Splitting Whitefish in half and encompassing the majority of Columbia Falls, Montana’s House District 4 is expected to be a competitive fight at the ballot box this year, as Republican Lyn Bennett and Democrat Lindsey Jordan vie to represent the north valley communities in the state Legislature.
As one of just a handful of districts in the state classified as a “swing district” based on recent voting patterns, the legislative race is set to be competitive, and Democrats have targeted it as a possible pickup in historically conservative Flathead County. Voters in the district in 2020 voted for former President Donald Trump with 50.9% of the vote, while also voting for former Democratic Governor Steve Bullock with 50.3% of the vote in his failed bid for Senate.
Lyn Bennett has never held an elected office before, but is a political veteran nonetheless, having served as president of the Glacier Country Pachyderm, the local chapter of the national GOP-aligned organization that aims to “provide education and information” about government and politics.
Bennett in 2022 ran unsuccessfully to represent HD 5, losing by 23 percentage points to incumbent Democratic legislator Dave Fern. Following a decennial redistricting process that reshaped Montana’s legislative boundaries, part of the old HD 5 was carved out into the new HD 4 district, shifting the district more conservative. Fern, having served four terms in the Montana House, is running for the state senate district that encompasses HD 3 and HD 4.
For nearly two decades, Bennett has worked as a registered nurse in the medical/surgical unit in high-risk obstetrics and maternal-fetal medicine and as a school nurse, according to her campaign website.
Bennett declined to be interviewed for this article.
Garnering endorsements from Gov. Greg Gianforte and U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, Bennett on her campaign website said her experience in community health and healthcare, as a mother and as a military wife qualify her to be an effective legislator.
Her campaign website identifies five issues Bennett considers important parts of her platform. In pushing for tax reform, she hopes to “arrest the rate and growth of property taxes,” and work toward making the state’s tax code more transparent. She also wants to “identify where taxes can be reduced or better invested.”
In the education sphere, Bennett pledges to “provide strong support for our local school districts,” while also creating “educational choices that best fit the individual student.” She believes that “through strategic education” such as equipping students with in-demand skills, Montana can close the skills gap and open new paths to success.
Bennett believes in “correcting” the local housing crisis by “decreasing government regulations and allowing for free market solutions to excel.” She also affirms her belief in the second amendment and wants to prioritize resources to “adequately fund local Law Enforcement and First Responders and invest in providing resources for recruiting, retention, and training.”
Lindsey Jordan was born and raised in the Flathead Valley, and attended the Columbia Falls public schools before eventually earning a master’s degree in social administration. She’s running in her first political campaign to represent the community she grew up in.
“As a community citizen, I believe our elected officials should truly represent us,” Jordan said. “It seems more and more like national and statewide elected officials are more beholden to special interests. I don’t think that’s appropriate. You elect people to represent you, and so this campaign isn’t really about me, it’s about my community.”
Jordan has always been interested in politics, but has historically approached it from the policy side. While doing her graduate work in Ohio, she helped write a bill for crisis nursery education and presented to the Ohio legislature. That experience, as well as her work as a licensed clinical social worker, give Jordan a unique perspective to bring to the legislature.
“I think I really have something to offer as a mental healthcare professional. I see how our legislative bills and laws affect people on a daily basis,” Jordan said. “This is something I’m passionate about. Our state’s suicide rate one of the highest in the country. I think our legislature can do better at supporting families and kids, do better with ensuring there are resources in our public schools.”
In addition, Jordan wants to focus on Medicaid expansion, saying that in the 15 years she’s worked in hospitals, she’s seen how not having access to healthcare negatively impacts families and can create an economic spiral during a medical emergency.
Without a primary challenger, Jordan has been knocking on doors in her district since late spring. She says that regardless of political affiliation, first thing she hears from voters is “they want Montana to stay the place we love to live.” The second thing is about property taxes.
“Democratic- and Republican-leaning folks talk about how a supermajority in the Legislature somehow raised taxes higher than ever before,” Jordan said. “I understand people being angry about property tax increases, but it’s also having a real effect throughout the community because people are less willing to approve levies and pay money for schools. Underfunding schools, having to cut teachers for budgetary reasons, that’s unacceptable.”
Jordan wants to see Montana move up the ranks in teacher pay — the state is currently ranked 51st nationwide in beginning teacher salaries — and has earned the endorsement of the Montana Federation of Public Employees, the state’s largest union.
With a constitutional initiative to protect the right to an abortion on the ballot, Jordan also believes that right to privacy issues will be important to protect during the next legislative session, regardless of the initiative’s outcome.
“I understand it’s a heated debate and I understand both sides of it, but as someone who works with victims of sexual trauma, who has friends who have miscarried and needed a D&C [dilation and curettage procedure], I feel that this issue has been polarized to the point where protecting people is not the point anymore,” she said. “I see people trying to change the constitution and limit people’s rights, and I can’t sit and be silent over it. If you don’t have absolute ownership over your own body, you don’t own anything. People have individual right and women have just as much value as men.”
House District 4 comprises Whitefish (south of the viaduct, east of Baker Avenue) and Columbia Falls. 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.