Juneau stumps at Rocky Boy, Havre

While she launches her congressional campaign, Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau visited Stone Child College Wednesday, as students, faculty and tribal leaders crowded the foyer of the campus' Kenewash Hall.

Juneau came to the campus as part of her tour of the state's seven Indian reservations.

She capped off the day with a private campaign fundraiser at the home of Renelle Braaten.

Juneau, a Democrat and the first American Indian woman in U.S. history to be elected to a statewide executive position, was met with interest by those at the college.

Unopposed for her party's nomination, Juneau is looking to unseat first- term Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke for Montana's sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

If successful, she will be the first American Indian woman elected to Congress.

Speaking at Stone Child College, Juneau, an enrolled member of the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes and descendant of the Blackfeet, touched on her background.

"Everywhere I go, I talk about how proud I am to be from the Blackfeet Reservation and have my roots in good tradition with good family values, and growing up and knowing family comes first," she said.

Juneau is seeking to break the more than 20-year hold Republicans have had on Montana's only seat in the U.S. House.

She said Montana Democrats have demonstrated success in statewide elections, now occupying one of two U.S. Senate seats, and four of five state constitutional executive offices.

Unlike past Democrats who have vied for the seat, Juneau added, she has a history of winning statewide elected office.

She said she has received 31,000 more votes during her two campaigns for statewide office than Zinke did in his 2014 campaign for the House.

"So it's a matter of recapturing those votes this time and getting Indian Country out to vote," she said. "If Indian Country votes in big numbers, I win."

Why Juneau is running

Juneau said during in interview with the Havre Daily News that running for Congress will provide her with a "bigger megaphone" on issues such as the economy, infrastructure and those affecting Indian Country.

She said Zinke's voting record after one term in Congress shows a disconnect with the interest of Montanans.

Juneau criticized Zinke for backing budgets that increase the deficit and cuts that ignore the needs of Indian Country through reductions to funding for Indian Health Services, enforcement of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 and women's health care.

"There is just a whole litany of different votes we can point to that show he is not doing the best job representing Montanans," she said.

Public Land and Resources

If elected, Juneau said she hopes to sit on the Education and Workforce Committee and the Natural Resources Committee.

As one of the state's five constitutional executive officers, Juneau has sat on the state's land board.

The board oversees the management of and seeks to generate revenue from the state's 6 million acres of public land.

She said her membership on the natural resources committee would allow her to ensure control of public lands is not transferred to the state or sold to private interests.

The state, she said, does not have the money or personnel that would be needed to maintain those lands without the federal government.

The committee also oversees efforts related to drilling, natural resource extraction and tribal water compacts.

Coal

Juneau said she was on a jobs tour where she learned about local industries.

One of those stops was in Colstrip, a town with an uncertain future, because it's suffering under the weight possible EPA regulations regarding coal power plant emissions and a drop in worldwide demand.

Many have blamed the Clean Power Act, an effort by the EPA that would require coal power plants to reduce CO2 emissions.

Enforcement of the act is on hold following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Juneau said the bleak future and uncertainty facing the coal industry is more about a drop in prices and demand, along with legislation pushed in Washington state and Oregon to stop using coal to produce electricity.

She said coal and communities that rely on it as a source of jobs are "in a tough spot."

Juneau said she understands the undercurrent of uncertainty that runs through such coal-reliant communities, but says government and others must work with them to retrain coal workers.

"And so, rather than throwing fear down there and rather than making these big deals of what is going to happen in the future, we should be having conversations with that community and helping them determine what their future looks like," she said.

Juneau said she thinks that discussion is currently lacking.