U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is a member of the LDS church.

U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., was appointed to the Senate in May 2011 to fill the vacancy left by Sen. John Ensign’s resignation. Heller previously represented Nevada’s 2nd District in the U.S. House, and before that, he served many years in state government.

U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is a member of the LDS church who has run for president. In the 2000 presidential primaries, he encountered anti-Mormon sentiment in the Midwest and ultimately withdrew from the race.

U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is a member of the LDS church.

Montana, in addition to Columbus Day, celebrates American Indian Heritage Day on the fourth Friday of September. Read a column published Sept. 23, 2005, by the Billings Gazette.

Trent Wisecup is the former director of Romney’s Massachusetts political action committee. He is a principal at Navigators Global.

Mike Murphy is a Republican political consultant with Navigators Global who has advised candidates, including John McCain, Jeb Bush, former Michigan Gov. John Engler and Romney. In February 2006, Murphy stepped away from Romney’s campaign.

Jonathan Batkin directs the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian in Santa Fe, N.M. He has been published widely on Pueblo Indian pottery and the Native American curio trade, including From the Railroad to Route 66: The Native American Curio Trade in New Mexico (Wheelwright Museum of the Amer, 2008).

Alan Wolfe is the founding director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College and a frequent commentator on religion and politics. His books include The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Live Our Faith, which focuses on the impact of evangelicals on American religious culture. He has written widely on secularism.