With the passage of the March 4 candidacy filing deadline, Jefferson County residents can now look ahead to several political competitions, led by a three-way battle for sheriff and a challenge to a longstanding county commissioner.
Vying for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office are incumbent Tom Grimsrud of Jefferson City, David Kosola of Clancy and Tom Voigt of Boulder. Grimsrud grew up on a ranch in northeastern Montana and served in the Montana Army National Guard before beginning his law enforcement career, according to his campaign Facebook page.
He served as a police officer in northeastern Montana from 1992 to 1999, four of those years as chief of police, before joining the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office as a deputy in April of that year. Elected sheriff in 2022, in seeking reelection he views staffing as his central focus.
“The retention and continued development of quality employees is a top priority,” Grimsrud said in an email. “Jefferson County residents deserve deeply competent and professional staff when they look to us for help.”
He said the Sheriff’s office has expanded crisis intervention training for deputies and recruited from law enforcement and emergency services backgrounds, adding bilingual staff, paramedics and advanced roadside impaired driving enforcement investigators to its ranks.
On the budget, Grimsrud said the sheriff’s office budget is set by the county commissioners, and that working within those constraints requires close coordination with other elected officials. He said he plans to continue pursuing grants – the office has secured funding for body cameras, office security and radio improvements – and improving facilities and equipment incrementally.
“Just like the citizens of the county, we must improve what we can, when we can, within the constraints of our current budget,” he said.
He pointed to partnerships as a way to stretch limited resources. “An example of this is the relationships we’ve fostered with federal law enforcement agencies to strengthen our presence in places like Delmoe Lake in southern Jefferson County,” he said.
On transparency, Grimsrud said open communication with the public is a priority he has worked to maintain through news outlets, social media, emergency broadcasts and in-person meetings.
“I will never pander with my message to the public,” he said. “I firmly believe in being honest about what I can provide for the residents of Jefferson County – and taking responsibility for what I cannot. The buck stops with the Sheriff, and I take full ownership of what this office represents to our community.”
Kosola, a Montana native who has spent his entire career in Jefferson County, is entering the race after more than three decades in law enforcement, according to his campaign Facebook page. He began at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office as a detention and communications officer in August 1994, moved to the Boulder Police Department that August, and eventually rose through the ranks to chief of police.
He has served as an EMT since 1994, as deputy coroner since 2005, and provides Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) in local schools. He is also a longtime hunter safety instructor and has served on the Lewis & Clark County Critical Stress Incident Management Team since 2015, volunteering support across five counties.
“Guided by a steadfast belief in integrity, compassion, and the value of every community member,” he wrote on Facebook, “I continue to strive for excellence and ethical conduct in every aspect of service to our county.”
Kosola, who did not respond to The Monitor’s request for comment, has outlined eight campaign goals: community engagement; school safety partnerships; deputy training in mental health response and de-escalation; transparency through published departmental reports and public forums; substance abuse prevention; staff wellness; and improved emergency response times.
The Monitor was unable to find any information about Tom Voigt, who included no contact details in his candidacy filing, mentioning only that he lives on High Ore Road, west of Boulder. Searches on Google and Facebook turned up no meaningful results. (If you know or are Tom Voigt, please reach out to The Monitor.)
Over at the County Commission, Cory Kirsch is being challenged by Richard Rhodes of Basin for the District 2 seat. Finishing his second six-year term, Kirsch has just begun his 12th year as County Commissioner. He cited encouragement from colleagues and constituents as the reason he decided to seek another term.
“Most of the people who reached out to me, when they learned that I was on the fence about running again, were concerned about the void I would leave,” Kirsch said. “The value of knowledge and experience can’t be overstated at this level of government.”
In a Monitor column last June, Kirsch described the state funding cap as the county’s single biggest challenge, writing that state law limiting budget growth to half the rate of inflation left the county progressively with less funding each year and that he had not yet found a solution. He said the situation has since changed.
“With great effort from Montana Association of Counties, the funding cap was actually changed during the last legislative session,” Kirsch said in an email. “Going forward, we can now keep up with inflation instead of being hindered with half the rate of inflation.”
Looking ahead, he said he wants to reduce the property tax burden on residents as revenue from natural resource extraction declines. “We need to work on finding ways to offset property taxes with funding from the ever-growing tourism industry,” he said.
He also named the Clancy Water and Sewer District well project and the county health department office expansion as priorities he hopes to see through.
Rhodes is making his first run for elected office. Now retired, he said he has the time to serve and a longstanding desire to help his community. He supports term limits as a way to bring fresh perspectives to county government.
“I would like to show that people have the ability to step up and bring new fresh ideas to the county,” he said in an email.
His priorities include working with the Jefferson Local Development Corporation to support small business growth, pursuing road funding without raising taxes, and building cadet programs through local fire departments and EMT services to encourage youth volunteerism.
Meanwhile, Jefferson County is also home to a U.S. Senate candidate. Clancy resident Tom Jandron, a longtime Montana National Guard aircraft mechanic who previously ran for Clancy’s school board, filed to run as a Libertarian. The field includes three Republicans, five Democrats, a fellow Libertarian and an independent, all seeking to replace retiring Senator Steve Daines.
Finally, later this year, Dori Stulc is expected to become Jefferson County’s new schools superintendent, running unopposed. She will replace Sarah Eyer, who has served as superintendent since 2020 and chose not to seek another term.
