Republican Regier Faces Democrat Neimark in Bid for State Senate

In western Flathead County, Speaker of the Montana House Matt Regier will face off against longtime Whitefish resident and outdoor educator Link Neimark in a race for state Senate.

The two candidates are competing to represent Senate District 5, which includes Batavia, Kila, parts of northwest Kalispell, Somers, Lakeside and the areas around Blacktail Mountain and Smith Lake.

Regier has served four terms in the Montana House, where he has carved out a legacy as a powerful social and fiscal conservative. After beating security company president Marquis Laude in an expensive Republican primary, Regier has likely secured his place representing the deep-red district in Helena.

Senate District 5 voters in 2020 favored the Republican candidates for attorney general with 73% of the vote, governor with 68% of the vote and president with 70% of the vote.

Ahead of the June primary, Regier told the Beacon he is running for Senate to “represent conservative values” and continue his proven track record of supporting “pro-family” policy and “small, efficient government.”

Yet for Neimark, the Democrat, giving voters a choice in the election is critical for maintaining a functioning and responsive democracy.

“It’s definitely an uphill battle, but it’s a battle that needs to be undertaken,” Neimark said.

Regier was born and raised in Kalispell, where he graduated from Flathead High School. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Montana and is now a real estate investor and the owner of Stillwater Sod Corporation. Brother of Rep. Amy Regier and son of Sen. Keith Regier, the lawmaker is part of what has been described as a “political dynasty” that has shaped Montana’s conservative politics in recent years.

Regier has served as the chair of the health and human services committee and judicial branch, law enforcement and justice committee, as well as vice chair of the appropriations committee.

He has been the architect of numerous anti-abortion bills, including a ban on dilation-and-evacuation abortions and LR-131, a failed ballot measure that sought to impose criminal penalties on healthcare providers who declined to provide lifesaving care to infants, even those who were found to have fatal medical abnormalities.

Regier said in May that abortion has “erroneously moved to the courts” and that liberal activist judges are putting “their political footprint” on abortion policy after the state’s courts struck down numerous abortion restrictions.

The lawmaker served as House Speaker in 2023, during which he drew national attention for his decision to bar transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, from speaking on the House floor following Zephyr’s comments that lawmakers who supported a bill to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors would have “blood on their hands.”

He is opposed to Medicaid expansion and believes the state should eliminate income tax on Social Security.

“I am not in favor of more welfare. I think the sign of a good welfare program is when you can work to get everybody off of it. A bad sign is when you’re trying to keep everybody on it longer,” he said this spring.

Regier has proposed returning the state’s 4% Lodging Facility Use Tax to counties of origin, instead of its current allocation into the General Fund and other statewide accounts.

If elected to the Senate, he plans to introduce legislation criminalizing undocumented immigration into Montana. He has cited laws from Texas, Iowa and Florida as possible blueprints — multiple of which have been blocked by the courts.

“If you’re in the country illegally, you’re in Montana illegally,” he said ahead of the primary.

“Politics is a lot more divisive these days, and people aren’t working for solutions,” Neimark said during a Sept. 25 interview.

Neimark has lived in the Flathead Valley for two decades, where he has taught skiing, rock climbing and water sports. He has a bachelor’s degree in zoology and psychology and a master’s in oceanography. He founded, and later sold, guiding company Rock Climb Montana. Neimark previously worked for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

This is Neimark’s second run for office, after he jumped in the 2017 Democratic primary to fill U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke’s vacant seat in the U.S. House.

Neimark told Montana Public Radio at the time, “Although I never saw myself heading in this direction, I see the opening, I see the opportunity, I feel it’s my responsibility to step up and do what I can.”

In his current bid for state Senate, Neimark said he wants to offer voters an alternative to Regier, who he described as “far-right” and as having “a bit of an agenda to make our system more of a theocracy and less of a democracy.”

Neimark is an advocate for preserving access to Montana’s public lands. He is concerned that Republicans, some of whom have advocated for turning federal lands over to the state, are unprepared to manage such lands, and will sell them off to the highest bidder if given the chance.

When it comes to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, the Democrat said it is “totally inappropriate” for the government to be regulating individuals’ decisions.

“The Republicans in the past have claimed they’re the party of freedom. Now it seems they just want to be free to tell other people how to run their lives,” he said.

Neimark is concerned that the state’s shift from purple to red is bad for bipartisan governance. He said the legislative supermajority held by the GOP in the last Legislature was “less responsive to the electorate.”

“They don’t need to talk to anyone. They don’t need to listen to anyone,” he said. “… We’re seeing less and less true representation, more and more political gamesmanship.”

The general election is on Nov. 5. Absentee ballots will be 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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