Page 22 - Flathead Beacon // 6.15.16

★ ELECTIONS
2016
Moderate Republicans Notch Small Gains in Primary Victories Primary results do little to reshape makeup of 2017 Legislature
BY TRISTAN SCOTT OF THE BEACON
Although conservative Republicans in the Flathead Valley held serve against their moderate opponents in the June 7 primary, the moderate bloc made small gains across the state, and the governing majority of so-called “business-minded” Republicans will likely retain a sim- ilar balance of power that’s emerged in the previous two sessions.
The state legislative primaries featured a host of Republican contests as the splintered GOP battled for control over Montana’s Legislature, laying stake to what has become an intraparty ght for the GOP’s core. The moderate and conservative branches of the GOP faced o in 10 Senate races and 26 House races.
Those outcomes will help determine what happens when next year’s Legislature convenes in terms of pol- icy outcomes. In 2015, about a dozen moderate Repub- licans joined 41 Democrats to pass key legislation like Medicaid expansion, campaign- nance reform and the Flathead tribal water compact.
This election cycle, voters in Gallatin County ousted conservative state Rep. Art Wittich from o ce, while Rep. Randy Pinocci lost his seat to Rep. Windy McK- amey, a moderate who shifted districts to unseat her more conservative rival.
In the Flathead Valley, other well-known conser- vatives prevailed; because they will head to the general election in distinctly Republican districts, it’s likely they’ll head to Helena next year.
In Senate District 3, Rep. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, the current House Majority Leader, edged out Don “K” Kaltschmidt in one of the most talked-about races in the state. Meanwhile in House District 11, conservative Republican Derek Skees, a member of the House for one term from 2011 to 2013, beat his primary opponent,
The Montana State Capitol building in Helena. BEACON FILE PHOTO
Republican Jean Barragan.
Both races came down to narrow margins, but the
vote counts handed decisive victories to Regier — who is termed out in the House — as well as Skees.
Regier is set to face Democrat Melissa Hartman in the fall, while Skees will go up against Democrat Eileen Bach Bech.
“There were some slight gains made by the moder- ate Republicans and I think that will strengthen their hand a little bit, but not a huge amount,” said Rob Saldin, political science professor at the University of Montana. “In the past couple of cycles the governing majority has been the moderate Republicans crossing lines to nego- tiate with Democrats. That governing majority is prob- ably going to be in place again, and if anything it will have grown a little bit stronger. So the conservatives will probably not be able to move their agenda.”
Voter turnout was higher than usual for a primary race, with more than 44 percent of registered voters
casting ballots, according to the Secretary of State’s O ce. That’s a departure from the 37 percent four years ago.
About 80 percent of the 249,000 absentee ballots sent out were returned, accounting for about 70 percent of all votes cast, which the Secretary of State’s O ce counted as a record.
Groups like Montanans for Responsible Leadership and the Montana Contractors Association spent big to turn out the vote for moderates.
Conservatives will continue to try to steer the agenda, but moderates made some inroads, said Sandy Welch, the deputy treasurer for Montanans for Responsible Leadership.
Despite a moderate faction of the GOP stepping away from party leadership to pass contentious Legislature in 2015, Regier led the charge against accepting the state’s sprawling infrastructure bill, standing by his caucus to reject a public works bill that called for $150 million in cash, bonding and borrowing authority to nance a slate of public-works projects, as well as construction of new state buildings on college campuses and elsewhere.
Republicans like Regier wanted less borrowing and more cash, while Democrats, led by Gov. Steve Bullock, said the bill struck a balance that demonstrated sound scal responsibility.
Both Bullock and the Republican challenger for the governor’s seat, Greg Gianforte, have said that infra- structure will be a top priority, and Saldin said the minor shift in the Legislature’s makeup could give the measure more momentum toward nal passage.
“Bullock and Gianforte have both been talking a lot about this in their campaigns, and if anything infra- structure will have a stronger coalition this time in the Legislature, one way or another,” Saldin said.
tscott@ atheadbeacon.com
2016 Primary Election Results
With polls closed and all precincts tallied, Regier, Skees and Holmquist win local GOP races
PBY BEACON STAFF
RIMARY ELECTION DAY HAS
come and gone, with candidates
vying for their party’s nomina- tion in various local and statewide races, while voters also weighed in on an his- toric presidential race.
At the polls, voters received two bal- lots – one for the Democratic Party and one for the Republican Party. Each voter could only mark one political party’s bal- lot as they o ered a nod to their party’s top choice. In races that only featured partisan opponents, then the winning candidate emerges as the presumptive winner in the November general elec- tion. If not, then the top Republican and top Democrat will face o this fall.
PRESIDENTIAL
HILLARY CLINTON D — 48,660, 44% BERNIE SANDERS D — 54,679, 50%
STATEWIDE
GOVERNOR
HOUSE DISTRICT 11
DEREK SKEES R — 860, 51%
JEAN K. BARRAGAN R — 816, 49%
DONALD TRUMP R — 100,153, 73 TED CRUZ R — 12,496, 9%
JOHN KASICH R — 9,344, 6% MARCO RUBIO R — 4,516, 3% JEB BUSH R — 2,868, 2%
%
*STEVE BULLOCK D — 96,065, 91%
BILL MCCHESNEY D — 9,153, 8% FLATHEAD COUNTY
GREG GIANFORTE R — 97,255, 76% TERRY NELSON R — 29,506, 23%
SENATE DISTRICT 3
DON “K” KALTSCHMIDT R — 1,633, 48% KEITH REGIER R — 1,736, 51%
SENATE DISTRICT 7
TERRY CALDWELL D — 33, 29% ELIZABETH RETALLICK D — 51, 44% MARK SHEETS D — 29, 25%
GLENN FERREN R — 184, 38% *JENNIFER FIELDER R — 302, 62%
COUNTY COMMISSIONER
*PAM HOLMQUIST R — 7,303, 54% TIM HARMON R — 6,123, 46%
LINCOLN COUNTY
COUNTY COMMISSIONER (NON-PARTISAN) JERRY BENNETT — 1,729, 44%
ANTHONY BROWN — 402, 10%
RHODA CARGILL — 516, 13%
LAWRENCE DOLEZAL — 626, 16% JIM HAMMONS — 609, 15%
* = INCUMBENT
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JUNE 15, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM