In Montana’s Senate District 4, which outlines the heart of downtown Kalispell from the historic east side stretching west of the bypass, two candidates are competing for the seat currently represented by Republican Sen. Mark Blasdel who has reached his term limit and cannot run again.
The open seat has drawn two candidates with different sets of priorities and opposing viewpoints.
Republican John Fuller, 76, a retired Flathead High School social studies teacher, has represented House District 8 since 2019 and is running for the state senate on a simple platform: “Keep Montana … Montana.”
As a Vietnam War veteran, Fuller’s top priorities include veteran’s affairs, reducing property taxes and protecting voter security and integrity.
At a Kalispell Chamber of Commerce candidate forum held on Sept. 20, Fuller reiterated his priority of saving taxpayer dollars and said adding more pre-kindergarten programs in public schools would be detrimental to taxpayers.
“Back in the day, there was no shortage of childcare because every child had a mother and most of them were responsible for primary childcare,” Fuller said. “There are increasing calls for pre-k schools to be established … wait till you get the bill for millions of dollars for childcare that people expect the taxpayer to pay.”
Democrat Kyle Waterman, 47, has experience as a nonprofit manager, served on the Kalispell City Council for one term and is the current chair of the Transportation Advisory Committee for Flathead County.
After sitting on a variety of boards, including the Samaritan House and the Flathead County City-County Health Board, Waterman has helped bring awareness to homelessness in the valley and he hopes to expand behavioral health services and prevent suicide.
To address affordable housing, Waterman told the audience at the chamber forum that local control is important to bring more housing to Montana.
“I worked with the mayor to lower impact fees knowing that would incentivize growth and to make more affordability in Kalispell,” Waterman said at the forum. “That local control is where decisions belong.”
As a pro-choice candidate, Waterman told the Beacon that he will defend Montana’s state constitution, which has a right to privacy clause that protects the right to abortion.
Contrasting Waterman, Fuller is pro-life and believes that abortion laws should be up to individual states and says that having “abortion on demand” in Montana is unacceptable.
“I don’t think the problem is the state constitution,” Fuller told the Beacon. “The problem is the Montana Supreme Court litigates from the bench.”
“I believe that unborn persons deserve due process of law,” Fuller added.
This year, Montana legislators will help decide where the state’s total budget surplus of $1.7 billion will go, and each candidate offered differing ideas of where they think it should be funneled.
Fuller said the funds should be used toward reducing property taxes, but he’s not sure a one-time tax relief will solve long-term problems.
Waterman views the surplus as a “chance to reinvest” and proposes using those funds to for things like transportation plans and behavioral health services, including the state hospital.