There was a telling moment during The Monitor’s forum in Clancy last month featuring Marta Bertoglio and Timothy McKenrick, the Republican candidates for House District 75 of the Montana Legislature.
I asked them both: If elected, who would they serve in the coming legislative session—their constituents in Jefferson County, or their political party?
In another election year, that might not have been an either/or question. But this is a time of almost ostentatious partisanship: Of the 708 bills that were adopted or signed into law during the 2021 Legislature session, 610 were sponsored by Republicans, and just 98 by Democrats, according to Montana Free Press. And the so-called “Solutions Caucus” that emerged in 2019—a group of Republican lawmakers committed to transparency and working across the aisle—has come under increasing fire from within the GOP. There’s a growing sense that, in Montana as nationally, effective governing is taking a backseat to party loyalty.
In Clancy that evening, both candidates talked a good bipartisan game.
McKenrick said he wanted “to work with as many people as possible,” and that he’s “had some really good feedback” during his campaign from both Republicans and Democrats.” Bertoglio, the incumbent elected two years ago, noted that Washington has been “broken” by polarization, “but we in Montana don’t have to act that way.”
We don’t have to, but we’re increasingly trending in that direction. Bertoglio is among Republican incumbents, across the state and beyond, who are being “primaried”—that is, challenged by candidates who are positioned further to the political right. Deemed so-called RINOs (“Republicans in name only”), they are being penalized, in effect, because they haven’t faithfully enough toed the party line.
The notion that Bertoglio lacks conservative or Republican cred is laughable. She received a “B” grade from the Montana Conservative Index, which tracks legislators’ votes on a subset of bills that meet or conflict with core conservative principles. And according to data compiled by Montana Free Press, Bertoglio voted with a majority of the GOP caucus 94% of the time in the 2021 session.
The problem, as some see it, is with the remaining 6%—and the fact that Bertoglio also voted with the Democratic majority 64% of the time. (She did so on the narrowly defeated HB 113, which would have prohibited medications and procedures related to sex changes by minors. It was seen by some on the right as a litmus test on conservative values—but it also threatened to let the government interfere with the decisions of parents and medical professionals.)
Legistats, a website founded by Winifred rancher and conservative activist Trevis Butcher, grades lawmakers not on ideology, but on the degree to which they voted with the party majority on any given bill. By that measure, Bertoglio scored 83%, which Legistats somehow associated with a grade of “D.” She was one of 17 Republican representatives, among 67 total, to get that grade or worse.
The Legistats data is superficial and needlessly polarizing—but it appears to have a considerable following on the right. When I asked Bertoglio about this, she said: “I can’t control what people say about me, but I lead by example. I keep my head down, work hard, and be kind.” She noted that a majority of legislators voted for all the bills she sponsored. HB 68, which made it easier for itinerant military families to register their children for school, received wide support; HB 246, which broadly revised education laws to give local school boards greater control, was approved by every legislator but one.
In other words, Bertoglio is a conservative who has the will and the political skills to work with those of other political stripes. We should value that approach, not least because it works. A study published last year by Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research showed that U.S. House and Senate legislators who attract larger portions of co-sponsors for their bills from the opposing party are more likely to move legislation through committees and onto the floor. Other research has shown that partisan polarization leads to less legislative deliberation and more obstructionism.
Don’t get me wrong: McKenrick, though new to politics, seems not an unreasonable candidate. Much like Greg DeVries, who served HD-75 in the 2019 session, McKenrick says he is motivated to run by his deep Christian faith. For him, opposition to abortion is an absolute; it is indefensible, he believes, under any circumstances. (Note: Bertoglio also stressed her strong opposition to abortion.) But otherwise, he said, “I want to work with as many people as possible … I don’t agree with a lot of the things that the Democrats believe—I’m the first one to admit that—but I’m willing to stick my hand out there and talk to them.”
We applaud that openness. Please vote in the June 7 primaries. And when you do, reward not mindless party loyalty, but thoughtful consideration of the issues you really care about—and a willingness to come into the next legislature with an open mind.
