Q&A with U.S. House candidate Tom Winter

Editor’s Note: The Daily Inter Lake is republishing select answers from questionnaires completed by the candidates for U.S. House District 1 and submitted to the Montana Free Press. This is the final excerpt to appear in print. The candidates were published in alphabetical order by party.

Tom Winter, 35, is a Polson resident who has lived in Montana for roughly a decade. He served one term as a state representative for House District 96, which he won from a Republican incumbent in 2018. He left the Legislature and ran for Congress in 2020, losing in the Democratic primary to Kathleen Williams.

In the Legislature and his congressional campaigns, Winter has advocated for legalizing marijuana, increasing taxes on the wealthy and creating a universal health care system.

Winter currently works on commission with the company WorldCell, helping localities pursue federal grants to implement broadband infrastructure.

This biography was compiled using records from the Legislature and the secretary of state’s office, as well as information provided by the candidate’s campaign.

Q: Polls indicate many Americans are concerned about the integrity of the nation’s democratic institutions. Both as a political candidate and as a potential member of Congress, what can you do to promote Montanans’ faith in American democracy?

A: Practice politics that ensures Montanans get what they deserve as Americans: A dignified wage, health care regardless of income, a roof over their heads, and an education for them and their families. Faith in our democracy is at an all-time low because our political system and institutions have been corrupted by the rich and the powerful. This corruption and purposeful neglect of working families is perpetrated by both parties. I will not hesitate to call it out every chance I get — on the campaign trail and in Congress. Representative democracy must start working for the people again, not just billionaires and corporations that have the money and the lobbyists to buy elections and manipulate federal policy.

Q: Housing costs are an increasing concern for many Montanans. What federal action would you support to promote housing affordability in Montana?

A: In the Montana Legislature I wrote the bill to zero out all middle class homeowners’ state property taxes. This would have been paid for by a very small tax (0.25%) on all second home mansions valued over $1 million. Lobbyists in Helena killed this bill. They considered it a redistribution of wealth from rich out-of-staters to working Montanans. I also wrote legislation for greater protections for renters and mobile home tenants. But the housing issue is just as much a wage issue. Working Montanans do not have the purchasing power to compete with the rich investors trying to buy up Montana. We must raise the minimum wage to a living wage, end source of income discrimination, and expand access to capital for working families. Finally, we must use federal dollars to force cities to end discriminatory zoning laws, laws that have been manipulated by the rich to keep the poor and working class in substandard housing and away from their neighborhoods.

Q: What do you see as the most important priorities for the management of federal lands in Montana? Should the federal government consider transferring some federally held land into state ownership?

A: Montana’s public lands are our wealth. We cannot allow the federal government to continue to lease federal lands to the oil and gas industry. And we cannot allow wealthy developers to impede the public’s access to our publicly held lands. I will support all efforts to gain access to parcels locked on all sides by private land. In Congress I will take up the issue of corner crossing access to allow the public’s access to our lands.

Federal transfer of lands to the states is a stalking horse for the extractive industry to privatize and further harm our public lands for profit. I unequivocally oppose this land grab.

However, I do believe our government has a moral obligation to consult with the eight sovereign nations of Montana on eventual tribal management and/or transfer of many of the lands stolen from them. This is a quickly evolving issue, and my congressional office would work in support of and partnership with tribal nations should they wish to do so. It is only right.

Q: In the event Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, would you support federal legislation that either guarantees abortion access or that, alternatively, establishes legal protections for life beginning at conception? What specific provisions would you like to see included in future federal abortion law?

A: Like the vast majority of Montanans, I know the government has no right to tell any American what to do with their bodies. Our state is known for relatively good abortion access. But even then, the Chippewa Cree, the Nakona and Nakoda, the ranchers of the Hi-Line: They have been effectively denied abortion services. It is not fair or right or moral to force someone to drive six hours through a snowstorm to get an abortion, just as it is immoral to force someone to travel that far to set a broken bone.

The fight for reproductive justice is the fight for justice, period. That is why I will do everything in my power in Congress to help pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to codify the right to an abortion in our laws.

When Roe v. Wade is struck down our campaign pledges to assist any and all Montanans that seek reproductive health care. We call on all Montanans of conscience to do the same. Montanans are well known for helping our neighbors, and a Supreme Court ruling will not stop that.

Q: Do you believe Joe Biden was legitimately elected president in 2020?

A: Yes. I cannot believe that in my lifetime serious journalists must ask this question. But here we are. What an embarrassment for our country that other candidates use this ridiculous lie to undermine the very democracy they seek to lead. Republicans won every single statewide election in Montana in 2020 — for the first time in my lifetime — yet their party leaders think we had a fraudulent election? What a joke.

The Montana Free Press is a nonprofit newsroom based in Helena. To see the questionnaire in full, go to: https://apps.montanafreepress.org/election-guide-2022/.

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Age: 35

Occupation: Former state legislator

Party: Democratic