By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – Democrat Kathleen Williams, candidate for Montana’s lone U.S. House seat, campaigned in Havre’s Pepin Park on Saturday.
Williams held a socially distanced talk and question-and-answer session in front of a few dozen people that lasted about an hour. It was one of 24 stops Williams made on a 6-day ‘Solutions.’ tour.
“It’s great to be back to Havre. It’s wonderful to check in on some of the local issues here. The irrigation system, Drop 5, I’m glad there’s some progress there. I’m glad that the Amtrak office is reopening. There’s issues with access to healthcare. And there’s folks that want to see real solutions in Congress, and not continued hyper-partisanship and folks that are climbing the political ladder. So that’s what I heard from folks in Havre today.”
Williams ran for the same seat in 2018, falling by just over 23,000 votes to Republican Greg Gianforte. This time, Williams is facing off in the General Election against Republican Matt Rosendale, as she hopes to turn the seat blue for the first time this millennium.
“I’m going to win this time, that’s one difference. We’ve built a good name recognition last time, we got the closest in over 20 years to unseating an incumbent. It’s an open seat this time, so there’s no incumbent advantage. And now I’ve had more time to get out and talk to more Montanans and can hopefully convince them in my true interest in being a public servant, not a politician.”
Both candidates have said they are for protecting Montana’s public lands, but Williams says her background proves she is an advocate for the issue.
“I’ve been doing it for my entire career. I’ve been working to balance the needs of our economy and our communities and our businesses with the health of our watersheds and our rivers and streams. That’s hard to do. You’ve gotta be creative, bring really diverse interest together, find common solutions. I was involved at the beginning with the St. Mary’s Working Group as a representative of a state agency here. I want to use that background and experience both with the science and also my style and ensure we are protecting our public lands and ensuring that they are able to be managed to keep them healthy and ensure they can withstand our new fascination with the outdoors, which is kind of a nice thing coming out of the pandemic.”
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