Organizing for Tenant and Political Power in Montana

Sam Forstag, a smoke jumper and union leader, flipped western Montana’s US House seat blue in last week’s midterm elections. He is the first Democrat from Minnesota elected to the US House in more than thirty years, having run on a grassroots progressive campaign that brought together labor unions, environmental organizations, indigenous groups, and tenant unions.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez played a significant role in Forstag’s upset victory in the Democratic primary. She endorsed Forstag when he was trailing by 20 points and traveled to Missoula for a get-out-the-vote rally. Missoula County carried Forstag to a narrow primary victory, with Democratic primary turnout increasing 23 percent from 2024.

Bozeman Tenants United (BTU) endorsed Forstag for the general election and campaigned for him in Gallatin County, which had the highest increase in Democratic votes between the primary and general election. The county has recently become a destination for wealthy transplants, driving up housing costs. Since the start of the pandemic, the median home price in Bozeman has nearly doubled to over $700,000.

BTU was formed in 2022 and was a cofounding organization in the national Tenant Union Federation in 2024. Benjamin Finegan was a cofounder of BTU and currently serves as president. Jacobin contributor Willem Morris spoke to Finegan about Forstag’s win and how to organize tenants in Montana.

Willem Morris

Who is Sam Forstag, and why did Bozeman Tenants United (BTU) endorse him in his race for the US House of Representatives in Montana’s 1st congressional district?

Benjamin Finegan

This May, Sam Forstag drove two hundred miles from Missoula to Bozeman to join the picket lines of BTU members on a rent strike at two major mobile home parks, the first major rent strike in Montana in fifty years. Sam really went out of his way to support the strike. He used his social media platforms to rally public support for the strike and raised money for our strike fund.

Forstag also committed to a co-governance pledge with BTU. He committed to consulting tenants on policy, maintaining ongoing engagement with the union, and working to hold landlords accountable.

That’s who Sam Forstag is. He knows what it’s like to have to choose between gas or groceries in order to pay the rent. He’s also someone who has proven that he will stand with working Montanans against multimillionaires and billionaires.

BTU is an independent group of tenants with many different political backgrounds. We have been very selective with our endorsements, avoiding establishment picks from both parties, and have focused mostly on local races. Our decision to endorse Sam was the first time we have endorsed a federal candidate. The vote was nearly unanimous, with enthusiastic support across political differences. Our members remembered that Sam was willing to stick his neck out and fight for tenants during their strike at such a high-risk and high-profile moment.

Willem Morris

Missoula carried Forstag to victory in the primary. Your home in Gallatin County made a significant difference in the general election. Who are these voters in Gallatin County?

Benjamin Finegan

Gallatin County is home to Montana State University in Bozeman. It’s also home to the thousands of workers who staff nearby playgrounds for the ultrarich, Big Sky and the Yellowstone Club. The wealthiest people in the world pay $500,000 to join the Yellowstone Club. Working people serve as their landscapers, cooks, and maids.

BTU’s membership comes from these two main groups: students and young professionals centered around the university, and families renting apartments and mobile home parks, many of whom work in the service industry or live on fixed retirement incomes.

Willem Morris

BTU formally endorsed Forstag in September. How did BTU contribute to his race in Bozeman?

Benjamin Finegan

BTU organized our members to vote in large numbers for Sam Forstag, and we led mass canvasses in Bozeman.

The majority of tenants that struck the trailer parks this summer voted for Sam. This includes folks who I know are more conservative and have historically voted Republican.

One of our members is an older retired veteran who went on strike; he told me, “We are getting chiseled, we are getting gouged, we are being sheared like sheep.” He has voted Republican but was one of the folks that voted for our union to endorse Sam in the election. The solidarity that Sam showed us during the strike ultimately meant a whole lot more to our members than the party label.

After our endorsement vote, folks hit the doors to get their neighbors committed to vote for Sam. The union is generally pretty trusted by tenants in our city, even if they’re not members. We have a reputation for fighting for tenants and against landlords. Last year, we won a law for tenants to have the right to counsel before eviction, which got city-funded legal representation for tenants. We have organized to enforce that law.

So when we knocked doors, we were able to say: “We’re with the tenant union. We won this law called right to counsel, and you can call this number if you ever are in trouble with your landlord. And we’re trying to get this candidate elected who is willing to fight alongside us, Sam Forstag. We trust him, and you can trust him too.”

Willem Morris

Forstag’s support extended well beyond Missoula and Bozeman. He dominated in Butte, Anaconda, and Glacier County. These three areas are traditional Democratic strongholds where MAGA had made inroads over the last decade. The largest shift for Forstag compared to 2024 was in Butte. Why was Forstag able to succeed in these three counties?

Benjamin Finegan

The AFL-CIO threw down for Sam Forstag. They led impressive turnout operations across the state. Sam comes from the labor movement, and unions organized to send one of their own to Congress. Butte and Anaconda, two old union mining towns, are almost legendary places in our state’s labor history. Sam Forstag ran almost 20 points better than Kamala Harris in these two places.

Native American voters were very significant for Sam too. Prominent Native leaders supported Sam, and the Blackfeet Nation and Reservation turned out for Sam in Glacier County. Public lands advocates are always important in every Montana election too. These are the forces that came together and were able to lead Sam to such an important victory.

Willem Morris

What else has BTU been organizing around this year?

Benjamin Finegan

Our bread and butter is organizing tenants to fight and win the changes we need from their landlords and from the government: getting members talking to their neighbors in apartment buildings or mobile home parks; developing leaders; deciding on demands; and taking action together. Our membership needs to be able to stay in their homes, regardless of who wins an election.

BTU is also one of the five founding locals of the national Tenant Union Federation (TUF). We came together with tenant unions from the South Side of Chicago, Connecticut, Kentucky, and Kansas City, Missouri, to form TUF.

In the last few months, TUF ran a three-month intensive training on tenant union organizing. We trained nearly a thousand tenant unionists from over 130 cities in forty states who learned how to organize tenant unions and fight for their homes.

This training series has already been getting results around the country and leading to brand new tenant unions in places like Colorado, Idaho, New York, and in the South, and winning collectively bargained leases, repairs, and rent reductions.

Willem Morris

Four years ago in Jacobin, I tried to think about how environmental, labor, and indigenous movements could start to rebuild the Left in Montana. I left out tenants. What does this election show about the potential power of organized tenants?

Benjamin Finegan

Tenant unions and tenant voters were a significant force in the midterms. And tenants are going to be decisive in 2028 and every election going forward.

Tenants make up nearly one-third of all Americans. We are facing higher rents for worse conditions and have less and less control over one of our most fundamental needs. Tenants want the government to take action on capping the rent, and I believe this will continue to mobilize more and more people to the ballot box.

I’ll also say that many tenants are poor and working-class people who live off a fixed income or work jobs not typically covered by labor unions. And even for tenants who are fortunate to have a labor union, rent increases can outpace wage increases. Organizing at our homes in addition to the workplace is necessary to have a stable, dignified life. As more tenants unionize across Montana and around the country and control our rent, we will wield more power in the economy too.

Last, when tenants unionize their apartment building or mobile home park, they experience collective power together, often for the first time. The experience serves as a training ground for democracy for regular people. It shows them how to negotiate and how to make decisions together. It teaches people that taking risks and exercising power collectively can get results. And they take those lessons to other parts of their life.

One of our members is a woman in her seventies who works at a nursing home, and she was elected by her neighbors to sit on the bargaining team for her union. We forced a representative from the corporation that owned their building to come to negotiate. During negotiations, I could see her literally shaking as she talked to this landlord representative demanding that they fix parking lot lights outside her building. Afterward, she told us: “I’ve never felt stronger in my entire life.”

This article originally appeared in Jacobin, a democratic socialist magazine publishing long-form essays and analysis on politics, economics, and culture. Subscribe to the print edition for $20 a year.