Lewis and Clark County residents should see their ballots in the mail this week. There are a variety of candidates seeking legislative seats and leadership positions with the county.
Here are a few key races in the Greater Helena Area:
House District 80
HD 80 encompasses the northwest portion of Helena, looping in the Lewis and Clark County Fairgrounds and a portion of Helena’s west valley. Voters have a choice between two political newcomers, Republican Katie Fruits and Democrat Megan Lane.
Fruits, 19, on her campaign website describes her mission as prioritizing family and freedom, and she has campaigned on limited government and affordability.
“As a young person myself, I’m coming at it a lot closer at the heart of the issue, I’m not so many generational steps out of it,” Fruits said in a Montana Republican Party Facebook post. “It’s my peers who are looking at the housing market going, ‘How in the world am I going to afford a home?’…. A lot of the key issues tend to center around affordability right now, and I feel like that’s an issue that’s a lot closer to the hearts of a lot of young people.”
Lane is a teacher at C. R. Anderson Middle School, owns a photography business and is campaigning on fairness, freedom and affordability.
“The [Montana] Legislature needs to return to its historical practice of adjusting the property tax rate each legislative session, so homeowners are protected from astronomical increases,” she said on her campaign website. “We should not continue to have tax cuts for the wealthy while regular Montanans suffer.”
Lane is endorsed by the Montana Federation of Public Employees and the Lewis and Clark County Democrats. Fruits is endorsed by the Lewis and Clark County Republican Central Committee and the National Rifle Association. The current sitting lawmaker for HD 80 is Democrat Rep. Melissa Romano, who was named president of the Montana Federation of Public Employees earlier this year.
House District 83
HD 83 includes East Helena and most of the northeast part of the valley, covering Hauser Lake and the Gates of the Mountains area. The current officeholder is Democrat and legislative veteran Jill Cohenour. She originally planned to seek re-election but decided instead to care for her elderly father, according to the Boulder Monitor. Taking her place on the ticket is her husband, Joe Cohenour, a former Montana Highway Patrol trooper. His values and priorities are similar to his wife’s: maintaining access to public lands, supporting public workers and lowering property taxes, according to the article. While he doesn’t have a campaign website, he wrote an op-ed for The Monitor detailing his campaign’s priorities.
His opponent is Republican Aaron J. Leas, who has lived in Montana for the past 15 years. Leas is a military veteran and small business owner, and currently serves as the Republican Party’s captain for precinct 20 in East Helena.
Leas’ priorities include economic development, including increasing jobs in the logging, coal, oil and natural gas industries, lowering property taxes and advocating for more streamlined government, according ot his campaign website.
Both Leas and Cohenour are backed by their respective county party committees.
Senate District 42
SD 42 covers most of the same eastern area as HD 83 and extends northward past Hauser Lake and the Gates of the Mountains. Current lawmaker Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell is running for re-election. Dunwell, the Democratic candidate, has held the Senate seat since the 2023 session and, before that, she served in the Montana House beginning in 2015.
Dunwell seeks to continue her work as a sitting lawmaker, and her priorities include advocating for healthcare affordability, fairer taxes for working families and housing, according to her campaign website.
“I’m running to keep fighting for everyday hard-working Montanans because the system is rigged against them,” Dunwell wrote in a campaign social media post. “Together, we can build a more affordable Montana.”
Her opponent, Republican Stephen LaPraim, describes himself as a Christian conservative on his campaign website. LaPraim owns Liberty Networks, a local telecommunications company and has lived in Montana for the last 20 years.
LaPraim is campaigning on four main issues: lowering taxes, limited government, economic growth and education.
“Montanans want more school choice — every child deserves their perfect educational fit,” LaPraim stated on his website. “Families’ money should go where their child goes to school. We want men out of girls’ sports, period, end of story.”
LaPraim and Dunwell are supported by their respective county party committees.
Lewis and Clark County Sheriff
Lewis and Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton has served in his leadership role for the last 18 years but began his career with the county as a deputy in 1984, according to the sheriff’s office website. This election cycle, Dutton is running for re-election and faces his sheriff’s deputy, Chris Norris, as his opponent.
Dutton, who also serves as the county coroner, is campaigning on three priorities: safety, service and trust, according to his campaign website. His priorities include continuing work on drug trafficking prevention, advocating for child safety through several area programs and initiatives and building trust between the sheriff’s office and the public by improving the criminal justice system, his website states.
“My focus will remain on the safety of our community, service to our community and earning trust through honest, accountable leadership,” Dutton wrote on a Facebook post when he first announced his candidacy in February.
Norris has served as a deputy for the county for the last eight years after leaving his position of six years as a corrections officer for the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office, according to his campaign website.
Through the Lewis and Clark Sheriff’s Office, Norris works as a Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) instructor and school resource officer, directly engaging with community youth, according to the website.
Norris is campaigning to prioritize school safety, response times and the overcrowding in the detention center. He decided to run for the position because he wants to implement changes that he says are needed within the sheriff’s office.
“In Lewis and Clark County, we expect the sheriff to serve with integrity, efficiency and transparency,” Norris said in his campaign announcement video. “But too often we see inadequate response times, schools feeling less safe and a jail that’s stretched beyond its limits. There’s no accountability, and it’s time for change.”
To learn more about the sheriff’s race and candidates, read the IR’s coverage here.
Lewis and Clark County Commissioner District 2
Three candidates, including incumbent Tom Rolfe, are seeking a seat on the county commission. He is being challenged by Jakob Miles and Brent Colbert for the nonpartisan seat.
Rolfe, elected to the commission in 2020, is a former lawmaker who served in the House of Representatives in the 70s and was president of the Montana Automobile Dealers Association. Rolfe has lived in Helena for the past 40 years and is focused on supporting first responders, protecting public health and advocating for substance abuse help and prevention, according to the campaign website.
Miles, who is the chair of the Lewis and Clark County Democrats, works at the county public health department as the opioid overdose prevention and safer communities Montana coordinator. He is campaigning on several issues, including affordable housing, improving local and statewide transportation and public health, according to his website.
Colbert is the current undersheriff for Lewis and Clark County. Colbert has served in law enforcement in various roles and capacities for the past 30 years, and his priorities include keeping county infrastructure up and running to meet the area’s growth, according to his campaign website. Additionally, he wants to ensure the county is prepared and coordinated to respond to natural disasters and unexpected emergencies.
The three candidates each spoke about their key issues earlier this month during a Hometown Helena meeting, and the recordings can be viewed on the Helena Civic T.V. website.
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