In Montana’s capital, an overheated exchange threatens to raise more than just voices. Freshman Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) — a former Navy SEAL, entrepreneur and now U.S. Senator — found himself on the receiving end of an appalling voicemail from a local left-wing city commissioner candidate, Haley McKnight of Helena. What might otherwise have been an unpleasant political message crossed a line into outright menace.
In early July, shortly after Sheehy voted alongside his Republican colleagues to pass the sweeping “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (which angered many Democrats) the senator’s Helena office received the married-father-of-four a voicemail from McKnight. According to the recording (obtained and verified by Fox News Digital), McKnight began: “Hi, this is Haley McKnight. I’m a constituent in Helena, Montana. I just wanted to let you know that you are the most insufferable kind of coward and thief. You just stripped away healthcare for 17 million Americans.”
She didn’t stop there. She went on: “I hope one day you get pancreatic cancer, and it spreads throughout your body so fast that they can’t even treat you.” Then: “I hope you die in the street like a dog… I hope that your children never forgive you. I hope that you are infertile. I hope that you manage to never get a boner ever again. You are the worst piece of s— I have ever, ever, ever had the misfortune of looking at… God forbid that you ever meet me on the streets because I will make you regret it. F— you. I hope you die.”
She accuses Sheehy of failing Montanans: “You don’t serve Montanans, you serve your own private interests… All that you have done since you have gotten into power is do s— for yourself.”
This isn’t heated political debate. It’s violent, personal, and chilling.
McKnight, originally from North Carolina but now based in Montana, runs Sage & Oats Trading Post and a consulting/design business. She also serves as president of Helena Young Professionals and lists on her campaign website priorities such as housing for all, greater transparency, more downtown living, public art and music, and enhanced public transit systems.
In one of her few public statements about the voicemail, she told Fox News Digital: “I’m a constituent, and I was responding to some horrible policy with some justified rage.” She added that she “would hope that if Sheehy was so rattled by my voicemail, he would have contacted me instead of leaking my information to conservative news media the night before an election. It feels like a cheap shot.”
When asked whether she stood by the rhetoric, particularly given rising concern about political threats and violence, McKnight simply responded: “No comment on that.” She claimed that she has received ongoing death and rape threats herself and that her business is being threatened because of Sheehy’s decision to publicize the voicemail.
Senator Sheehy’s republican colleagues were correct when his spokesman said, “We hope Ms. McKnight gets the help she clearly needs and wish her well.” That phrasing dignifies the office of the Senate and refuses to descend to the level of personal animus.
Meanwhile, candidates like McKnight — regardless of their policy positions — must understand that public discourse has consequences. If you demand “housing for all” or “more accessible downtown living,” you must also maintain the manners and respect that allow a society to debate those goals without devolving into threats.
