Three Native women offset Lake County's red rout

Lake County sends four new legislators to Helena in January, and due, in part, to statewide redistricting, three are Democrats: Shelly Fyant and Jacinda Morigeau, both of Arlee, and Thedis Crowe of Heart Butte. Also new to the delegation is Tracy Sharp of Polson.

They join incumbent Republican Greg Hertz, who handily won a second term with his election to Senate District 7, which includes portions of Mineral and Sanders counties; and incumbent Linda Reksten of Polson, who bested Shirley Azzopardi in House District 13 by a margin of 61% to 39%.

This marks the third term for Reksten, a former Polson school superintendent, and Azzopardi’s second run at the Legislature. She was defeated in 2022 by Joe Read, who sat this election out due to term limits.

Azzopardi, an indefatigable campaigner, said she knocked on close to 1,200 doors in her district, which encompasses Polson and parts of Pablo and Ronan.

“My takeaway is that no Democrat can win solely in Lake County,” she said after losing her two races by similar margins. “Unfortunately, Montana is a very red state and I’m afraid we’re going to lose a lot before it’s over.”

At the southern end of Lake County, former CSKT Tribal Council Chair Shelly Fyant ran against real-estate agent David Passieri in the newly configured HD 91. While Fyant lost 1,641 to 1,937 in Lake County and 140 to 201 in Sanders County, she picked up 1,392 votes in Missoula County to Passieri’s 551. That 72% margin put her in the winning column with 54% of the vote overall, 2,689 to 2,173.

Morigeau’s win was similar. She lost to Charles Headley in Lake County, 1,662 to 1,873, and in Sanders, 139 to 204, but collected 5,359 votes in Missoula County to her opponent’s 3,040, winning Senate District 46 by a margin of 58% to 42%.

Thedis Crowe, who lives on the Blackfeet Reservation and has family on the Flathead Reservation, lost in Lake County to St. Ignatius resident Ralph Foster, 1,142 to 1,768. However, she claimed 87% of the votes in Glacier County (718), and 85% in Pondera (147), giving her a total of 2,007 votes for a win in the sprawling House District 15.

Fyant, who was in Helena this week attending a legislator orientation, attributes her win to “doing the work.” She knocked doors in every neighborhood, except one, in the Upper Rattlesnake area of Missoula, focusing her time and efforts there “because most people on the Flathead Reservation know me as I've lived there most of my life.” She also attended events sponsored by Lake, Sanders and Missoula County Democrats.

As she met voters, Fyant says the top concerns she heard were high property taxes, homelessness and lack of affordable housing and women's reproductive rights.

“I will advocate for these issues, Medicaid expansion and protection of the environment so we and our future generations can enjoy healthy food, clean water and air and open spaces,” she wrote in an email.

Tracy Sharp, who heads the local Republican Party, easily won House District 12, picking up 7,109 votes from Lake and Flathead counties to 2,069 for his Democratic opponent Barry Olson, who was basically a no-show in the campaign – a 71% margin.

Sharp, who was also in Helena this week for the orientation session, says his priorities include “ending warrantless surveillance and the excessive use of force by any agency within our State borders, lowering property taxes, clearing obstacles to the building of new housing, fully developing and expanding Montana's energy, and making Montana a hard-target for illegal foreign invaders.”

He considers President-elect Trump’s sweeping victory “a mandate for all of us,” and suggests, “We need to consider ourselves Americans first and unify as one.”

“The multi-fracturing into a wide variety of special interest grievance groups needs to stop, and all our able-bodied need to get out of the wagon and help pull,” he wrote in an email.

Republicans dominate courthouse

Republicans swept the Lake County Courthouse, where incumbents ran unopposed for County Commissioner, District 3 (Gale Decker) and Clerk and Recorder (Kendra Steele). Around 960 voters chose write-in candidates over Decker, whose residency was challenged by an opponent during the primary; still, it wasn’t nearly enough to dent his 11,662 total.  

Two positions that were open were filled by candidates who already worked in those offices: Rebecca Maso, the deputy county treasurer, was voted in as County Treasurer/Assessor and Chief Deputy Clerk of Court Mary Rensvold will replace retiring Clerk of District Court Lyn Fricker.

District Court Judge Molly Owen retained her seat on the bench with 11,686 votes in her favor; and Polson attorney Britt Cotter was elected to the court’s second seat, replacing Judge John Mercer who was appointed last May by Gov. Greg Gianforte to fill the remainder of Kim Christopher’s term on the bench. Cotter received 11,845 votes in the uncontested nonpartisan race.

As goes Montana, so goes Lake County

Lake County voters pretty much followed statewide trends in federal and statewide races, selecting Republicans Donald Trump for president (9,687) over Kamala Harris (6,374), Tim Sheehy for U.S. Senator over incumbent John Tester, 8,731 to 7,614, in a very hard-fought and extremely expensive race, and incumbent U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke over Monica Tranel, 9,351 to 6,756.

Gov. Greg Gianforte received 9,760 votes to opponent Ryan Busse’s 6,342 in Lake County, and was returned to office by a statewide margin of 59% to 38%. The remaining elected offices in state government also remained solidly in Republican hands.

Voters chose Cory Swanson as Supreme Court Chief Justice over Jeremiah Lynch, 8,132 to 6,800 locally, and by 54% statewide. Katherine Bidegary also won her bid for a seat on the Supreme Court by the same 54% margin, although the race was much closer in Lake County, where she earning 7,770 votes to 7,294 cast for Dan Wilson.

Independent Elena Evans tried to unseat Republican Jennifer Fielder in District 4 of the Public Service Commission, but lost that race 45% to 55%.

Of three proposed Constitutional Initiatives only one passed in Lake County and statewide: CI 128, which amends the state constitution to protect a woman’s right to have an abortion. The measure passed, 9,261 to 7,137 locally, and by a margin of 58% to 42% statewide.

The other two initiatives that would have changed voting processes were less popular. CI 126, which would have allowed open primaries for state and U.S. legislative offices, failed by 250 votes in Lake County, and a margin of 49% to 51% statewide. Companion initiative CI 127, which would have required a majority vote instead of a plurality to win state and federal offices, lost by nearly 3,000 votes locally, and 39% to 61% at the state level.

High voter turnout

Lake County Election Administrator Toni Kramer and her crew were counting close to 260 provisional ballots Tuesday afternoon, prior to the final post-election audit at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Although final tallies were still pending, she said active voter turnout was around 88% this year – considerably higher than the General Election in 2022, and a little lower than the 92% of voters who participated in 2020.

Lake County has 22,525 registered voters, and 19,272 are considered active (inactive voters haven’t voted during two election cycles, or don’t have a valid address on file with the county election office). New voters who registered late numbered 1,330.

Election workers at the Elmo Health Center last Tuesday confirmed that turnout was higher than normal. The polling station serves nearly 1,000 voters in the Polson 1 precinct, which includes Elmo, Big Arm and parts of Rocky Point.

Although the majority voted absentee, election judges reported that around 100 voters had shown up in person by 4 p.m. on Election Day and more were expected to arrive after work.

 “We actually had a little line-up here,” said election judge Ruth Hodges.

“That’s big time,” added Ray Winn.