Hear from the 2024 candidates for the MT Senate

There are four candidates running for the MT Senate in Districts 30 and 33. Read on to hear their responses to the Exponent’s 2024 candidate questionnaire.

Candidates were given three weeks to respond to the questionnaire and were given word counts for each response. Not all of the candidates responded despite multiple emails and phone calls by Exponent staff, and by no means is this an exhaustive account of all of the policy positions and ideas supported by each candidate in a particular race. It is the Exponent’s hope, however, that this concise guide to candidates’ ideas in their own words can serve as a useful resource for voters to decide who they want to vote for. All photos were provided by the candidates’ respective campaigns.

Montana Senate D 30

Candidates: Tyler Rogers (R), Cora Neumann (D)

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Tyler Rogers (R)

Would you be able to provide a brief biography of yourself?

Rogers: My name is Tyler Rogers, I’m 29 years old, running for SD 30 in SW Montana. I have been a visitor since 2007 and a resident since 2020.  I am a Conservative looking to preserve our rights, our way of life and our public lands.

What are your top three priorities if elected, and how do you plan to address them?

Rogers: I moved to Montana because of what it was and what it offered. I didn’t move here to be a Pennsylvanian in Montana, I moved here to be a Montanan. My three biggest priorities are preserving the character of Montana, making it affordable for families to stay here and serving the communities that made me want to move here. Out of state investors with no ties to the state see Montana as an opportunity to make money and do not care about the effects on the local population. The people of Montana play an integral role in making Montana so welcoming and beautiful, it is them that I ultimately look to represent. I will seek to prioritize locals in business, the job market, and the housing market. There are legislative avenues available to incentivize resident entrepreneurship, require certain jobs to go to local businesses, and reduce property taxes on Montana residents. At the end of the day Montana must look inward and decide for itself, does it want growth and profit, or does it want community and freedom?

Why should MSU students, faculty and staff vote for you? 

Rogers: If you made the decision to come to MSU you understand just how special of a place Montana is. I intend on doing everything in my power to preserve that character by fighting for public lands and making life affordable. MSU's students and staff are a big part of the Montana community and I would be honored to represent them.

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Cora Neumann (D)

Would you be able to provide a brief biography of yourself?

Neumann: 49 and mother of two college students, is running for State Senate. Raised in Bozeman, she’s Chief Health Officer for a Native-led organization with 25 years of experience leading nonprofits that expand healthcare, create jobs and protect public lands. She’s committed to good jobs, public access, and affordability for Montana’s future.

What are your top three priorities if elected, and how do you plan to address them?

Neumann: Housing: Many Montanans are being priced out of their hometowns, affecting renters and those trying to buy their first home — which is top of mind for parents like me who want our kids to be able to move home someday! I’ll tackle this crisis by expanding LIHTC tax credits, offering tax incentives for affordable unit construction, and mandating 15% of new developments be affordable for working families, seniors and veterans.

Healthcare: My commitment to rural health stems from losing my father to a lumber mill accident. If we had been closer to good care, he might have survived. As a health professional working with remote and high-needs communities, I see how crucial affordable, accessible care —  including abortion care — is to keeping Montana healthy, safe and strong. I am committed to protecting Medicaid so our rural hospitals can stay open and to keeping abortion legal in Montana.

Climate and Public Lands: Our public lands not only provide recreation, hunting, and fishing but also absorb nearly 20% of U.S. carbon emissions. I’ll work with state and federal partners to safeguard public access, prevent privatization and support conservation efforts to protect Montana’s natural resources for future generations.

Why should MSU students, faculty and staff vote for you? 

Neumann: MSU students, faculty, and staff should vote for me because I am deeply committed to ensuring that Montana remains a place where young people can thrive. I’ll fight to make higher education more affordable, support housing policies that enable students and faculty to live and work in Bozeman and protect access to healthcare, including mental health services. Additionally, my work in public lands ensures future generations can enjoy Montana’s natural beauty. With a focus on jobs, affordable housing and access to healthcare, I will prioritize the needs of MSU’s community and the next generation.

Montana Senate D 33

Candidates: Neal Ganser (R), Christopher Pope (D)

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Neal Ganser (R)

Would you be able to provide a brief biography of yourself? 

Ganser: There are three generations of Montanans from my family in Bozeman. From an MSU Architecture student to building contractor to wholesale building materials to materials manufacturer, I have extensive business experience, contracts, negotiation and skills useful to a legislator. I believe I would be a market conservative noting that every problem cannot be effectively solved by government.

What are your top three priorities if elected, and how do you plan to address them?

Ganser: 

1. Property taxes are confiscatory. Montana needs a ‘grandfathered value system’ on residential property values.
2. K-12 Education in Montana requires vouchers to develop all the skills of our young people. Trades and occupational education must be expanded and may even be moved to the high school level as in the Germany model.
3. Protecting all school sports (grade school through college) from cross gender intrusion which has compromised scholarships, robbing would be champions of their opportunity.

Why should MSU students, faculty and staff vote for you?

Ganser: Montana can use some real business experience in the legislature. There are plenty of lawyers, realtors and others who get paid from the prosperity created by folks in the free enterprise economy. Ganser has the experience to see the potentially far-reaching implications of legislation, experience broadened by raising and providing for a family in Montana. From tradesman to international business, and a belief in Life, Liberty, Opportunity and Responsibility, he has an outlook on life and government that is constructive while being protective of the individual.

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Christopher Pope (D)

Would you be able to provide a brief biography of yourself? 

Pope: I am a long-standing Bozeman business/community leader, a former business owner who has helped redevelop historic downtown while serving as a board member of Eagle Mount and Montana Conservation Corps. My wife Maddy and I have two wonderful kids who are now working hard to build their lives in Gallatin County.

What are your top three priorities if elected, and how do you plan to address them?

Pope:

1. Re-authorize Medicaid Expansion, which is scheduled to sunset without legislative action and which provides affordable healthcare to 85,000 of the state’s most vulnerable low-income working adults and citizens with disabilities. Medicaid Expansion contributes significantly to the state’s economy, providing 7,500 quality jobs, essential healthcare services and economic vitality to critical care facilities across the state, especially in rural communities.
2. I will pursue a three-pronged legislative initiative to make our communities more livable: A] passage of comprehensive tax reform to reduce the state’s onerous residential tax burden, and make them more fair and inclusive; B] pursuing all avenues to immediately address the crisis in affordable housing — for renters and for first home buyers; and C] putting the state to work to attract higher-quality, well-paying jobs, and training programs to qualify for those jobs, in order to bring future wages more in line with the rapidly increasing prices of everyday goods and services necessary for a high quality of life.
3. And, last but certainly not least, I will fight tirelessly for our constitutionally-guaranteed personal liberties, in particular a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, medical privacy, and reproductive freedom; and for our rights to a clean and healthful environment.

Why should MSU students, faculty and staff vote for you?

Pope:

1. I have 8 years of service in state legislature, and am recognized as a lead Senate voice in healthcare, Montana’s new energy economy and state budget management and oversight;
2. I have a broad business background, a degree in business management and finance and a long and respected history of public service, including a central role in the redevelopment of historic downtown Bozeman;
3. I am a legislator who believes that good government matters. I am committed to a less partisan, more civil and more purposeful approach to governance deserving of the voters who have real issues needing practical, timely solutions from their state government. I believe we can and must do better to position Montana and its citizens in the 21st Century Economy.