Mitchell on session

When the 67th legislature convened in January, there were a lot of expectations from legislators in both parties – as well as Montanans. Much of this surrounded what could happen with a Republican governor for the first time in 16 years. In the end, I believe we all have a lot of successes to celebrate.

 Many people’s attention was focused on the state budget and implementation of recreational marijuana, however, there is so much more that happened – much of it with bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. Our greatest successes went far beyond passing these two large bills. Some of our achievements included:

• Increase protection of our Second Amendment Rights

• Protecting unborn children

• Protecting baseload power sources amid rolling blackouts

• Secured free speech on college campuses

• Protecting access to public lands

Overall, having a Republican governor allowed us to pass critical legislation which had been repeatedly vetoed by our two previous governors. The greatest accomplishments during this session were about cutting the size of government and repealing regulations. While entrenched government bureaucrats and political elite pushed back against some of these reforms, Montanans flooded our inboxes with messages cheering us on. So often, the quality and necessity of our actions could be measured by who opposed our work, rather than who supported it.

 Though we have gaveled out and all 150 of us legislators have gone home, our work is far from over. During the next year and a half interim, we have to prepare for how we can fine tune our work in the next legislative session. I know Gov. Gianforte and his team will work closely with us to continue to find efficiencies which protect us from our bloated state government and any threats to our freedom from the swamp in Washington, D.C.


It’s been my honor to serve our community in the legislature, and I’m looking forward to next session.

Braxton Mitchell

House District 3