Democrat Nathan Dugan Challenges Incumbent Republican Brad Abell in Flathead County Commissioner Race

Democratic candidate Nathan Dugan is challenging incumbent Republican Brad Abell to represent the first district on the Flathead County Board of Commissioners, which includes the county’s northwest reaches stretching to the Canadian border, in the November general election.

Running on a platform centered on affordable housing and responsible land-use planning, Dugan, 36, hopes to unseat 67-year-old Abell, a former Plum Creek mill worker who grew up in the Flathead Valley and was elected in 2020. Abell is seeking a second six-year term.

Since returning to the Flathead Valley in 2021, Dugan has co-founded the housing nonprofits Shelter WF and Livable Flathead. He works as a home health physical therapist.

“I’m running because I think the county needs to do a better job at planning for the future and having a holistic plan that works with all the cities and unincorporated areas of Flathead County,” Dugan said.

Collaborating with municipalities, Dugan said, could help establish programs such as deed-restricted housing and promote manufactured housing developments to help alleviate market-rate pressure as home prices outpace local wages.

Abell, too, would like to see more manufactured housing developments to help residents with low and fixed incomes become homeowners. However, he remains wary of subsidized housing programs.

In 2024, commissioners rejected $4.5 million in state funds that would have brought the county into a homebuyer assistance program, created by the developed by the 2023 Montana Legislature for workforce housing. Abell was the lone commissioner to vote for the funding; fellow Republicans Randy Brodehl and Pam Holmquest voted against it. Still, he remained skeptical of the equity-capped program.

“It was allocated money, but there were a lot of flaws in it that I felt people should really go in with their eyes wide open,” Abell said. “I’m not sure it was a cure for high prices.”

Dugan said the county’s rejection of those funds illustrates a lack of vision for future growth when officials should be focused on helping residents.

“What I really want to do is have the county do a better job of planning [and outline] what areas that we want to grow, which areas to conserve and what do we value from a recreation standpoint,” Dugan said.

As part of that growth, Dugan wants to draft a plan for data center development to prepare for a potential proposal in Flathead County. Other counties, he said, are grappling with data centers and the new frontier of artificial intelligence while the environmental impacts remain unclear.

“County governments are caught flat-footed and we really need to know what we want data centers to look like,” Dugan said.

Abell, however, is more focused on county road and building infrastructure, and he views last year’s passage of the $105 million public safety bond for a new justice center as a victory. He also wants to continue the North Fork Road guardrail replacement project and improvements at the Flathead County Fairgrounds.

“Right now, I think one of my main priorities is to continue with improvements at the fairgrounds,” Abell said. “We are working on the north bleachers in the grandstands and that is a big thing — to build that so it retains that iconic structure as best we can.”

Immigration is another priority for Abell, who supports the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office enforcing laws related to illegal border crossings.

“I’m not against immigration — I believe people should come through the front gate and be accounted for,” Abell said. “If you are sneaking through the back door, I don’t believe you should stay here.”

Reflecting on his six years in office, Abell is proud of the county’s growth trajectory and fiscally responsible budget.

But Dugan believes the county would benefit from a fresh perspective after years of a Republican control of the Board of Commissioners.

“Having a difference of perspective and even having conversations about those differences – I would hope people consider that,” Dugan said.

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