Hill, Windy Boy, Strissel win, Havre charter government and ambulance levy pass

With the report on the final Hill County precinct counted at 3:02 a.m. today, the unofficial count for the 2020 election saw Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, retain his seat, Democrat Jacob "Jake" Strissel win a vacant seat on the Hill County Commission and Republican Ed Hill win the seat in Montana House District 28.

The election also saw Havre voters approve switching the city to a charter form of government and county voters outside of Havre approve a mill levy increase to fund ambulance service in the county.

The county will canvas and confirm the votes Nov. 16.

Hill and Democrat Krystal Steinmetz were running to fill the seat in House District 28, essentially most of Havre. Incumbent Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, did not run for re-election to the seat.

Hill won with 2,293 votes while Steinmetz received 2,132.

Hill and Steinmetz were not available for comment this morning.

Hill County Republican Central Committee Chair Andrew Brekke praised Hill's victory, along with the other Republican wins Tuesday.

Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, Rep. Casey Knudsen, R-Malta, and Rep. Josh Kasmeier, R-Fort Benton, were unopposed in the general election, and with almost 70 percent of the precincts counted this morning, Montana appears to have elected Republicans to all the federal and statewide seats.

"The Hill County GOP is incredibly proud of our candidates and especially our supporters for their hard work over these past months to bring home victories in several key races, most notably House District 28 where Ed Hill has brought that seat back into the red column." Brekke said. "Ed worked very hard and the people of HD 28 rewarded that hard work with a victory. We look forward to Ed getting Helena and working on issues that matter to the Havre community."

Bachmeir had a different view.

"It's obviously very disappointing and disheartening," he said. "I pray and hope for the state that it continues to be the great place that it is. I pray for the people that have the potential to loose their rights. I pray for the people that may loose their health care... I look forward to future elections in Montana and hope for the best."

He said the Democrats had strong candidates statewide, adding that he believes the quality and character of the candidates that ran on the Democratic ticket are some of the best candidates the party has had in the history of Montana.

He said he was particularly disappointed in the race for HD 28.

"I don't think that Ed Hill reflects the values of the community that I was born and raised in," Bachmeier said. "I pray that he does a good job. I really hope that he listens to the people of the community."

He said he was disappointed in the negative campaigning that ran, but added that he doesn't expect that to improve.

"If you think it was bad this year it will only get worse under Greg Gianforte and the super-majority of Republican legislators," he said.

Bachmeier said the election has implications for future races as well.

"Some of the strongest campaign finance law in the country, which are in Montan,a are dead, they're gone and it's only going to get worse," he said.

In the only contested Hill County race, Strissel and Republican Mark Wicks were running to fill the seat being vacated by Democratic Hill County Commissioner Mike Wendland, who did not run for re-election.

The race went back-and-forth with Strissel taking a lead with the first precincts counted, then Wicks moving into the lead as the night proceeded.

Wicks maintained his lead untill the very end, only losing by a small margin, 151-133, in Precinct 22, until the final precinct was counted.

Precinct 28 went for Strissel with a 436-26 vote, giving him the win with 3,586 votes to 3,379 for Wicks.

Neither Wicks nor Strissel were available for comment this morning.

Windy Boy and former Rep. G. Bruce Meyers were in a rematch of former races for House District 32 that runs from northeast Chouteau and southeast Hill Counties through parts of Blaine and Phillips counties.

Windy Boy served in the Montana House of Representatives from 2003 to 2008, then ran for the Senate, defeating Democratic Sen. Frank Smith in his bid for re-election. He beat Smith again in a race for that seat in 2012.

Meyers ran for the House seat in 2014, defeating incumbent Rep. Clarena Brockie, D-Harlem.

In 2016, with Windy Boy termed out of the Senate, Windy Boy ran unopposed for the House seat while Meyers challenged Smith, who again was running for the Senate. Smith won that race.

Meyers ran for the House seat in 2014, defeating incumbent Rep. Clarena Brockie, D-Harlem.

In 2016, with Windy Boy termed out of the Senate, Windy Boy ran unopposed for the House seat while Meyers challenged Smith, who again was running for the Senate. Smith won that race.

Smith ran for the House this year and was unopposed in the general election.

Democrat Mike Fox was unopposed in the race for the Senate seat, which includes House District 32 and runs nearly to North Dakota.

In 2018, Meyers made an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Windy Boy in his bid for re-election, with Windy Boy winning that race.

This election, Meyers took an early lead in Hill County, winning Precinct 14 67-291, but Precinct 28 came back for Windy Boy 387-78, giving Windy Boy the win in Hill County, 577-418.

The Secretary of State Website reports Windy Boy the winner in the entire district, 2,239-1,669 with all 10 precincts reported.

Windy Boy plans to work both sides of the aisle, he said.

"I'm going to shoot for language preservation, a permanent line item to renew the expiration date, so it willI be in the base budget." Windy Boy said. "I am also considering entering a bill to make each reservation their own county. I served on the House of Appropriations Committee and I will probably get it again."

"I spent nothing on my campaign. I didn't campaign, I made some phone calls. I figure I've been here long enough, and I was confident that I gained my constituents' trust," Windy Boy said.

Windy Boy added that he wanted to thank all his supporters and voters.

Bruce Meyers said Windy Boy ran a clean campaign and didn't hear anything negative and felt proud of his own campaign.

"I think I ran a great campaign. I was really glad to see the outpouring of the ideas that I presented and not so much who I was as a person," Meyers said. "I think a lot of people saw the business development ideas and protecting native children and keeping families together. I think I had a solid platform."

The Havre charter proposal passed with 2,183 votes for and 1,726 against.

It is a revisiting of an issue brought up several times, which will allow Havre greater flexibility in passing ordinances. In a standard city government, the city can only pass ordinances allowed under state law while a charter city can pass any ordinances not prohibited by state law.

Past attempts to pass a charter form of government for Havre have included hiring a city manager in addition to the city council and mayor, while the version that passed Tuesday continues with just the mayor and city council.

And the county residents outside of Havre approved raising mill levies to help fund ambulance service outside of Havre in a 1,905 to 995 vote.

Havre had raised the issue because city officials said it could no longer afford to subsidize rural service and needed funding to be provided by the county to continue to do so.