Homegrown Columbia Falls Candidates Square Off in Historically Red District

Voters in House District 3, which encompasses portions of the North Fork, Columbia Falls and the Canyon, will choose between a pair of homegrown Columbia Falls candidates when they elect either 22-year-old Republican incumbent Braxton Mitchell or his 26-year-old Democrat challenger Andrea Getts.

Getts works for the food access nonprofit Land to Hand, while Mitchell works for his family business Vandevanter Meats and Montana Jerky Company and operates a car rental company. Mitchell was first elected in 2020 when he defeated Democrat Debo Powers with 60% of the vote share by a margin of 1,193 votes. Mitchell garnered 73% of the vote in last June’s primary when he was challenged by Republican Lorena Wood.

Last session, Mitchell served on the Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee in the House, as well as that chamber’s taxation and education committees. He sponsored three bills, one of which would have designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, another which would have allowed people to use a firearm to kill injured game animals within city limits, and a third which would have required the Montana Public Service Commission to consider the economic impacts at the state and local level when evaluating the acquisition, sale, expansion, or closure of a coal-fired power plant. All three bills failed.

 Getts said she imagined running for public office could be something to pursue in her 30s or 40s, but opted to run after watching the state legislative session play out in 2021, as well as witnessing firsthand from her professional vantage point the positive effects that local organizations can have with a little bit of support. 

“I just decided I needed to quit complaining, and actually do something about it,” she said.

Mitchell said clear ideological lines distinguish himself from Getts, and because of that he believes voters will continue to support his candidacy.

“There’s a reason my district sent Democrats across Montana packing last election cycle, locally, at the state level, and nationally. And I don’t think they’re ready, certainly not ready for any of them to return back anytime soon,” he said.

 Asked about opportunities to improve or alleviate the local housing crisis, Mitchell said he wants to look at the recommendations of the Governor’s Housing Task Force. Mitchell pointed toward inflation and “wasteful” spending from Democrats at the national level, including “sending billings of dollars to other countries while our own border’s under siege” as part of what is driving up the cost of housing.

 Getts believes short-term rentals in a tourism-based area like her district are deepening the housing-affordability crisis and advocated for regulations. An aspiring homeowner, Getts said she has been dismayed to see home listings highlight properties as short-term rental investment opportunities. Community planning is also important, Getts said, but she described a fine line that needs to be walked when it comes to issues like zoning.

 “You don’t want people telling you what to do with your own personal property, and I get that, but if you don’t like being told what to do, then you can’t tell someone else what they can do. And so it’s a really interesting thing where people are like, ‘I really want my community to stay the same,’ and they want to tell other people what they can do, but they don’t want to be told what to do with their own.”

 At last month’s Kalispell Chamber of Commerce candidate forum, Getts suggested ideas for the state budget surplus, including funding a state-operated bank, similar to the Bank of North Dakota, from which the profits could be reinvested into things like low-interest programs for small businesses and first-time homeowners.

 Mitchell said he supports returning the budget surplus to taxpayers. “I’ll commit to not voting for any spending bill until after these excess funds are returned back to taxpayers,” Mitchell said.

Getts said she also wanted to see some of the surplus funds allocated to the state hospital in Warm Springs and to improve walkability in communities including Columbia Falls, Martin City and Hungry Horse.

On abortion, Mitchell said Montana has one of the “more liberal constitutions in America right now” and that those protections for abortion are “pretty straightforward,” and that he doesn’t expect any effort to challenge those protections to be successful. He said that he is opposed to abortion “when a child feels pain,” and that he’s against “taxpayer-funded abortion.”

 Getts framed her position on abortion around her belief that “everyone should have bodily autonomy and control over their medical decisions.” She said that abortions need to be available for a variety of reasons, including instances of rape, incest and medical complications that could arise from a pregnancy that pose health risks.