Jefferson County voters will have their choice of candidates this year for representation in Congress, in the Montana Legislature, on the County Commission and as county sheriff. The filing deadline to declare candidacy in a variety of races from the county to congressional level was Monday at 5 p.m.
According to Jefferson County Clerk and Recorder Ginger Kunz, who also oversees the county’s elections, four residents of southern Jefferson County are running in the nonpartisan race for the County Commission seat currently held by Leonard Wortman, who is not seeking reelection. Wortman served on the commission from 1993–99, and was appointed back to the body in January 2010 and has been reelected since. County commissioners serve six-year terms.
In the race for the seat are Dan Hagerty, Jim Buterbaugh, Mary Janacaro-Hensleigh and John Goff. Janacaro-Hensleigh is currently the mayor of Whitehall; she was reelected last November. Candidates running to represent the county’s south end, which includes the communities of Cardwell, Whitehall and Pipestone, must live there, Kunz said, but the election is open to all registered voters in Jefferson County, meaning all Jefferson County voters get to decide who from the south end will serve on the commission. The top two vote-getters in the primary will advance to the general election.
The race for county sheriff is also contested: Two current officers with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office—Tom Grimsrud and Chad Cross—are running to take the reins of the office from longtime Sheriff Craig Doolittle, who is not seeking reelection. Sheriffs serve four-year terms and also serve as the county coroner. Voters will cast their vote for sheriff in the general election this fall.
Incumbents have filed for reelection in the remainder of seats up for election this year, including County Attorney Steve Haddon; Kunz, whose title also includes assessor and surveyor; County Treasurer Terri Kunz; Justice of the Peace Steve Andersen; and Superintendent of Schools Sarah Eyer.
The primary election is being conducted by in-person voting at polling places on June 7. Unlike the 2020 primary and general elections, which were conducted primarily by mail because of the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s statewide elections are being held in person. The general election is Nov. 8.
(Editor’s note: The Monitor will interview candidates in contested races and publish candidate profiles ahead of the election.)
Primary voters will also have a choice of two Republican candidates seeking to represent House District 75 in the Montana Legislature, as well as a slew of candidates challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale.
Incumbent state Rep. Marta Bertoglio, a Republican from Clancy, is being challenged in the primary by Timothy McKenrick, a Republican who lives near Boulder. Bertoglio was elected in 2020. No Democrats filed to represent the district, which covers almost all of Jefferson County.
In Congress, Rosendale, a Republican, is facing three primary challengers; seven candidates from other parties are also vying to appear on November’s general election ballot. Facing off against Rosendale in the Republican primary race are James Boyette and Kyle Austin, both of Billings, and Charles Walkingchild of Helena. Also running are three Democrats: Phillipsburg’s Mark Sweeney, and Penny Ronning and Skylar Williams, both of Billings. Roger Roots, Samuel Thomas and Sam Rankin, all Libertarians, and Gary Buchanan, an independent, are also running.
All 11 candidates are running to represent Montana’s newly created U.S. House District 2, which was crafted last fall as a result of a statewide population increase that cleaved Montana’s former single at-large House district, held by Rosendale, into two districts. Jefferson County was included in District 2, which covers much of the state’s eastern two-thirds.
