Local races set as filing deadline passes

The stage is set for the 2020 primary elections after the final day of candidate filings on Monday produced a twist in a Kalispell house district.

Jerry O’Neil, a Republican legislator in both the Montana House and Senate from 2001-2015, abandoned the race for Senate District 2 to challenge incumbent Republican Frank Garner in House District 7. O’Neil told the Inter Lake he endorses Carl Glimm in the now three-man race in Senate District 2, where Norm Nunnally and Paul Longfield are also on the Republican ballot.

Also filing before the deadline were Republican Bruce Tutvedt and Democrat Jerramy Dear-Ruel. Both are running for the open House District 6 seat, where Glimm had reached his term limit.

Tutvedt, who represented Senate District 3 from 2009 to 2017, will challenge Amy Regier in the Republican primary election. Dear-Ruel, former executive director of the Sparrow’s Nest of Northwest Montana, will run uncontested.

In the race to replace County Commissioner Phil Mitchell, Brad Abell, a heavy equipment operator for Weyerhaeuser, threw his name in the ring for the Republican nomination. He told the Inter Lake he is running because he “would like to see a responsible use of our taxes on the county level.”

He will take on Elliot Adams and Tony Brockman in the primary.

Kristen Larson, co-owner of Glacier Lanes in Columbia Falls, will run unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

Here are the local candidates set to be on the primary ballot:

(*denotes incumbent)

Montana Senate

District 2: Democrat – Kyle Waterman; Republican – Norm Nunnally, Paul Longfield, Carl Glimm

District 3: Democrat – Guthrie Quist; Republican – *Keith Regier

District 6: Republican – Greg Hertz

Montana House

District 3: Democrat – *Debo Powers, Garret Henson; Republican – Braxton Mitchell

District 4: Republican – *Matt Regier

District 5: Democrat – *Dave Fern; Republican – Shawn Guymon, Catherine Owens

District 6: Democrat – Jerramy Dear-Ruel; Republican – Bruce Tutvedt, Amy Regier

District 7: Republican – *Frank Garner, Jerry O’Neil

District 8: Republican – *John Fuller

District 9: Republican – *David Dunn, Brian Putnam

District 10: Democrat – Jennifer Allen; Republican – *Mark Noland, Doug Mahlum

District 11: Republican – *Derek Skees, Dee Kirk-Boon

County Commissioner

District 1: Democrat – Kristen Larson; Republican – Elliot Adams, Tony Brockman, Brad Abell

Clerk of District Court

Republican —Peg Allison*