'Scalp Racist White Men:' X Users Rage After Montana Senate Hopeful Calls Native American 'Pets'

A Libertarian candidate for the US Senate in Montana has come under intense criticism after using the phrase 'pet of society' at a forum on Native maternal health and the federal government's responsibilities to tribal communities.

Kyle Austin, a Billings pharmacist, insists he was talking about dependency on government, not Native Americans. Tribal leaders called the remark degrading and dehumanising, and online reaction quickly followed.

One widely shared post on X fired back with a stark warning that Native voters would remember it, adding: 'We still scalp racist white men too.'

Health Forum Sparks Backlash

Austin, the Libertarian Party's Senate nominee, made the comment at a candidate forum on 23 October at the Eagle Seeker Community Center in Billings, the Montana Free Press reported. The event was hosted by Indigenous-led groups including the People's Food Sovereignty Program, Berry Medicine Native Birthwork Initiatives and Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies.

Asked what role the federal government should play in empowering tribes to lead their own maternal and infant health programmes, Austin argued for tribes to become independent and self-governing. 'That is the right path forward, folks, because if someone is a pet of society, they will always be a pet of society for the future,' he said.

'And that is why you have to change how you vote, because the far left has always kept you a pet of society and dependent upon the federal government,' he added.

The forum had been called to discuss health care, tribal sovereignty and the health gaps facing Native communities. Independent candidate Seth Bodnar and Democrat Alani Bankhead also took part. Republican Kurt Alme did not attend.

Tribal Leaders Condemn Language as Degrading

Patrick Yawakie of the People's Food Sovereignty Program called the comments 'derogatory' but 'not unexpected.' He put them down to 'a lack of education' and said treaties are binding federal obligations.

Bill Snell, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, called the remarks 'degrading' and said racism 'is still alive.'

Dr Amy Stiffarm, founding executive director of Berry Medicine, said federal health care for Native people stems from the government's trust responsibility, not charity, KTVQ reported. Health disparities, she argued, reflect barriers within systems, not failings within Native families. The real gap, she said, is whether governments will invest in Indigenous-led solutions.

Stiffarm also warned that public debate leans too heavily on deficit framing of Native families.

Crow scholar Shane Doyle said tribes gave up millions of acres of land on the understanding that the federal government would provide health care indefinitely under treaty.

Misty Pipe, an Indigenous birth worker and lactation consultant on the Northern Cheyenne reservation, said many families lack transportation and some face a drive of about two hours to reach delivery care. Birth is sacred in her community, she said, which made the phrase especially painful. Native people, she said, are human, not pets.

Austin Insists He Did Not Call Natives 'Pets'

Austin denies that he called Native Americans pets, though he has not denied using the words. In a video on 24 October, he accused Bodnar of 'correlating Native Americans as pets'.

In a phone interview, he called the forum a 'Bodnar event' and said the comment 'wasn't directed exactly at Native Americans'. He said he was 'talking about victims of socialism' and that the criticism could serve as 'a wake-up call'.

In a guest opinion column published by Native News Online on 29 October, Austin wrote that he had said the left 'keeps them as a pet of society', meaning dependent on the federal government, and accused Bodnar of editing video to make it appear he was referring to Native Americans. He demanded that Bodnar apologise.

He told KTVQ he would not retract the statement and 'wouldn't answer it any differently', though he apologised to anyone who took it personally. His aim, he said, is to give tribal nations more control over their own affairs, including how federal funds are spent. He described the term as 'not a negative thing' and said he views reservations as sovereign nations.

Rivals Trade Blows as Video Spreads

Bodnar condemned the remarks, saying he was 'heartbroken' and 'appalled', and claimed Bankhead had 'just laughed along'. Bankhead, who said at the event that she is Taíno, called the comment 'wrong' in a statement on 24 October, saying it reflected a misunderstanding of tribal sovereignty. Her campaign said her smile came after Austin had finished and followed an unrelated conversation.

Yawakie said both Bodnar and Bankhead apologised to the organisers the day after the forum.

The row spread beyond Billings after Bodnar posted about the exchange on social media. Native News Online published a report on 27 October drawing substantially on his post, prompting Austin's reply in the same outlet two days later.

Online, the reaction was raw. 'Someone needs to remind this guy that Natives vote,' the X account Lakota Man wrote in a post. 'We still scalp racist white men too.' It came a week after the forum, as the controversy continued to circulate online in the final days of the campaign.

Montanans vote on Tuesday 3 November.