Newly Redrawn House District 3 Features More Competitive Political Stakes

The political landscape of Montana House District 3 has shifted since Democrat Debo Powers last ran for office in 2020. Literally. In late 2019, Powers was appointed as the representative for House District 3 following the resignation of three-term Democratic state Rep. Zac Perry. She ran for reelection in the same district in 2020, but lost to Republican Rep. Braxton Mitchell by 20 points.

This year, however, House District 3 looks radically different following redistricting by the Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission. The reconfigured district, which formerly encompassed primarily the rural northeast portion of Flathead County, now includes parts of Whitefish and northern Columbia Falls, as well as Olney, Polebridge, West Glacier and Essex. Columbia Falls was split between House Districts 3 and 4, with Mitchell opting to run for House District 5, which now includes Bad Rock Canyon.

The new map makes Powers, who did not run for office in 2022, more optimistic about her election night prospects as a Democrat.

After winning the Democratic primary against independent filmmaker Guthrie Quist in June, Powers faces Republican nurse practitioner Cathy Mitchell in the general election.

“When they added in new parts to HD 3, including half of Whitefish, quite frankly it changed the political landscape for me,” Powers told the Beacon during a phone call from her solar-powered cabin north of Polebridge. “I thought, ‘this is the district for me.’ It’s also a district that’s 90% public land. I know this land so well, and the people who live along the edges of these public lands understand how important they are.”

For Mitchell, who did not face any opponents in the primary election, her bid for the state Legislature’s House District 3 marks her initial foray into politics. She works as a nurse practitioner at the Greater Valley Health Clinic and is running to “address the concerns of the citizens of Montana,” according to her Facebook page.

Mitchell declined to be interviewed for this article.

With her long background working in the medical field — Mitchell earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from Washington State University — she hopes to focus on ways the state can address the opioid and mental health crisis. In a one-page platform emailed to the Beacon in February, she cited her first-hand experience working with underserved populations in Flathead County as offering a front-line view of how individuals are affected as well as the community-wide impact.

On her Facebook page, Mitchell says she wants to limit “big government” and follow the U.S. Constitution as the law of the land. She describes herself as a supporter of the Second Amendment and believes that “every unborn child has the right to life.” She hopes to “bring back economic opportunity,” and emphasizes “Made in America.”

Mitchell’s candidate page also describes a “deep love of all animals and the outdoors.”

“I want Montana to continue to be a great place to raise children, enjoy outdoor life in the beautiful Montana scenery, and preserve our agriculture and cattle industry,” Mitchell’s Facebook page states.

Powers has long been involved in the outdoor community locally and statewide as a public lands advocate, including serving as the past president of the North Fork Landowners Association, a member of the Wild Montana and Headwaters Montana boards of directors, vice president of the North Fork Preservation Association, and as a volunteer fire lookout for the Flathead National Forest.

“We have to be continually vigilant to protect our public lands,” Powers said. “This is really a bipartisan issue. There are so many people on both sides of the aisle who care deeply about our public lands, live next to our public lands and know they’re what make Montana really special.”

Powers said legislators should also train their focus on community wildfire protection, a critical issue for many Montana residents living in the wildland urban interface.

Meanwhile, having spent more than three decades working as a school teacher and administrator, Powers is concerned by the tension between poor school funding and rising property taxes, which voters often cite as their reason for opting against school levies.

“I think the system is a little broken. At the very least, we need to make sure that the amount of money schools are getting from the state is keeping up with inflation. Right now, it’s not, so everybody’s budgets are falling short,” she said. “We have a state constitution that guarantees every child in Montana the right to free quality public education. We need to live up to that constitutional right and value.”

Powers cited starting teacher salaries in Montana ranking 51^st in the nation and reports that nearly a third of Montana teachers leave within their first year of licensure as clear examples of why school funding needs to be reexamined. She hopes to be appointed to the Education Interim Committee to seek solutions with other lawmakers.  

Property taxes are expected to be another big issue for the Legislature to take up early in the 2025 session, and Powers expressed disappointment in the lack of action by lawmakers to equalize the tax burden between corporate and residential properties. One proposal she has is to support a homestead exemption that would lower the assessed value of homes for full-time homeowners who pay state income taxes.

“There’s enough people who are really mad about this issue that I think a lot of the Legislature will probably focus on this,” Powers said.

House District 3 comprises Whitefish (north of the viaduct, west of Baker Avenue), West Glacier, Olney, Polebridge, and Essex. View the district map here.

The general election is on Nov. 5. Absentee ballots are sent out Oct. 11. Read more about the candidates running for Legislature in the Flathead and Tobacco valleys here, and find out what legislative district you live in here. Check your voter registration here.

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