A former Montana legislator who filed a sexual misconduct complaint with Legislative Services in 2018 against then-state Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, now a state senator running in the Eastern District Democratic primary for U.S. House, shared her name and a detailed account of the investigation into Windy Boy’s conduct Friday. Windy Boy re-entered the U.S. House race Wednesday, about three weeks after suspending his bid amid a separate allegation of sexual harassment.
Montana Free Press reached out to Windy Boy for comment Friday, but received no reply by publication time.
The Associated Press in 2019 reported that a state legislator, whom House leadership at the time identified as Windy Boy, sent harassing text messages to a female colleague in the Legislature. Former state Sen. Jen Gross, D-Billings, said Friday that she filed the complaint that led to the investigation reported by AP.
Gross said in a Substack post distributed to reporters by Republican state Senate staff that then-Rep. Windy Boy sent her a series of inappropriate messages in 2017.
“I was a freshman legislator. I was the youngest member of the Senate,” Gross wrote. “There was no formal harassment policy in the Montana Legislature. There was no clear process for addressing conduct that was not okay, while protecting the people who came forward from ridicule, retaliation, or unwanted public exposure.”
According to Gross, she told a member of House leadership about Windy Boy’s texts. Gross said she also emailed Windy Boy to inform him that the messages were inappropriate. She said he apologized within hours.
According to Gross, her complaint was managed by attorneys within Legislative Services, which retained an outside investigator who conducted interviews and reviewed evidence.
The Associated Press reported in 2019 that the investigation confirmed Windy Boy’s actions as substantiated harassment. The reporting did not identify Gross.
According to that reporting, legislative leaders in 2018 discussed disciplining Windy Boy, and then-Speaker of the House Austin Knudsen suggested removing him as a committee chairman. According to Knudsen, as reported by AP, Democratic legislators asked to meet with Windy Boy before any disciplinary action was taken. Windy Boy later resigned from his committee chairmanship prior to the 2019 legislative session. No legal action was instigated regarding the 2017 incident.
RELATED
Windy Boy restarts campaign for Montana’s eastern U.S. House seat
Montana State Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy has “unsuspended” his Democratic primary campaign for U.S. House representing Montana’s Eastern Congressional District, three weeks after suspending his bid amid sexual abuse allegations.
The investigation led lawmakers to implement a confidential process for reporting and investigating harassment claims, according to AP reporting.
Gross wrote in Friday’s post that she decided to identify herself now because Windy Boy this week re-entered the Democratic primary race for Montana’s Eastern District U.S. House race.
“I read that and my heart skipped a beat. Then pounded in my chest for three hours while I wrote down everything, in my own words,” Gross wrote.
Windy Boy’s announcement of his re-entry into the race dismissed “the allegations that have recently circulated” as a “smear campaign.” Democratic primary competitor Brian Miller in mid-April surfaced allegations by a Pennsylvania woman who said that Windy Boy sent sexually explicit photos and messages to underage girls in 2002. Miller shared the allegations with the Montana Democratic Party, which initially announced Windy Boy’s withdrawal from the U.S. House race and additionally called for his resignation from the state Senate. No charges have been filed or investigations launched regarding those claims.
“I am done letting silence do his work for him.”
Former state Sen. Jen Gross
“My enemies are making a lot of noise but just as before there have been no charges, no adjudication, this is all dirty politics, based upon rumors and slanderous allegations to influence election outcomes just weeks before voting begins,” his statement said.
Gross said she took issue with that language.
“When the man at the center of a Legislative Services investigation calls that record ‘rumors,’ and when he does it while running for federal office, the silence of the person who filed the complaint becomes its own kind of statement,” Gross wrote Friday.
Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, commended Gross’ testimony Friday.
“I applaud and thank former Sen. Jen Gross for coming forward and publicly identifying herself to help hold Sen. Windy Boy accountable for his yearslong pattern of sexual harassment. He needs to resign,” Regier wrote in a statement.
Earlier this week, legislative leaders from both parties removed Windy Boy from his interim committee and commission assignments, according to a joint press release from Republican and Democratic Senate staff.
Windy Boy faces Miller, a Helena attorney, and Sam Lux, a Great Falls farrier, in the primary race to challenge incumbent Republican Troy Downing in the general election.
Windy Boy has served as a representative and senator in the Montana Legislature since 2003.
Gross said she would like Windy Boy to drop out of the U.S. House race and resign his state Senate seat.
“I am done letting silence do his work for him,” Gross wrote.
LATEST STORIES
Republicans elect Rep. Katie Zolnikov Montana’s first female Speaker of the House
Billings Republican Rep. Katie Zolnikov was elected as Montana’s first female Speaker of the House during the legislative caucuses, when lawmakers hold internal partisan elections to select leadership ahead of the upcoming 2027 session. Zolnikov is also the youngest ever female speaker of a state House in the nation’s history.
Montana childcare advocates plan legislative proposals to support families, providers
While Montana has expanded some early childhood programs in recent years, advocates and lawmakers are looking to New Mexico, the first state to offer no-cost universal childcare, for inspiration ahead of the upcoming legislative session.
Billings Clinic announces new name: One Sky Health
Billings Clinic has a new name. The nonprofit healthcare organization has operated in a combined capacity with Logan Health since 2023. Logan Health owns hospitals in Kalispell, Whitefish and several small communities on the Hi-Line, while Billings Clinic operates in Billings and runs satellite locations in Bozeman, Red Lodge and Columbus, among other communities. Under one administrative roof, the organization has more than 25 clinics and hospitals and 9,000 employees throughout Montana and northern Wyoming, according to a press release announcing the change. As of this week, the organization will now be called One Sky Health.
