In red House District 5, Democrat hopes to make it a race

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

A Martin City Democrat will challenge Republican Braxton Mitchell for the House District 5 seat this fall.

Steve Paugh, 70, said he didn’t want the race to go uncontested, so he decided to run in the newly-carved district.

Mitchell was the incumbent in House District 3, which used to include a large swath of land from the City of Columbia Falls to Marias Pass.

But now House District 5 covers the Canyon and part of Highway 206.

Paugh, also known as “Philly Steve” to his Canyon neighbors, calls himself a “moderate liberal.” He moved here from the Philadelphia area 15 years ago and his son, Adam, and his family moved out here back in 1999, he said.

Paugh was a title insurance agent for 40 years and hopes to use that expertise in Helena if he’s elected. He said his slogan is “thoughtful representation,” and he said he looks at issues in a non-partisan way.

He claimed that at least two bills Mitchell worked on were a waste of time – one dealt with Antifa being named a terrorist organization and the other dealt with banning drag queens in school. Those bills, Paugh claimed, had little to do with the general population in Montana. It has maybe one drag queen in the entire state and Paugh said Antifa, in his view, weren’t terrorists.

Paugh said he wanted to work on issues that mattered, like taking his work expertise and using it to craft laws that would make housing more affordable. 

He pointed to a program by the Northwest Montana Land Trust that provides a discounted land lease to lower income homeowners, so they have an overall lower house payment. They own the house, but the land trust owns the land, he explained.

He would also like to see property taxes become more equitable, so those in higher end homes paid more than those in lower end residences.

He said property taxes are amazingly complicated and can be confusing.

“All (homeowners) see at the end of the day is they were paying $1,500 a year and now they’re paying $2,300,” Paugh said.

On education, Paugh said teachers aren’t paid enough and funding education needed to be re-worked on a state level.

He also spoke to crime in the Canyon. He said he was friends with Whisper Sellars and her family. Sellars was shot to death during an altercation outside the South Fork Saloon in 2022.

The case against her alleged shooter,  Del Orrin Crawford, of Kila is expected to go to trial next week, two years later.

Paugh said it didn’t seem right that the family should have to wait this long, particularly since Crawford is out on bail.

Paugh is organizing a candidate forum at the Hungry Horse Fire Hall at 7 p.m. July 25. 

All the candidates for the area are invited including Mitchell, Democrat Angela Kennedy, who is running for Senate District 2, which covers the Canyon and Carl Glimm, the Republican incumbent Senator for the district.