Election 2024: Powers, Mitchell square off in House District 3
By KATE HESTON
Hungry Horse News
Democrat Debo Powers, a retired teacher, is hoping to return to the Legislature in a race for a newly redrawn House District 3 that has her squaring off against Republican Cathy Mitchell.
Powers was appointed to the Legislature for House District 3 in 2019 but lost the seat to Rep. Braxton Mitchell in the 2020 election.
“It was a different district then, but it has changed. Redistricting ... made it a district that was much more competitive, where either a Democrat or a Republican could win,” Powers said.\.
After observing the 2021 and 2023 legislative sessions, Powers decided to reenter politics.
“I was just really unhappy with so many things that happened [the past two sessions],” Powers said. “I love democracy, I have always wanted to play a part in it. I thought, you could sit around and complain about this, or you can actually do something ... you can run.”
Earlier this year, Powers beat Democrat Guthrie Quist in the primary election with 73% of the vote.
Powers’ opponent, Mitchell, who is a family health nurse practitioner, faced no primary opponent. Mitchell declined to be interviewed, .
POWERS, A retired public school teacher and principal, lives north of Polebridge in a solar cabin. With one daughter and two grandchildren, Powers visited the valley throughout her life and ultimately moved to her North Fork home upon retirement. It’s a place she loves because of its access to public lands.
“I think it’s important that the person who represents the district lives in the district, it’s a huge district ... but 93% of the district is public land. So all the people that live here are very connected to our public lands,” Powers said.
Protecting access to those lands played a role in her decision to run.
Another issue at the forefront for Powers is housing.
“It’s so hard for people who are working regular jobs to even live in Whitefish anymore,” Powers said.
Finding a solution to housing distribution is integral in approaching the issue, she said. The Legislature should play a part in alleviating the burden by equalizing property taxes between various groups. When that isn’t done, Powers said, corporate taxes fall and residential taxes increase, which isn’t fair to working citizens.
Powers, as well as Mitchell, supports a homestead exemption tax, which would lower residential property taxes for those who live in Montana full time.
Public schooling, and how to adequately fund it, is another big issue for Powers. The Montana Constitution ensures a free and quality public education. According to Powers, the state is falling short of that promise.
Schools are relying heavily on levies at a time where tax increases are already burdening communities. The public school funding formula needs revising, she said.
The Legislature’s inability to solve the housing crunch or address the shortfall in public education funding, in her view, made the decision to run an easy one.
“That’s what the Legislature should do, we should be working together cooperatively. It doesn’t matter your political party, we should be focused on solving the problems of the people in our communities,” Powers said. “That’s what I want to do as a representative, and I will work with anybody.”
If elected, Powers plans to focus on issues that everyday Flathead Valley residents deal with, not the cultural disagreements that so often consume the Legislature’s time.
“To start trying to legislate what everyone does and what they look like and how they dress, let’s solve the real problems. Let’s look at property taxes, let’s look at affordable housing, let’s look at our public schools, let’s look at Medicaid expansion. Let’s do the things that will really help the people of Montana,” she said.
MITCHELL, ACCORDING to responses submitted to the Inter Lake for a candidate questionnaire, is a family nurse practitioner at Greater Valley Health Center in Kalispell with two grown sons. She is also the treasurer for the Glacier Country Pachyderm.
In her responses, Mitchell stated that she was open to the recommendations of Gov. Greg Gianforte’s property tax advisory council and housing task force, both of which have been working in the interim to develop policies to put before the Legislature.
She also stated a multitude of ideas for how to better tackle education as legislators, including accountability, using an appropriation method to follow each student and looking at how the top-ranked states for education source their funding.
Mitchell, alongside housing and school funding reform, states that she’s interested in addressing the mental health crisis in Flathead County as well as the opioid use crisis.
House District 3 now includes parts of Whitefish, northern Columbia Falls, Polebridge, West Glacier and Essex. The general election is Nov. 5 and absentee ballots were sent out Oct. 11.