Candidate filing starts, districts reconfigured
Columbia Falls and Whitefish no longer share state senator
Hungry Horse News
Filing began Jan. 9 for federal, statewide and county elections across Montana. Locally, they include:
• The six-year U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Max Baucus is up for election as Baucus has opted not to run and has been nominated by President Barack Obama to be the U.S. ambassador to China.
• Montana’s single two-year U.S. House seat is up for election as Rep. Steve Daines has opted to run for the U.S. Senate seat.
• Republican Derek Skees of Kalispell has filed to run for the Public Service Commission’s District 5, which includes several western Montana counties.
• Two eight-year seats on the Montana Supreme Court will be open for election.
• Half of Montana’s 50 state senate districts are up for election, and they’ve all been reconfigured following the 2010 U.S. Census. The urban areas of Columbia Falls and Whitefish are no longer in the same state senate district.
Senate District 2 now includes Columbia Falls, the Middle Fork, the North Fork, Bad Rock, LaSalle, Helena Flats and a portion of Evergreen. Sen. Dee Brown, R-Coram, is not up for re-election.
Senate District 3 now includes House District 5, Whitefish, and House District 6, a huge area west of Whitefish. Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, is not up for re-election.
• All 100 of Montana’s state house districts are up for election, and they’ve all been reconfigured.
Rep. Jerry O’Neil, R-Columbia Falls, has filed for re-election to House District 3, which still includes Columbia Falls, the Middle Fork, the North Fork and Bad Rock.
Rep. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, has filed for re-election to House District 4, which now includes LaSalle, Helena Flats and a portion of Evergreen.
• Four incumbents have filed for re-election to Flathead County positions — Republican Adele Krantz as treasurer, Republican Ed Corrigan as county attorney and incumbents Dan Wilson and Mark Sullivan for the nonpartisan Justice of the Peace Departments 1 and 2 positions. Marcia Sheffel has opted not to run for Superintendent of Schools.
Three other county positions are also up for election — county commissioner for the slightly reconfigured District 1, the North Valley, currently held by Cal Scott; sheriff/coroner, currently held by Chuck Curry; and clerk and recorder, currently held by Paula Robinson. All three incumbents are Republicans.
• Three ballot issues were referred to voters by the 2013 Legislature — one to amend the name of the State Auditor; one to revise the close of late voter registration; and one to provide a top-two primary for certain elections.
Thirteen more ballot issues have been submitted to the Montana Secretary of State. Four have been approved for signature gathering — one to establish a right to buy, produce and consume marijuana; one to prohibit trapping of certain animals; one to require reporting and disclosure by all persons engaged in political activities; and one to reserve to the people the power to amend or repeal laws by initiative.
Among the other nine ballot issues still undergoing review are one to establish a right to natural foods; one to require disclosure in political ads; one to require that the legislature is 50/50 men and women; two to increase access to Medicaid; another to prohibit trapping of certain animals; one to prohibit warrantless searches of digital communications; and one to prohibit the use of Montana resources to administer and enforce Obamacare.