Aaron Flint misleads voters about Montana’s congressional district

Republican Aaron Flint made a misleading statement about Montana’s congressional districts.

In a June 18 appearance on the David Webb Show, Flint claimed the boundaries of the state’s 1st District were drawn to give Democrats an unfair advantage. Flint, a former radio host, is running to represent the district against Democrat Sam Forstag.

“After the 2020 census, the state got split in two,” Flint said. “This Western congressional district that I’m running for this year is a battleground district. This race could determine control of the House of Representatives, but the Democrats basically gerrymandered this seat here in western Montana for a time like this.”

Flint made a similar claim in a 2023 social media post, asserting that “Dems control redistricting which gave us the gerrymandered districts.”

This is not accurate. Montana’s current congressional map was proposed by Republicans and approved by the chair of the state’s bipartisan redistricting commission. The map was drawn in response to the 2020 census, which resulted in Montana regaining a second U.S. House district after nearly three decades with a single at-large representative.

Kendra Miller, a Democrat on the redistricting commission, told the Associated Press that the new district favored Republicans and is “not a competitive district in my mind.”

Dan Stusek, a Republican on the commission, said he was “pleasantly surprised” when the map was approved.

Miller’s analysis was backed up by data. The commission determined that Democrats would have won in the district only about 25% of the time had it existed prior to 2020.

Despite this history, an Impact Research poll from June showed Flint and Forstag in a tied race, with many voters still undecided.