A Montana Democrat lost her election and job after her voicemail of violent threats to Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) was revealed.
Haley McKnight, a former store manager of the retail gift shop Sage and Oats Trading Post in Helena, Montana, was running as a Democratic candidate for the Helena City Commission. On Monday, just one day before the election, a July 2 voicemail she left for Sheehy, in which she identified herself by her first and last name, was revealed. Despite already having declared her candidacy, McKnight voiced disturbing and violent threats against Sheehy. The audio of her voicemail quickly spread on social media.
McKnight’s voicemail began by identifying herself and her general location, followed by heated insults over Sheehy’s support for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.”
“Hi. This is Haley McKnight. I’m a constituent in Helena, Montana, and 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. And I hope you’re really proud of that,” she began.
The voicemail then abruptly turned violent, with McKnight wishing Sheehy an excruciating death.
“I hope that one day you get pancreatic cancer and it spreads throughout your body so fast that they can’t even treat you for it. I hope that you die in the street like a dog. One day you’re gonna live to regret this. I hope that your children never forgive you. I hope that you are infertile,” she said, adding a crude sexual remark.
McKnight continued, saying, “God forbid that you ever meet me on the streets, because I will make you regret it.”
“F*** you. I hope you die,” she concluded.
Major and Michelle Robinson, the owners of Sage and Oats Trading Post, told the Montana Free Press that they were given an hour’s notice by McKnight before the voicemail dropped. The voicemail was described as “completely out of character” and resulted in her immediate suspension. On Wednesday, after significant deliberation and pressure, the couple decided to fire McKnight.
“Even with your work family or your regular family, if you make a mistake, you learn to grow from those mistakes,” Major Robinson told the outlet in an interview. “This one’s a mistake on a national level. And it’s hard because it’s impacting not just us personally, but our business as well.”
On Tuesday, the couple closed their store for a week, fearing for the safety of their employees after a barrage of complaints. Musicians and artisans who were scheduled to feature their work at the store have since canceled their appearances, and the couple is openly wondering if the business can survive the backlash.
Right after the voicemail was made public, McKnight described her rage as justified, pointing to the perceived effects of the “big, beautiful bill” on Medicaid, and said her top regret was that her comments harmed organizations she was part of.
After the deluge of criticism, her election loss, and her firing, she issued another statement on Wednesday with a much different tone.
“I truly apologize for my words and the damage that they have caused. In my heart of hearts, I wish none of these things on Senator Sheehy. I’ve taken time to reflect on my words and actions, and what I said was inexcusable. He’s a person, just like me, and no one, regardless of their beliefs, should ever be spoken to like that. I wish him and his family well, and I am committed to a more civil discourse moving forward on my behalf,” McKnight said.
McKnight came in third place in her election for the Helena City Commission, winning about 20% of the vote.
Despite the violent nature of the threats, Sheehy joked about McKnight’s voicemail on X.
“In addition to cancer and death, she cursed me with infertility….good thing I already have four kids!!” he said.
McKnight also stepped down from her roles in other organizations amid the backlash, including the Helena Young Professionals, which she led. The group’s “Who We Are” page was scrubbed.
The repudiation of McKnight contrasted with recent similar incidents in which violent comments by Democrats failed to dent their electoral chances. This was most notably seen in the Virginia attorney general election when Democrat Jay Jones won over his Republican counterpart by over 200,000 votes despite violent texts that emerged.
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Texts first obtained and published by the National Review, and later confirmed by Jones, showed him sharing violent fantasies about former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert. In the texts, Jones said he wished he could murder Gilbert and imagined the death of his two young children, whom he dubbed “little fascists.”
Jones’s landslide victory despite his violent messages drew widespread anger from Republicans, who saw the results as the normalization of political violence.