician." How do you see Montana's political landscape?

NEUMANN: Based on my conversations with Montanans all across the state, there’s a desire for fresh perspective and a new generation of leaders who will help solve the problems that families face. This election cycle there are a number of candidates who can address that, and I hope it rejuvenates the party and gets a whole new set of Montanans excited about politics. We should not lose sight though of the cohort of strong and experienced leaders who we are really lucky to have in this state, like Senators Baucus and Tester and Governor Bullock. They have proven willing and able to share their know-how and smarts, and I’ve deeply appreciated sitting down with them and learning from them. Meanwhile, elected Republicans in Montana seem to be going in the other direction. Whether its Daines or Gianforte, they don’t seem like they’re even trying to reflect the values or address the concerns of those who they are supposed to serve—families in Montana.

MOJO: You founded : You founded an organization that works with First Ladies around the world and you've gotten to know recent US First Ladies including Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Rosalyn Carter. They've demonstrated an ability to avoid shrill partisanship and get various kinds of initiatives done. What do you see in First Ladies as far as values and what do they reflect?

NEUMANN: As I mentioned, I was motivated by my family story to go out and pursue public health. While I was working with rural and Native communities, I heard about a group of First Ladies seeking partnerships. I had been witnessing huge gaps in services for many of the communities I was serving, like we see across parts of Montana. So when I learned about a group of First Ladies looking to make more impact, I saw a major opportunity to bring more leadership and resources down to the local level.

MOJO: How has your engagement with First Ladies shaped your perspective?

NEUMANN: I learned many things. I learned the power of working across the aisle—because whether you’re Laura Bush or Michelle Obama, if you are committed to serving communities, you will set aside partisanship to ensure your constituents’ needs are met. And speaking of needs, my work with First Ladies helped demonstrate the power of nurturing and caregiving. I recently spoke about my work with First Ladies at the Women’s March in Bozeman. During my speech, I asked the audience this question, “What happens to a living being when it’s neglected?” The answer: it dies. All living beings in the natural world die without nurturing. First Ladies and women leaders are centering the powerful and necessary role of nurturing and caregiving through their focus on education, health care, and environmental protections. And it is time. The world needs this powerful force to rise during uncertain times like these.

"During my speech, I asked the audience this question, 'What happens to a living being when it’s neglected?' The answer: it dies. All living beings in the natural world die without nurturing. First Ladies and women leaders are centering the powerful and necessary role of nurturing and caregiving through their focus on education, health care, and environmental protections. And it is time."

MOJO: Describe the work of the organization you created and lead.

NEUMANN: The impact of the organization I founded, : The impact of the organization I founded, Global First Ladies Alliance , has been powerful. When I began our initiative, First Ladies were largely disempowered and would mainly get attention for superficial topics, like their outfits. Now, after ten years of running these programs, we have Presidents asking if they can come present to First Ladies about their programs and goals. It’s a huge shift and demonstrates the value these women leaders can have when they are able to step into their power.

MOJO: Montanans, like all Americans, are coping with uncertain times in their careers and finding meaning in this head-spinning modern world. What is your way of relating to their struggles?

NEUMANN: It is a really difficult time in our country, not just because of political infighting but because families are struggling to make ends meet, to afford health care, and to achieve full employment and the wages that they deserve. And I’ve felt many of those struggles in my life. My dad died from a head trauma because the lumber company he worked for failed to install necessary safety mechanisms. So I have experienced first-hand what happens when we put corporate interests over our families. And it’s possible that he could’ve lived if we had been closer to better care, so I also have personally felt the devastating impact of limited rural healthcare access.

Neumann, left, and her mother on a float in the Gallatin Valley

MOJO: You’ve said that a model for strength has been your mother.

NEUMANN: Despite the hardship of losing my dad, my mom picked herself up, got her GED, and attended nursing school, working nights to take care of me and my older brother. A few years later, my stepfather—a union carpenter—came into our life. But Bozeman entered an economic slump a few years later and it wasn’t long before he was commuting to work in Great Falls all week and coming home on the weekends. Very much like families have done in recent sending their husbands and wives to North Dakota in the Bakken for long stretches to make the money it takes to raise a family these days. I get it because I lived it.

MOJO: Describe the events in your formative years.

NEUMANN: After watching my step-dad, I personally struggled to make ends meet early in my adult life. I worked multiple jobs at a time to put myself through college and am still paying off tens of thousands of dollars in college debt—like many Montanans. And I know how our working class families are really at the whim of global trade and the economy. Look at : After watching my step-dad, I personally struggled to make ends meet early in my adult life. I worked multiple jobs at a time to put myself through college and am still paying off tens of thousands of dollars in college debt—like many Montanans. And I know how our working class families are really at the whim of global trade and the economy. Look at our trade war with China . The Chinese definitely needed to be held accountable, but it was done on the backs of our farmers and ranchers and steelworkers and real people across our country. That’s not right. There are other ways to create international pressure and we need leaders who know what it’s like to struggle.



"When I began our initiative, First Ladies were largely disempowered and would mainly get attention for superficial topics, like their outfits. Now, after ten years of running these programs, we have Presidents asking if they can come present to First Ladies about their programs and goals. It’s a huge shift and demonstrates the value these women leaders can have when they are able to step into their power."

MOJO: Montana's population is overwhelmingly urban or suburban, i.e. most live in towns. And yet there is a strong identification with rural people who are seeing their communities wither due to economics and/or young people not returning. They feel left out, desperate and forgotten. What do you say to them about how, as an elected official, you will listen and represent their concerns and needs?

NEUMANN: I can’t imagine that anyone lives in Montana because of its cities alone. Even city dwellers live here because those cities are surrounded by this incredible rural landscape and great people. And Montanans trust our farmers and ranchers more than we trust doctors! So there is a deep and strong connection between all Montanans, regardless of where they live, and the vitality of our rural communities.

But let’s be clear: our rural communities are withering because of a set of federal policies that don’t work for Montanans. Policies that focus on international trade as the only option for our agricultural industries, which is naturally going to focus on making the cheapest product possible and will be disastrous for our farmers and ranchers.

Policies that encourage our precious natural resources to be extracted as cheaply as possible, rather than seeing them as a valuable gift that we should be using slowly so we can share them with the next generation. As an elected official, my focus would be on strengthening our rural communities and giving them the support and resources they need to stay competitive in this world. Because they are critical to Montana and the way they’re being treated right now is just unacceptable.

"Let’s be clear: our rural communities are withering because of a set of federal policies that don’t work for Montanans. Policies that focus on international trade as the only option for our agricultural industries, which is naturally going to focus on making the cheapest product possible and will be disastrous for our farmers and ranchers."

MOJO: A common criticism of candidates is that they are guided by outside consultants hell-bent on launching attack ads and they are counseled to evade media scrutiny. In the three Greater Yellowstone states, many members of the various Congressional delegations refuse to hold town hall meetings or have the courage to sit down for lengthy interviews with veteran reporters who have a lot of questions to ask. How will you engage with citizens and the media and how do you keep your candidacy authentic?

NEUMANN: Well, we're having this conversation, aren't we? But first and foremost, my campaign will be about engaging with Montanans because it’s what I love to do. Campaigns require a lot of hard work and talking to everyday Montanans about the issues they’re facing and the solutions. These conversations are what give me the energy to do everything else. This is a huge point of contrast between me and Senator Daines, who has failed to hold a single in-person town hall with the people of this state. It’s incredibly rude and I look forward to changing that dynamic as Montana’s next Senator.

As part of her professional life, Neumann has facilitated a number of public policy discussions featuring citiziens and differing stakeholder groups. If elected, she says a priority will be putting that skillset to work and bringing people together. The event, above, involved a discussion about public lands and the way they shape local communities. Photo courtesy Cora Neumann

MOJO: Max Baucus, the former US Ambassador to China and before that, former US senator and Congressman, did a couple of walks across Montana to increase his visibility and listen to citizens. Times have changed since Mr. Baucus did that. How do you reach every corner of this big state?

NEUMANN: In my campaign, I’m doing this a few ways. I launched my Wibaux to Wisdom Tour in the first week of my campaign and have been loving visiting Montana’s small towns. So far, in addition to the bigger cities, I’ve visited with individuals in Big Timber, Glendive, Wilsall, Choteau, Arlee, Terry, Browning, Belt, Miles City, Pablo, and more.





I’m chomping at the bit to get back up to the Hi-line and spend some more time in the Golden Triangle, Central Montana, and Eastern Montana. I also have taken the “No Corporate PAC” pledge so that Montanans know that I will serve them in Washington, D.C., not the special interests. I truly believe that money in politics is one of the biggest reasons for our country’s current dysfunction and you can believe that the special interests will dump millions into Daines’ campaign to stop me from getting to DC to change that. But I am committed to being a voice for Montanans.



MOJO: Drawing upon your organization that works with First Ladies on non-partisan initiatives and your stated desire to work across the aisle, please name three modern Republicans you would hold up as people who impress you?

NEUMANN: There are many. Obviously, the first one that comes to mind is Laura Bush. I worked with her former Chief of Staff Anita McBride and her team for five years to build my First Ladies’ initiative, and although there were areas where we disagreed, we all were committed to finding common ground so we could benefit the people in these communities. We didn’t let partisan politics get in the way and I believe that’s the kind of person Mrs. Bush is. It was really a pleasure to work with her and her team.

Another is Gary Edson, who served as the Deputy National Security Advisor and Deputy National Economic Advisor to President George W. Bush and was the chief U.S. negotiator for all of Bush’s presidential summits, including the G8, APEC, US-EU, and the Summits of the Americas. He has such an incredible commitment to addressing our international issues – he has worked on AIDS relief, global poverty, governance, conservation, and disaster relief – and his energy and the level of thought and care he brings to these issues are very inspiring to me. See his recent Atlantic article

Finally, I really appreciate the late Sen. John McCain’s focus on civility. Since he passed, his foundation and family have had a strong commitment to encouraging Americans to find common ground rather than allowing divisions to deepen. As McCain said in a 2017 speech, “We have to defeat those who would worsen our divisions. We have to remind our sons and daughters that we became the most powerful nation on earth by tearing down walls, not building them.”

"As McCain said in a 2017 speech, 'We have to defeat those who would worsen our divisions. We have to remind our sons and daughters that we became the most powerful nation on earth by tearing down walls, not building them.'”

MOJO: How would you describe your view toward landscape, wildlife, traditional rural values and public lands?

NEUMANN: My view towards all of these things is, like most Montanans, tied to the way I was raised. Every weekend and vacation was spent in the great outdoors – fishing, hiking, camping, riding horses. Elk backstrap is the best meal on earth and there’s nothing like fresh trout fried with lots of butter in a pan over a campfire. When I was growing up, friends would come visit from other parts of the country and tell me how lucky I was to live in such an incredible place and I was always surprised because to me, it was just home. But then you leave and realize that other states do not have anything close to what we have here—how incredibly lucky we are and how precious our natural resources are. I wholeheartedly support permanently protecting our public lands and our way of life here so our children and grandchildren can enjoy those same gifts.

MOJO: Sen. Daines and his good friend, former business colleague and now Congressman Greg Gianforte worked in a tech company started by Mr. Gianforte and became wealthy when it sold to Oracle. They consider themselves tech guys and job creators yet they both support the continuation of burning coal and they discount the science of climate change though the recent : Sen. Daines and his good friend, former business colleague and now Congressman Greg Gianforte worked in a tech company started by Mr. Gianforte and became wealthy when it sold to Oracle. They consider themselves tech guys and job creators yet they both support the continuation of burning coal and they discount the science of climate change though the recent Montana Climate Assessment compiled by nationally-respected scientists here in Montana points to huge struggles ahead for farmers, ranchers and water users. What's your response?

NEUMANN: I don’t think this is a question of whether they are appropriately applying their backgrounds in technology. To me, it’s more about Daines and Gianforte’s commitment to the special interests over Montanans. Take the ag industry— farmers and ranchers are already being heavily impacted by abnormal extreme weather events that are tied to climate change. Discounting the science of climate change is not helping them. It’s not helping to support federal funding for climate research, for community adaptation, for shifting our crop insurance approach and priorities. Discounting the science of climate change is all about serving the industries who profit from nothing changing due to climate change. It’s just another example of the problems of having so much money in politics. We cannot make real progress until our representatives are serving Montana interests, not special interests.

MOJO: You are concerned about the rising costs of health care and prescription drugs? What are three things you would do to improve delivery and affordability for Americans?

NEUMANN: As you know, this is personal for me and I'm committed to making sure that all Montanans have the health care they need. Senator Daines is repeatedly threatening to rip healthcare away from 1 in 10 Montanans by pushing to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That’s unacceptable. I am committed to fighting to protect this critical care for our communities. I will be releasing my full healthcare platform soon, but can share that it will focus on holding the healthcare industry accountable to our families. That means fighting for patients’ rights with the drug companies, hospitals, and the insurance industry. I am also deeply concerned by the challenges we see with rural healthcare in this state. We are facing major issues with hospital staff recruitment and retention, mental health care, serving our veterans, elder care services, distance to care, and quality of care. This is an area where the federal government can absolutely make a difference, by incentivizing training programs, offering debt relief, and by ensuring that clinics stay open when they serve a population that would otherwise lose access to care.

MOJO: What are some of the best examples, involving real people, that you have which illustrates we have a serious problem with health care?





NEUMANN: I would say that health care comes up more than any other issue when I’m on the road. In Miles City, I heard from a young man who had five friends die from suicide – a clear issue with the lack of mental health care access. I talked with an older individual from Fort Peck who told me that her brother died on the way to the hospital because they lived five hours from care. I heard from a hospital administrator in Rosebud County who said that they have had such a hard time hiring staff that they have been paying an incoming doctor for months in advance of his arrival just to ensure that he would come. I met an EMT from Plentywood who talked about the challenges of providing emergency care when they don’t have enough EMTs in their area.

I also have been hearing a lot from people with pre-existing conditions about their fears of what might happen if Daines is re-elected and continues to take aim at our protections for pre-existing conditions. I really can’t state it better than a woman in Bozeman who said, “It is a harsh reality when your children’s lives depend on access to healthcare. Nobody plans on needing ongoing medicine. Being the mother of two type 1 diabetic children, including one with Special Needs, has opened my eyes to the importance of affordable health insurance for everyone.”

MOJO: Both Sen. Daines and Congressman Gianforte worked with Jon Tester to stop a mine from being built beneath Emigrant Peak in Paradise Valley. Further, Sen. Daines, like Sen. Tester, favors full funding of the : Both Sen. Daines and Congressman Gianforte worked with Jon Tester to stop a mine from being built beneath Emigrant Peak in Paradise Valley. Further, Sen. Daines, like Sen. Tester, favors full funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund, something that has seldom happened since it was created in the 1960s but has been raided for other things. Two questions: How would you describe Sen. Daines' environmental record? And what's your position on LWCF?

NEUMANN: I just have to point out that Senator Tester worked with that community for months and months to protect the businesses and citizens in the Paradise Valley and Daines stepped in at the very last moment to take credit when he decided it would be politically viable. It was a very cowardly move and he did not earn high marks by the people in Park County for it. And on the Land and Water Conservation Fund, we see a very similar trend – Daines consistently says that he will support it and fully fund it when it is politically expedient, but we do not see his actions back that up in Washington DC. Daines is on the Senate Appropriations Committee, so he theoretically has the power to fully fund the LWCF. But last year he proposed funding it at two-thirds its original level, and just a few weeks ago, Congress approved funding at an even lower level than that. Now the administration has budgeted for a 97 percent cut in LWCF. This was a huge failure of leadership by Daines.

MOJO: Where do you stand on LWCF?

NEUMANN: I have seen the positive impact that LWCF has had on this state – from making our city parks more welcoming to young people who need a safe place to recreate to permanently protecting large swaths of Montana’s outdoors. I wholeheartedly support full funding and am committed to fighting every day for our public lands.

Top: Raised in the outdoors, Neumann (far left) is pictured in this vacation photo taken during a family camping trip to Glacier National Park. Next to her is her mother, Nonnie, step-Dad, David and her late brother, Wyatt. Lower photo: four generations of Montana women in her clan, including her daughter (at left) and grandmother, (far right).

MOJO : You have appreciation and respect for those in natural resource industries but can timber and coal jobs be brought back?



NEUMANN: I think it’s impossible for anyone to know whether we’ll ever have as strong of a natural resource economy in the future as we have had in the past, so I think it’s really irresponsible and deceptive for Daines to make promises that he can’t keep about these industries. However, we do see areas where the timber industry is growing, such as with specialty goods like small diameter wood products. If we can develop strong local markets for these products, then we can expect to keep and bring back good-paying jobs in the timber industry. That’s an area where the federal government can definitely lend a hand and be a partner. We also need to continue the conversation about how we are diversifying our rural economies, while not relying exclusively on low-paying tourism industry jobs. We need to have a focus on jobs that have the same wage range as timber and coal jobs, because that’s what I think most people are worried about: “Will I be able to support my family?” I was raised in a union family and I wouldn’t be where I am today if it hadn’t been for my dad’s stable wages and reliable healthcare benefits. I know how much that does to reduce stress and solve everyday problems in a family. I am fully committed to fighting for our families and for wages that provide that level of security. No one deserves to go to bed at night worried about the bills when they’re working full-time and doing their best.

MOJO: Bozeman and Whitefish are booming and taxes keep going up indicating that the costs of growth are not paying for themselves. How does Bozeman and Whitefish save their character before it is lost forever?

NEUMANN: Do you know what type of land use costs the most to local taxpayers? Rural residential. And the land use that costs the least? Agriculture. So yes, the changes that we’ve seen in Bozeman and Whitefish, with large swaths of agricultural land being converted to rural residential, will most certainly cause taxes to keep going up. That’s a problem that is mostly addressed at the local level through land use planning, but there are some things we can do at the federal level to provide support, such as engaging USDA-Rural Development to better support local communities in thinking through the long-term impacts of their short-term decision-making. The issues we see now with the lack of affordable housing and hiring challenges are certainly longer-term impacts of the decisions that have been made to allow the kind of development we’ve seen. In terms of maintaining a community’s character, that’s a very similar thing. Unfortunately, in communities that are going through a lot of change, we oftentimes hear statements like, “That’s progress,” as if there’s nothing we can do to change our future, even if we don’t like it. That is just patently not true and I strongly believe in the power of coming together as a community to identify our strengths and ensure that they are retained in whatever future we design. Developers and those who would change our communities are beholden to us first, but not if we sit back and don’t say anything. Some of our communities have already changed in ways we don’t like, but there’s no time like the present to shift that.

MOJO: How do we restore civility and personal respect for each other in America?

NEUMANN: Number one: Get money out of politics. Everything else falls together from there. When you talk to regular citizens, there is so much more that we agree on than disagree on. When we listen to each other and recognize all of the things we have in common, we can fight for each other and end this petty in-fighting we see in D.C. That’s what I’ve done through my work with First Ladies, and through my work on public lands protections – bringing together conservation leaders, farmers, ranchers and native communities – over the past four years. I look forward to bringing this experience, and commitment to collaboration to Washington. And I won’t be taking corporate PAC money because companies aren’t my constituents, Montanans are.

A statue of Jeannette Rankin adorns the US Capitol along with those of other major political figures in US history. Rankin, a progressive Republican from Montana, was the first woman in America elected to the US House of Representatives. No other Montana woman has been elected to service in the House or Senate since Rankin left in January 1943. She was succeeded by Mike Mansfield. Photo courtesy US Capitol/NPS

MOJO: What do you think about your opponent giving the President carte blanche to say or do virtually anything he wants and defend him—condoning actions that he never would have supported and would have certainly decried had they been done by other Presidents

NEUMANN: It demonstrates to me the polarization in politics right now, the lack of civility, and the fact that our politicians are serving special interests, not us. Regardless of who the president is when I am in office, I will stand with them when it serves Montanans and I’ll stand up against them when it doesn’t. That’s a senator’s job and that’s what I’ll do.

MOJO: Why do you think you can win?

NEUMANN: I have the experience, energy and infrastructure—boots on the ground— to take this seat back from Senator Daines. In terms of experience, I have 20 years of experience bringing health care and critical services to communities around the world. My work ranges from serving at the US State Department to building my own organization working with First Ladies and leaders. I am more than prepared to get to work immediately when I reach the Senate. In terms of energy, Senator Daines is putting our children’s future at risk—and you do not cross a mother.





I am fueled by our children’s future, and by the stories I hear from Montanans all across the state every day. We deserve a senator that is fighting for us, not corporate special interest. And in terms of infrastructure and boots on the ground - before I launched, I did my homework and sat down with Keenan, Tester, Bullock, Baucus, and a number of other valued advisors. They told me that to win, I needed to raise the funds, travel the state and gain endorsements and support.





MOJO: And how has that gone?



