Zooey Zephyr criticizes GOP governance at Flathead Dems spring banquet

Rep. Zooey Zephyr, whose removal from the statehouse in April brought national attention to Montana, accused state Republicans of adopting an ends justify the means approach to governance at a gathering of the Flathead Democrats over the weekend.

Zephyr, a Democrat from Missoula and a transgender woman, spent the final days of the legislative session working off the House floor, able to vote but barred from speaking on the bills working through the statehouse. The series of events that led to her removal began with GOP leaders reprimanding her for breaching decorum and climaxed with demonstrators disrupting the chamber’s business in a protest that ended with seven arrests.

“Here in this session, I think [the GOP] overplayed their hand and said… ‘We’re going to throw away democracy, that’s what we’ll do altogether, just toss it to the side to achieve the goals that we want,’” Zephyr said during the Flathead Democrats’ spring banquet in Kalispell.

Zephyr, the first openly transgender woman elected to the Montana Legislature, garnered the national spotlight after the showdown with GOP leadership in the statehouse, which began with her remarks on a bill banning hormone treatments and surgical care for transgender minors. At the time, she said lawmakers who supported the legislation would have blood on their hands.

Speaker of the House Matt Regier, a Republican from Kalispell, subsequently refused to recognize Zephyr on the floor after her remarks. Zephyr similarly refused to apologize for the language.

During her appearance in the Flathead Valley over the weekend, Zephyr criticized Republicans for promulgating a strain of Christian nationalism in the state, particularly in Northwest Montana.

“With a brand of, quite frankly, Christian nationalism that is trying to put down roots in this part of our state, I think it's important to remember that the family leading that charge has only been in politics for 15 years or so,” Zephyr said in a thinly-veiled reference to the Regier family.

House Speaker Matt Regier is just one member of the family active in Montana politics. His father, Sen. Keith Regier, and his sister, Rep. Amy Regier, chair their respective chamber’s powerful judiciary committees — both of which reviewed many highly contested bills, including this session’s legislation affecting the LGBTQ+ community.

The three legislators were powerful proponents of a package of bills targeting LGBTQ+ Montanans, including the ban on gender affirming care for minors and legislation aimed at prohibiting minors from attending drag shows. After the showdown with Zephyr garnered national headlines, the political dynasty earned a profile in The New York Times.

But arguing that the Regier’s arrival on the political stage was a relatively recent phenomenon, Zephyr encouraged Democrats to begin planting seeds now. Together, she said, they could cultivate a base of support.

Christian nationalism has recently found a foothold in American politics, particularly in the Republican Party, according to a 2023 survey by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute and the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution.

The worldview is based upon the idea that the U.S. is a Christian nation and that the country’s laws should be rooted in Christian values. While a majority of Republicans reported sympathizing with Christian nationalism, the survey found that the idea remains a minority nationwide.

Zephyr has said she believes that those ideals represent a threat to democracy.

But to counteract Christian nationalism’s influence, Democrats need to be prepared to work, she said. Anyone can buy a bag of seeds and call themselves a farmer, Zephyr said Saturday, but real farmers till the land.

“As we think about what we want this part of Montana to be, what we want to look like, we have to make sure that we are working the earth,” Zephyr said. “That we are doing more.”

The only elected Democrat in the valley, Rep. Dave Fern, also spoke at the event and highlighted some of the party’s successes from the legislative session. Notably, Fern mentioned the demise of a bill that aimed to change election laws for the upcoming Montana Senate race. The legislation would have restricted the final contest to two parties, a move that political onlookers suspected would have hindered Democrat U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s reelection bid.

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.