Family leading Montana’s conservative push
Political dynasty has intensified debates over range of issues
KALISPELL, Mont. — During a legislative hearing in 2011 that was a prelude to Montana’s debates on abortion, state Rep. Keith Regier displayed an image of a cow and made the argument that cattle were more valuable when pregnant.
The comparison drew a rebuke from some women in the room, but Regier, a Republican, declined to apologize.
Over the years, the former schoolteacher and sod farmer has seldom demurred from his growing brand of combative Christian-oriented politics, in which the Ten Commandments are the foundation of good law and some of the biggest battles have been with moderates in his own party.
Regier has emerged as the patriarch of a new family political dynasty that has injected fresh conservative intensity into debates over abortion, diversity training and, this spring, transgender rights.
Regier chairs the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, while his daughter, Amy, leads its counterpart in the House.
Regier’s son, Matt, has risen to speaker of the House. The trio of legislators, each wielding a similar brand of unflinching conservatism, were among the most powerful proponents of a set of bills that took particular aim at the rights of transgender people.
It was Matt Regier who led the move to bar Zooey Zephyr, the first openly transgender woman elected to the state Legislature, who had spoken out vociferously on the House floor last month against a measure banning hormone treatments and surgical care for
transgender minors. The proposal was one of several new laws that passed recently, including one prohibiting adult-oriented drag shows on public property and another creating a strict definition of a person’s sex.
At the close of the legislative session last week, fellow lawmakers gave Regier a standing ovation.
“There were many times of sunlight, and there were also times of shade, but overall it’s been an incredible ride,” the speaker said.
The Regier family hails from the Flathead Valley of northwest Montana, a majestic region of glaciers and fir forests around Kalispell that has become a destination for conservatives looking to flee urban life and liberal politics in other states. Militia groups and far-right religious leaders have also found a home in the valley, some of them drawn to the notion of establishing what is often called a
“redoubt” in the American Northwest.
Keith Regier said he had not seriously considered running for office until he retired from teaching after nearly three decades, telling The Daily Inter Lake news outlet in 2005 that he planned to focus on sod farming with his son and perhaps do some writing. But by 2008 he had won a seat in the state House, promising to lower taxes, protect the death penalty and undermine labor unions by converting Montana into a “right to work” state.
In an interview, he said he assessed all legislation through two lenses: whether the proposed laws were biblical and whether they were good for the average Montanan.
“This country was founded on Judeo-Christian values,” he said. “Just read the Declaration of Independence. It’s very obvious.”
His unyielding approach
gained traction in the state capital of Helena, and he rose up to become majority leader in 2015.
In 2016, Matt Regier joined his father in running for office, saying he was motivated to do so after the local school board added gender identity to its anti-discrimination policy. He said he feared the rise of transgender advocacy was threatening traditional values.
Amy Regier ran in 2020, sharing her perspective as a nurse about the societal dangers of coronavirus pandemic restrictions and vowing to cut taxes. In the primary, she defeated a veteran Republican lawmaker, Bruce Tutvedt, who characterized the new Republican stance as “very authoritarian politics, top-down — no tolerance for a Republican like me.”
While the Democrats had held onto the governor’s office for 16 years, that
ended in 2021 as Republicans steadily gained ground.
The Regiers turned their attention not just to defeating Democrats but to ousting Republicans who did not fall into line. In one race, the Regiers joined with anti-abortion activists to create a political action committee called Doctors for a Healthy Montana.
Among the targets was Rep. Joel Krautter, a Republican from the eastern Montana community of Sidney who had voted to expand Medicaid. The committee leased a large billboard that showed a picture of a baby with the message: “Joel Krautter voted for taxpayer funded abortions.” Krautter, who opposes abortion, objected to the characterization.
“I thought it was bogus, but these people don’t care too much,” Krautter said. He lost the 2020 Republican primary to a more conservative candidate.
Then last fall, in a private caucus vote, Matt Regier narrowly emerged as House speaker. It was a result that shocked some Republican lawmakers. Some were queasy about the direction that the party was set to take.
It did not take long: A text message went out inviting Republican women to a meeting in Regier’s office, according to two people who were in attendance.
Regier wanted to talk about Zephyr, who had been newly elected from Missoula. He asked the women what steps the House should take to manage the chamber’s bathrooms in Zephyr’s presence.
Mallerie Stromswold, who was among the Republicans at the meeting, said she was surprised that such an issue was one of Regier’s first orders of business. But some of the women in the room expressed concerns about sharing private quarters with Zephyr, she said, and a decision was made to add locks to the bathroom so that one person could use the whole facility, with several stalls, in private.
“I was the only one who openly had a problem with the conversation,” said Stromswold, who has since left the Legislature.
Once the session began in January, Keith Regier caused a national stir when he submitted a draft resolution calling for Congress to investigate alternatives to reservations for Native Americans; the resolution said the current system had caused “confusion, acrimony and animosity.” He later withdrew it. Republicans also began advancing the bills on transgender issues, moving many of them through the Regierled judiciary committees.
Keith Regier said he and his children were doing no more than what they had been elected to do.
“I guess people know our family and identify with our values and want us to come and represent them.”