Elsie Arntzen attends Lincoln-Reagan Dinner

Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen was among the many Republicans to attend this year's Blaine and Hill County Lincoln-Reagan Dinner Sunday, where she talked about her candidacy for the eastern district of Montana's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The seat is currently held by Rep. Matt Rosendale who was originally going to be the keynote speaker at the dinner but canceled along with Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte.

Rosendale filed to run for Montana's Senate seat held by Jon Tester, but dropped out, after less than a week, after former President Donald Trump endorsed his primary opponent Tim Sheehy, who also had the support of Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Rosendale has not filed to run for the seat again as of deadline this morning, but many Republicans running in the primary, including Arntzen have said that they would only run if Rosendale decided to challenge Tester.

When asked if she would stay in the race if Rosendale files, an Arntzen press spokesperson said he would need to check with her, but she is "all in" on this race.

Trump's return to the presidency is her number one priority Arntzen said in an interview after Sunday's dinner, touting his economic and social policies.

"I'm all in on President Trump," she said.

She said the federal government should be removing regulations on agriculture producers and small businesses, which is what they need more than direct assistance.

As for other policy priorities, she said, the surge of migrants at the U.S. southern border, which she repeatedly called "an invasion" is the number one issue facing the country.

She claimed that there are more "illegals" at the border than mothers giving birth in the U.S. and that their presence is "changing the dynamics of who our country is."

Arntzen said the federal government needs to drastically cut its spending, especially on bureaucratic matters, and one unnecessary expense stood out to her; the U.S. Department of Education, which she said needs to be either reduced in scale or eliminated entirely. She said students need to be supported and their parents need to have more say in the curriculum, and that subjects like climate change should not be discussed by the department of education at all.

Parents need to be actively listened to by schools, she said, and the federal government needs to honor states' rights.

She also said schools need to be supported in their efforts to curb suicidal ideation in students, and for educators to acknowledge them and their challenges as unique, but not to call them victims.

"They need to be recognized, not told that they're victims, but to be recognized," she said. "If we can do that in our public school systems or community, our families are going to be stronger."

Arntzen said educators are not mental health care providers, but they need to be supportive in what capacity they can.

She said there is a crisis of hopelessness among young people and students, and schools need to do all they can to address it.

As for other government agencies, Arntzen said she wants to move the various department headquarters out of Washington and around the country which she claimed would increase diversity and local accountability.