In House District 12, Property Taxes Remain Top Priority Across Party Lines

In the race to represent House District 12, political newcomer and Democrat Cindy Bruckner will attempt to unseat Republican incumbent Tracy Sharp on Nov. 3. The district comprises portions of Flathead and Lake counties where property taxes remain a top priority for both candidates.

Bruckner, 63, has homed in on cost-of-living concerns, while Sharp, 68, is running on a three-pronged platform of property taxes, law enforcement and data centers. Though their key policy points differ, as expected, the two have converged on criticism of the property tax reform passed during the 2025 legislative session. 

Bruckner, a California native who moved full time to Bigfork in 2016, and Sharp, a born-and-raised Montanan who lives in Polson, said the new tax policy disproportionately affects longtime residents living in desirable areas. House District 12 encompasses the majority of Flathead Lake and all of Swan Lake, and its constituents include people living on what is now prime lakefront real estate.

In his first term, Sharp voted for Senate Bill 542 and its major changes to the property tax structure, but he has since called the reform “the war on the people on the lakes.” In an interview with the Beacon, Sharp said a mass influx of people moving to Montana beginning in 2020 drastically raised land values, increasingly pricing out longtime residents.“You can’t pay [property taxes],” Sharp said, “because you never had that money to start with it.” 

While Sharp’s ideal is no property tax, he acknowledged that eliminating it altogether is unlikely. Instead, he has called for a tax structure that isn’t “ruinous” to longtime residents. 

Bruckner similarly said the new structure is unfair to residents who have lived on their land for decades only to see it become desirable to wealthy outsiders. “I’m going to pay property taxes on this thing because it’s worth more because the guy next door overpaid for his place,” Bruckner told the Beacon. Her approach to tax reform ties into broader advocacy for eldercare, and she cited a need for income and age caps on property taxes. 

Bruckner moved to Bigfork, in part, to take care of her mother, who was in the early stages of dementia. She continued to freelance as a creative director and began working as a hostess at a friend’s restaurant. Her experience in helping her mother has shaped her views on making health care more accessible and creating better resources for older adults to age at home. 

Though Medicare and Medicaid are federal programs, Bruckner said she’s considering how the state can support people who fall through the cracks. She said expanding specific programs, such as pregnancy and mental health care, and rebalancing tax policy could help fill those gaps. 

“We need more taxes for rich people to pay,” she said. “But for people who don’t make very much money, we need breaks. If you’re caring for someone that Medicare doesn’t pay for, I think we should get some kind of supplements for support or stipends so that you can age at home.” 

Other areas of focus for Bruckner include public school funding, as Montana ranks 39th in the nation in per-pupil spending, and raising the minimum wage, which currently sits at $10.85. She believes that rate leaves workers too close to the poverty line. She also wants to address the housing crisis through a state program that would give residents priority over out-of-state buyers. 

For Sharp, running again is a chance to build on the work from his previous term. “Really the reason I want to run the second time is of what you learn that first time,” he said. “That first tour prepares you for the second. I wish I had been more effective in the first one. I think I did get some good things done.” 

During his time in the legislature, Sharp served on the Judicial, Energy and Fish, Wildlife and Parks committees. He sponsored House Bill 643, which created a $6 million fund to reimburse county jails holding inmates waiting for beds at Montana State Hospital. Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoed the bill, but 67 House members and 34 senators voted to override it, meeting two-thirds majority required. 

Sharp plans to address what he described as a growing mental health crisis through his work on law enforcement and public safety. That focus also includes cracking down on illegal immigration to “protect the citizens from people who aren’t even supposed to be here,” he said.

The third pillar of his platform, Sharp said, was addressing artificial intelligence data centers and concerns that the public will shoulder the burden of building them. “Data centers are not bad. Artificial intelligence is not automatically a bad thing, and we should be developing them and we should stay ahead of the rest of the world in developing them,” Sharp said. “But as legislators, we have to watch out for our constituents.” He aims to center AI data center regulation to protect ratepayers’ electricity bills from skyrocketing and Montana’s water. 

Sharp, who also chairs the Lake County Republican Central Committee, said his work helping the LCRCC with strategic planning “catapulted” his initial run for the state legislature in 2024. Before entering local politics, Sharp served 29 years in the Air Force,where he gained firsthand experience in diplomacy. 

“Even though I had that experience,” he said, “when I went to the legislature, I still felt as a freshman that I was kind of naive about what goes on there. You know, you don’t hit the ground running.” 

In his first term, Sharp said he learned how to craft and amend bills and built connections with members of both parties.“I think that first one does prepare you, pretty much, to be a lot more effective in your second term. Which is why I think that you don’t really want to change up at this time, because then you’re just sending a new freshman in there,” Sharp said. 

Throughout her campaign, Bruckner has pitched herself as not being a politician. While she described herself as a “political junkie,” she had not been involved with local politics until her bid for the HD 12 seat. 

Bruckner said she found herself in a new political environment after moving to Bigfork, particularly as the 2016 election unfolded. “The experience of the feeling of not being surrounded by the people that agree with me, kind of was my kick off point for why I think I can do this job,” Bruckner said. 

She said she was naive going into the race and that running as a Democrat in a conservative-leaning area has proved a challenge. Sharp won the 2024 election with 70% of the vote. 

Guiding her campaign is the belief that issues affect people across party lines and that her constituents generally want the same things. She aims to build common ground between Democrats and Republicans, crediting her 25 years as a creative director and her recent master’s degree in psychology with giving her the skills needed to create compromise. 

“What I’ve learned about people here is that they show up for each other,” Bruckner said. “And they don’t ask you who you voted for when they get you out of a ditch.”

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