With a 22 point win over incumbent Greg DeVries in the Republican primary, Marta Bertoglio is looking to keep it positive as she now shifts her campaign strategy to take on Democratic challenger Bryher Herak for the House District 75 seat in the Montana House of Representatives.
Herak, who lost to DeVries in 2018, said she is working on her November general election strategy, and adjusting her approach to account for a more moderate Republican opponent.
Herek was unopposed in the June 2 Democratic primary, as was Sen. Edith “Edie” McCafferty, who will now face off in November against Republican challenger Jim Buterbaugh to represent Senate District 38 at the statehouse.
Buterbaugh defeated opponent Jane Hamman in the primary by eight percentage points.
Meanwhile, hose who worked to get two Jefferson County mill levy initiatives on the ballot — one for an animal shelter and the other for the Boulder and Whitehall libraries — are contemplating why those failed and are plotting their next steps moving forward.
Overall, voter turnout in Jefferson County was 63.4% — an increase from the June 2018 primary, when 45.3% turned out, according to Election Administrator Bonnie Ramey.
“It is typical for a mail ballot election to generate a higher voter turnout. That has always been the case in special district, school and municipal elections. This is the first time in the history of this state that we have been able to hold a federal/state election by mail ballot,” said Ramey.
This year, the state allowed mail-in ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic and fears that having voters go to the polls could pose a health risk.
Jefferson County voters generally lean Republican, and this race was no exception. For the HD 75 race, which is confined to Jefferson County, there were 3,042 votes cast for the Republican candidates, as opposed to 1,396 for the Democrat, who ran unopposed. In the SD 38 race, which also includes Butte-Silver Bow, there were 4,234 votes cast for the Republican candidates, and a similar number for the Democrat, at 4,125 votes. Of those, 2,836 Jefferson County voters pulled a lever for the Republican candidates, while 1,387 cast a ballot for the Democrat, who was also unopposed.
House District 75
DeVries was elected to the Montana House of Representatives in 2018, having defeated Gregg Trude in the primary and Herak in the general election.
DeVries was probably best known for his outspoken stance on abortion, but has been criticized for being out of touch with the community and an ineffective legislator, as well as voting against many bills geared to assist Montana businesses.
Of the four bills DeVries submitted for the 2019 session, three failed. HB 302, which called for a constitutional amendment defining when personhood begins, ultimately failed.
The Montana Chamber of Commerce ranked the Jefferson City Republican at 33 percent when it came to being pro-business. That compares to McClafferty, a Democrat, who was ranked at 79 percent for the 2019 legislative session.
DeVries said he wasn’t disappointed to lose to Bertoglio.
“I think she’ll do great,” he said in an email response to the election results.
“I was happy to serve last session. I was happy to be able to espouse my views to anyone who would listen. I was happy to carry the legislation I did, and to encourage smaller government and more freedom. I was happy to see readers disagree with me strongly and tell (The Boulder) Monitor readers why they did,” said DeVries.
Bertoglio, who is a U.S. Air Force veteran, business owner and chairwoman of the Montana City School Board of Trustees, said she became inspired to run after reading DeVries’ columns in The Boulder Monitor.
She particularly took issue with his stance on public schools.
“We can do better … If I didn’t step up, who would step up?,” she said.
One of DeVries’ failed bills last year called for a property tax exemption for those who didn’t have children enrolled in public schools.
Bertoglio sees herself and Herak as positive people who mostly differ how they approach various issues, and those are primarily ideological.
For instance, it’s important to maintain a balance between the goals of the environmentalists and the need for jobs, she said.
Herak, an attorney and mediator from Basin, said she was “delighted” that Bertoglio won the primary.
“She is a good candidate and believes in public schools and health care. It will be a good dialogue going forward,” said Herak, adding that she appreciates Bertoglio’s involvement on the Montana City School Board, as well as the community.
Herak also serves as a trustee on the Jefferson High School Board.
Herak said she will have to change her strategy based on the primary outcome, but is still working to figure that out.
Senate District 38
Buterbaugh’s victory over Hamman wasn’t as striking as the HD 75 Republican race, but he did defeat his Clancy-based challenger by eight percentage points — 54% to 46%.
Buterbaugh sees himself as a strict Constitutionalist, and thinks that helped his campaign. He also believes his emails, as well as appearances at community meetings and around town in Whitehall, where he lives, as well as his weekly town halls on Zoom, also helped.
“It got my face out there and stuff,” he said.
Efforts to reach Hamman by press time were unsuccessful.
Buterbaugh wants to get back out on the campaign trail as things begin to open up again after the COVID-19 closures so he can let people know how strongly he feels about the U.S. Constitution.
Efforts to reach McClafferty for comment by press time were unsuccessful.
