Montana House District 23 primary election results: Democrat Melissa Smith advances

Melissa Smith won a close race with Rep. Brad Hamlett Tuesday night in the Democratic primary for Montana House District 23, tallying 319 of 619 total votes.

Smith will run against Republican incumbent Scot Kerns in the general election.

Smith previously ran in 2020 in HD-20 but lost to Republican Fred Anderson. Smith is active with several organizations including as Board President at the Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art and as Secretary of the Cascade County Democratic Central Committee, according to her website.

Smith said if elected she would "defend the Montana Constitution, fight for equal opportunity for all, protect public education, provide economic opportunities, support working families, and conserve and protect our natural resources."

Smith said lack of affordable housing and support for the unhoused were two of the biggest issues facing the region.

"For our community’s unhoused individuals and families, we must provide compassionate access to the continuum of care. Temporary shelters are needed in extreme weather. I would work with Federal, private, nonprofit agencies, and developers to create affordable housing," Smith said. "Instead of creating barriers, I’d create incentives for builders and communities to increase affordable housing. I’d shore up consumer protections to ban predatory housing practices. In addition, I support using tools like urban infill, Accessory Dwelling Units, and returning local control to communities for programs like Inclusionary Zoning, to assist with the housing crisis."

Brad Hamlett served in the legislature from 2009-2021 and sponsored several bills that became laws in the last session, including HB 585 which instituted the requirement of legislative approval for the divestiture of state park land. Hamlett is a rancher out of Cascade.

There was a little drama at the ExpoPark Tuesday with a man wearing a hat in support of former President Donald Trump trying to wear it to vote, but being asked to take it off in order to comply with electioneering laws outlined in the Montana Code Annotated, Clerk and Recorder Rina Moore confirmed.

Moore said three deputies asked him to remove the hat and he said that it was “against his rights.” The officers escorted him out the door and he took his hat off and came back in and voted.

She said that after it was all said and done he shook hands with the officers.

Moore and poll workers put in nearly 24 hours of work at the ExpoPark on Tuesday. Moore said the main reason ballot counting went so late, past 2:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, was because of required counting of write-in ballots.

She said sometimes folks would write-in candidates from one party on another party's ballot, which Moore explained does not add to the candidate's official total, but election officials are still required to track them.

Moore said things went very smoothly during the day and they were happy with that.

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Montana election results: Hamlett, Smith vie in Dem primary