Following Redistricting, Democrats Pick Up Legislative Seat As Flathead County Remains Deep Red
Republicans won two of three state Senate races and ten of 11 state House races in Flathead County
By Denali Sagner
Following a decennial redistricting process that reshaped Montana’s legislative districts, Democrats picked up an additional state legislative seat in Flathead County, which remains deeply Republican.
Republicans won two of three state Senate races and ten of 11 state House races in Flathead County, according to preliminary results from Flathead County.
Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, was reelected to the state Senate for his seventh term in the Legislature after handily beating Democrat Angela Kennedy. Speaker of the Montana House Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, will move to the Senate after beating Democrat Link Neimark.
Republicans Tom Millett, Lyn Bennett, Lukas Schubert, Steven Kelly, Ed Byrne and Tracy Sharp will go on to serve their first terms in the House.
Schubert, a 19-year-old first-time candidate known for his ultra-conservative brand, ousted incumbent Rep. Tony Brockman in a June Republican primary.
Incumbent state House members Braxton Mitchell, Amy Regier, Courtenay Sprunger and Terry Falk were reelected.
Sprunger beat Democrat Arthur Frethiem by 30 percentage points despite not earning an endorsement from the Flathead County Republican Central Committee, which has criticized Sprunger for some moderate policy positions and bipartisan work.
Longtime Democratic state House member Dave Fern will move to the state Senate after defeating Republican businessman and library board trustee Doug Adams in a race to represent Whitefish, Columbia Falls and northern Flathead County. Fern beat Adams by 5 percentage points, or 593 votes.
In northern Flathead County, Democratic conservation advocate and former educator Debo Powers will head to the state House, beating Republican nurse practitioner Cathy Mitchell. Powers edged out Mitchell by 4 percentage points, or 206 votes.
Montana Democrats saw Powers and Fern’s legislative bids as potential pickups for the party in the deep-red county, where Fern is currently serving as the only Democratic state lawmaker.
Democrats also hoped to pick up a win in House District 4, which encompasses downtown Whitefish and Columbia Falls, where Democratic social worker Lindsay Jordan lost to Republican Glacier Country Pachyderm President Lyn Bennett by four percentage points, or 184 votes.
Full results can be found on the Montana Secretary of State’s website here.