In the video above, Tim McGonigal talks with the two candidates for Montana House District 25 - Steve Gist and James Rickley. Below are extended interviews with both candidates.
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The redistricting of Montana House District 25 shifted the boundaries from inside Great Falls to covering the western part of Cascade County.
It includes the communities of Vaughn, Simms, Sun River and Cascade and features and incumbent who holds a legislative leadership position against a political newcomer.
Representative Steve Gist is seeking his third term in the Montana House. The Republican grew up on a farm in Chinook before moving to Great Falls in 1985. He has extensive medical and emergency response experience having worked for Mercy Flight and also owning and operating an ambulance service as well as working as an emergency room nurse and paramedic. He also runs a wildland fire company out of Cascade. He served as Majority Whip during the 2023 session and says health care will be a hot topic this time around.
“We're going to hear a lot on health care I believe,” said Gist. “Medicaid expansion will be coming and will be up for renewal. We've got probably 10% of the people in Montana on Medicaid because they can't afford health insurance. We're going to have to take a hard look at that.”
Democrat James Rickley was born in Philadelphia and worked in education, both as a music teacher and later an administrator, including serving as superintendent in Poplar on the Fort Peck Reservation. Now retired, he wants to see lawmakers focus on education, would like to see more transparency in taxation, and as a resident of Eagle’s Manor, better care for Montana’s elderly.
“My concern is there is no continuum of care,” said Rickley. “We do not have a series or any decision making. A lot of the residents at the place and I am at are drive by and dump. Their kids don't want them or they don't have any family anymore who's making decisions.”
When it comes to bipartisanship, Rickley says most Montanans don’t want a repeat of 2023.
“I just think that the last legislative session was abhorrent,” said Rickley. “The way that people were treated to lock someone out, to lock the doors, to not give people the right to vote, to take a microphone away from somebody, to put somebody out in the lobby on a bench and then hire your family to make sure they didn't have a bench to sit in. This was almost as bad as the Texas legislature that was being mocked by Mary Richards and Molly Ivins.”
Gist says Montana is like a big neighborhood and he enjoys working with Democratic colleagues and that differing opinions are good.
“If you're sitting in a room full of like minded people high fiving you’re not learning anything,” said Gist. “If you sit in a room full of people that don't always agree, you're going to come out of there with one or two things. You’re either going to learn something, or it's going to reinforce what you already know to be true.”
You can watch the full interviews with Gist and Rickley by clicking here.
Election Day is November 5. In Cascade County, mail-in ballots will be sent out October 11.
Steve Gist
James Rickley
