Overnight turnaround gives Lieser win in House race

All-night-long vote counting produced a reversal in the House District 4 race in Flathead County.

When final votes were tallied late Wednesday morning, Democrat Ed Lieser had defeated Republican Tim Baldwin for the Whitefish-area seat.

Lieser had 2,765 votes or 54 percent; Baldwin had 2,355 votes or 46 percent.

“I just got the numbers about a half hour ago,” Lieser said at about 1 p.m. Wednesday. “It sounds like all the absentee ballots are counted and there may be some provisional ballots that are hanging out but there aren’t anywhere near 400 of them.”

Lieser credits the win to the work he had to do to prevail in a primary runoff with fellow Democrat Tom Muri of Whitefish.

“That was a very competitive contested primary. I reached out to a lot of people in Whitefish because my opponent was a well-known resident of Whitefish ... It gave me the foundation for my campaign as it went on into the general election. That primary was an important part.”

The win makes Lieser the only Democrat elected to the Legislature from Flathead County. All the other legislative races were won by GOP candidates by overwhelming margins.

“We’re very excited,” said Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell. “I think we’ll have 28 Republican senators ... The fact that we gained senators indicates we govern center-right and I think the people like that.”

The Senate GOP picked up two seats in the Billings area and lost one in the Havre area for a net gain of one over the 2011 legislative session.

Tutvedt, who is the Senate’s president pro tempore, said he thinks the House will have a 60-40 GOP majority. “I think it’s a nice Republican majority,” he said.

Lieser said he’s ready to work with his fellow Flathead legislators.

“My approach is going to be to see where the problems are and work with the other legislators and see if we can come together to solve problems,” he said, noting that he knows Republican legislators from attending forums and briefings sponsored by various business sectors and organizations.

“I know those guys from the Flathead who got elected,” Lieser said. “I don’t have to introduce myself, and that’s a big step towards working together.”

A newcomer to politics, Lieser will succeed Republican Rep. Derek Skees, who did not seek re-election while he unsuccessfully ran for state auditor.

Lieser, 63, has lived in the Whitefish area for 22 years and is retired from a 30-year career with the U.S. Forest Service.