{"id":2092483,"date":"2023-11-07T05:06:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-07T10:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/last-line-of-defense-montana-ag-austin-knudsen-launches-reelection-bid\/"},"modified":"2023-11-07T05:08:50","modified_gmt":"2023-11-07T10:08:50","slug":"last-line-of-defense-montana-ag-austin-knudsen-launches-reelection-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/last-line-of-defense-montana-ag-austin-knudsen-launches-reelection-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana AG Austin Knudsen seeks reelection."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flast-line-of-defense-montana-ag-austin-knudsen-launches-reelection-bid%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2092483&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><blockquote>\n<h2>Republican Attorneys General Association <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/economists-push-for-another-round-of-stimulus-checks\/\" title=\"Economists Push for Another Round of Stimulus Checks\">vice chair<\/a> pledges to fight &#8216;disastrous Biden agenda&#8217;<\/h2>\n<figure><figcaption>(Screenshot\/YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div>\n<p>Montana attorney general Austin Knudsen launched his reelection bid \u200cTuesday, with the Republican vowing to be the &#8220;last line of defense&#8221; against the &#8220;disastrous Biden agenda that\u200b has harmed Montanans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Knudsen, a \u200dformer state lawmaker who cruised to \u200da\u200d 17-point win during his first\u2064 statewide race \u200cin 2020, enters the campaign with\u200d support from a number of Montana sheriffs and prosecutors, as \u200dwell as the Montana \u2063Coal Council and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, according to a\u2064 campaign release. Knudsen during his first term as Montana&#8217;s top cop sued the Biden administration over its gun control and immigration policies, fights that the Republican expects to replicate should he secure a second term.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Every day there&#8217;s some new rule or some crazy idea coming out of Washington, D.C., that&#8217;s just completely out of whack with Montana,&#8221; Knudsen\u200b told the <em>Washington Free Beacon<\/em> in an interview. &#8220;It seems like I can&#8217;t go a\u2063 week without having to file\u2062 a lawsuit against some federal agency for violating the Second Amendment, and that&#8217;s a really\u200d important issue to Montanans. We&#8217;re the last line of defense in a lot of these things that \u2064are coming out \u200dof the federal government.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Knudsen&#8217;s announcement comes as Montana Republicans brace\u200c for what is expected to be an expensive Senate\u2062 race in 2024. Sen. Jon Tester \u200c(D., Mont.), a top GOP target who is up for reelection next year alongside \u2064Knudsen, has already <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/elections\/in-test-of-gops-primary-strategy-political-newcomer-aims-to-bring-down-jon-tester-can-he-pull-it-off\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attracted a challenge<\/a> from Republican businessman Tim Sheehy, and Rep. Matt\u200c Rosendale (R., Mont.) is also expected to enter the race. Knudsen said he expects the Senate contest to influence his own campaign as Democrats flood the state with spending &#8220;to protect liberal John Tester.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s a\u2063 consideration we definitely have to take seriously,&#8221; Knudsen \u200csaid.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to his lawsuits challenging the Biden administration on guns \u200band immigration, Knudsen has also led fights against\u2063 the Chinese Communist\u2062 Party, having emerged as the top \u2064proponent of a\u2064 bill banning Chinese-owned app TikTok in Montana. Knudsen has also <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/national-security\/states-want-chinas-shein-to-come-clean-about-slave-labor-before-it-joins-u-s-stock-exchange\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pressed the Biden administration<\/a> to implement regulations aimed at combating the use of Chinese slave labor.<\/p>\n<p>Still, Knudsen\u2063 told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em> that Montanans are clear about the two issues they are most concerned with: crimes \u200dand drugs. Knudsen in both\u200b 2021 and 2022 sued the Biden administration over deportation suspensions and immigration policies that the Republican called \u200c&#8221;dangerous,&#8221; \u2063and he expects to prioritize the southern border should he \u200dwin in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re dealing with a huge fentanyl problem, a huge methamphetamine problem \u2026 and\u2062 that&#8217;s leading to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shapiro-debunking-gun-control\/\" title=\"SHAPIRO: Debunking Gun Control\">violent crime rates<\/a>\u200b going up in Montana,&#8221; Knudsen said. &#8220;And all of \u2062that we know and we&#8217;ve shown is positively tied\u200c to the southern border. So that&#8217;s what we&#8217;ve been zeroed in \u2064on, that&#8217;s what&#8217;s on Montanans&#8217; minds, and that&#8217;s where we&#8217;re going to focus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Knudsen so far has just one Democratic challenger: Ben Alke, a commercial litigation attorney who launched his own\u200b campaign by <a href=\"https:\/\/montanafreepress.org\/2023\/10\/02\/bozeman-attorney-ben-alke-launches-campaign-montana-attorney-general\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">saying<\/a> \u2062 Knudsen &#8220;does not understand how to \u2062do his job.&#8221; Knudsen said \u2062he&#8217;s taking the \u200cchallenge &#8220;really seriously,&#8221; given that \u2064Alke as a trial attorney can \u2062raise &#8220;a lot\u200c of \u2062money.&#8221; Knudsen nonetheless expressed confidence\u200c in his ability to portray Alke as out of \u200ctouch with everyday Montanans.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He certainly\u2064 is\u2064 a trial lawyer darling in Montana\u2014he&#8217;s represented a lot of far-left liberal interests,&#8221; Knudsen told the <em>Free Beacon<\/em>. &#8220;And he&#8217;s trying to run to the right, he&#8217;s trying to \u2064present himself as a moderate. You know, it&#8217;s hard to look at that and think he&#8217;s not \u200djust trying to mimic me\u2014but if he thinks he&#8217;s gonna get to \u2063the right of me, he&#8217;s going to have a hard time\u2062 with that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> What are the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blackburn-introduces-amendments-to-counter-china-and-iran\/\" title=\"Blackburn Introduces Amendments to Counter China and Iran\">national security concerns<\/a>\u2063 that Austin Knudsen cites as a\u2062 reason for restricting\u200c Chinese investment in Montana?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Ing-to-restrict-chinese-investment-ask-austin-knudsen\/&#8221;\u2063 target=&#8221;_blank&#8221; rel=&#8221;noopener&#8221;>pushed for\u2063 restrictions \u200con Chinese investment<\/a> \u200din the state, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/last-line-of-defense-montana-ag-austin-knudsen-launches-reelection-bid\/\" title=\"Montana AG Austin Knudsen seeks reelection.\">citing national security \u2064concerns<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Knudsen&#8217;s reelection bid is part of a broader\u2064 effort \u2062by Republican attorneys general across the country to combat \u200cwhat they see as an overreach of federal power under the Biden \u2063administration. The Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA), of which Knudsen is the vice chair, has been actively involved in \u2064a number of legal battles\u200d against the Biden\u200d administration on issues ranging from election integrity to energy \u2064development. Knudsen&#8217;s reelection could help bolster the Republican\u200b presence in the RAGA and strengthen their efforts to challenge the\u2063 &#8220;disastrous Biden agenda.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve had enough of the executive overreach,&#8221; Knudsen said. &#8220;As Republican attorneys general, we are standing up\u2064 to protect our states\u2062 and our citizens from the overreach of\u2063 the Biden administration. We&#8217;re the last line \u2062of defense against their disastrous agenda, \u2062and we will fight them every \u200cstep of\u2063 the way.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Knudsen&#8217;s \u2062track record in\u200d Montana\u2064 and his commitment to conservative\u2062 principles have garnered support from both the Republican party and various conservative organizations. As he launches his campaign for reelection, Knudsen joins a growing roster\u2063 of \u200bRepublican candidates across\u200c the country who\u200d are seeking to push back against what they perceive as the harmful policies of \u2062the Biden administration and its Democratic allies in \u200cCongress.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200boutcome of the 2022 midterm elections will be crucial\u200c in determining\u2063 the\u2063 balance of power in Washington and\u2063 the direction of the\u200b country for the next few\u200c years.\u200b Republican attorney generals like Austin Knudsen will\u2063 undoubtedly play a significant role in shaping this outcome and defending the conservative values and interests of their respective states.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>reelection in 2020\u2014also criticized Biden&#8217;s energy policies and promised to protect Montana&#8217;s economy and way of life. As vice chair of the Republican Attorneys General Association, Knudsen is determined to fight against what he perceives as harmful policies under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":2092484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2092483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2092483"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092483\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2092484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2092483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2092483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2092483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}