Smith tops 2 foes to win Democratic nod in SD 16

Frank Smith is one step closer to winning back the Montana state Senate seat he lost eight years ago.

Smith, a Poplar resident, defeated two Rocky Boy residents to win the Democratic nomination in Senate District 16, the district that became known in Helena as the weasel district because of its odd shape.

Smith topped LeAnn Montes, the attorney general for the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, and Bobbi Jo Favel, also a Rocky Boy resident. The final figures last night showed Smith with 657 votes, Montes with 494 and Favel with 320.

Smith did very well in the western part of the sprawling district, carrying Valley and Roosevelt counties by a large margin. He carried the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and the areas adjacent to the reservation. He has been active in civic affairs at Fort Peck for nearly a half century.

But the western part of the district, Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, Rocky Boy and adjacent farmlands, voted for Montes and Favel.

But Montes and Favel split the vote in the west, giving Smith an advantage.

“I feel good about it,” Smith said after the returns came in Tuesday night.

Smith will take on Rep. Bruce Meyers, a Republican, in the Nov. 8 election. Myers broke tradition two years ago when he was elected to the House from an area that often votes for Democrats by margins of up to 20 to 1.

Instead of running for re-election, Meyers opted to run for the Senate.

Smith said he would campaign against Meyers based on his voting record which, he said, was too much along the party line.

Instead of voting with the Republicans, he should have followed the lead of the Native Caucus, Smith said. All of the other members of the caucus are Democrats.

Smith served in the Senate for four years until he was unseated eight years ago by Jonathan Windy Boy. Smith sought a comeback four years ago, but Windy Boy again beat him.