My Priorities
Affordable, Quality Healthcare for All Montanans
Healthcare is a necessity for all of us, not a privilege for just the few. Since retiring, I have lived the reality of expensive, high-deductible coverage under the ACA and understand exactly what is at stake for Montanans without employer-provided insurance. That's why I'll fight every day for affordable healthcare.
My Policy Priorities:
- Protect and expand Medicaid, including elder care coverage and rural hospital funding
- Oppose any legislation that would roll back Medicaid expansion
- Fight for affordable prescription drug costs
- Invest in rural health infrastructure so Montanans do not have to drive hours for basic care
Mental Health: Early Intervention and Community Support
Mental health is critical to a fully functioning society. I have worked with students and families living with social, emotional, and behavioral disorders throughout my career, and I have seen the cascade of consequences when we fail to intervene early.
My Policy Priorities:
- Increase state funding for community mental health services and substance abuse
- Expand mental health services and early intervention programs statewide
- Invest in school-based mental health support and counselors
- Expand youth mental health programs and therapeutic foster care resources
- Address the economic costs of inaction: untreated mental illness drives up welfare costs, crime rates, hospitalization, and incarceration
Fully Fund Public Education -- No Exceptions
Montana has not funded their schools adequately for many years, and larger urban districts like Billings are especially hard hit by that inequality. Our federal government has never adequately funded federally-mandated programs like Special Education. As a result, that burden is placed upon local communities to pick up the slack and unfairly puts that burden on local taxpayers. In Billings, it has been almost impossible to pass school levies for public schools. Local taxpayers are tired of bearing the burden when the state doesn’t do its part. Billings faces even more funding issues because the state funding formula is vastly unfair to large urban schools.
My Policy Priorities:
- Adequate, equitable funding for every public school in Montana
- Full funding for special education — our most under-resourced classrooms
- Robust support for Title 1 schools serving low-income students
- Oppose any use of public tax dollars for private, religious, or for-profit charter schools — as guaranteed by the Montana Constitution
- Competitive teacher pay and support for school staff
Protect Public Lands and Our Environment
The Montana Constitution guarantees every Montanan the right to a clean and healthy environment. Public lands belong to all of us, not to corporations, not to developers, and not to out-of-state interests looking to profit from Montana's resources.
My Policy Priorities:
- Oppose any sale, transfer, or privatization of Montana's public lands
- Maintain and strengthen environmental protections under the state constitution
- Hold polluters accountable and oppose projects that threaten water quality and air quality
- Fight AI data centers and industrial projects that consume massive water supplies, drive up utility rates, and create noise pollution in our communities
- Support clean energy development that benefits Montana ratepayers — not outside corporations
Affordable Housing and Fair Property Taxes
Property taxes are crushing working families and retirees in Montana. Short-term rental investors drive rents ever upward. Meanwhile, out-of-state wealthy buyers are pricing locals out of the communities they built. Housing must be for Montanans — not a commodity for the wealthy.
Policy Priorities:
- Reform the property tax structure so working families and retirees are not priced out of their homes
- Oppose tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy that shift the burden onto ordinary Montanans
- Invest in affordable housing programs for low- and middle-income residents
- Address short-term rental markets and speculative real estate that drives up local housing costs
Worker Rights and Union Protections
Strong unions built Montana's middle class. Attacks on collective bargaining, public employee rights, and teacher unions are attacks on working families. As a long-time member of MFPE, I have reaped the rewards of better wages, strong worker protections and a fully funded pension. I have lobbied with my union to ensure our schools and public services are not privatized, and that our public employees earn a fair wage.
Policy Priorities:
- Protect collective bargaining rights for teachers, state employees, and all public workers
- Oppose legislation that undermines union organizing and worker protections
- Fight for fair wages and safe working conditions across sectors
- Support legislation that strengthens, not weakens, public employee retirement security
Protecting and Preserving the Montana Constitution
My campaign is firmly grounded in the Montana Constitution. This is the foundational law that Montanans wrote and ratified to protect their rights. Our constitution is special among all the 50 states because it came out of a remembrance of the corruption that occurred in the Montana legislatures of the past. And our constitution is under attack again. The Copper Kings of the past are the billionaire class of today, a class of people with more money than they know what to do with and an entitled attitude that they cannot be held to account. The next four years will be crucial is ensuring that the robber barons of today do not take control of our rights.
The Five Constitutional Pillars of My Campaign:
1. Quality Public Education
The Montana Constitution prohibits funding private or sectarian schools with public dollars. Every fight to protect public school funding is a constitutional fight.
2. The Right to Privacy
Montana's constitution explicitly protects the right to privacy. This right must be defended against government and corporate overreach.
3. A Clean and Healthy Environment
Montanans have an inalienable constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment. This is not negotiable — it is the law.
4. Free and Open Elections
The right of suffrage must be protected. No one shall prevent the free exercise of the right to vote. Campaign finance and election integrity are constitutional issues.
5. Public Lands in Trust for the People
Public lands shall be held in trust for the people of Montana. Privatization is not just bad policy — it is unconstitutional. In poll after poll, over 85% of Montanans say they want to keep their existing public lands protected, yet every year our state and federal legislators introduce bills that would take them away or leave them unprotected.
Utility Affordability and Consumer Protection
Montanans deserve affordable heat, power, and water. When energy companies are given preferential treatment and utility rates rise for consumers, the public good is being sacrificed for private profit.
Policy Priorities:
- Oppose rate hikes driven by corporate profit-taking or poorly regulated energy projects
- Fight AI data center expansion that would spike utility costs and drain water resources
- Push for utility regulations that protect consumers and ratepayers
- Invest in local, affordable renewable energy that benefits Montanans directly
Food Security and Support for Vulnerable Montanans
No child should go to school hungry. No senior should have to choose between food and medicine. Programs like SNAP and Medicaid are not giveaways — they are investments in human dignity and community health.
Policy Priorities:
- Protect and fund SNAP and food assistance programs
- Support Medicaid and long-term care funding so seniors can age with dignity
- Invest in school nutrition programs and summer meal access for children
- Oppose cuts to federal or state nutrition assistance programs