50 years old.
Permanent residence: Missoula, MT;
Employer: Executive Director, Friends of the Children - Western Montana & private business owner
Education: Bachelor of Arts, Georgetown University; Master of Arts, University of Chicago; Juris Doctorate, Catholic University of America.
I was raised by a single father after the death of my mother at a young age. Early on, I learned the value of hard work, looking out for your neighbor, and the importance of public service. I've lived these values throughout my career. I served three members of the U.S. Congress as a legislative advisor and went on to serve our country overseas fighting terrorism after 9/11. I have also advocated for crime victims as a prosecutor.
My number one priority in the Montana Legislature will be improving housing affordability. I will support investments in infrastructure (water, sewer, roads) for larger workforce housing projects that will improve the supply of housing and bring costs down. I will work to ensure that we fully fund the housing trust fund and maintain low-interest credit facilities to support the development of new workforce housing. I will also support expanding the use of housing land trusts. I want to reduce barriers to home ownership by creating the Montana Dream account, a savings and investment account for home down payments. I will also propose a new homeowner tax credit to support low and middle income earners as new home owners.
Montanans are paying too much for everything from groceries to homes, property taxes and health insurance. I will work to address the drivers of rising costs and take on corporate interests that exploit inflation as an excuse to unfairly increase prices.
I will also advocate for reducing property taxes by shifting more of the burden to the tourism sector and work to ensure that health insurance remains affordable and accessible for all Montanans.
I will be a strong advocate for preserving access to Medicaid and Medicare for those in need and our elders, while holding private insurance companies accountable for unjustified premium hikes and claim denials. I will also push for investment in expanding our medical workforce capacity.
Montana and the United States already have the most fair and secure elections in the world and an incredible mail-in voting system in Montana that makes voting simple and efficient from the comfort of the voter's home. I strongly support maintaining and protecting our election system from foreign interference and ensuring that states continue to preserve their constitutional right to administer elections - - not the president or federal government.
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Campaign Email: royhandley4montana@gmail.com
Place of Birth: Missoula County, MT (Clinton, MT)
Age on Election Day (November 2026)- 60
Permanent Residency: Clinton, MT (Missoula County)
Occupation: Rancher / Businessman, Self-Employed
Education: Agricultural Business Degree
Agriculture is important to Montana. As a rancher in Western Montana, I understand the challenges that farmers and ranchers face across the state. As a local businessman, I also understand the issues that small businesses, property, and homeowners across the state face. As a school bus contractor for over 30 years, I am familiar with Montana’s public school system. All these experiences will be valuable as the legislature tackles decisions about agriculture, taxes, wildlife, and the economy.
Young people moving out of state to find jobs & affordable homes, as people with high salaries / large retirement accts from out of state are buying properties , driving up home & land prices. Many small businesses are losing employees, as workers cannot afford housing in some areas of MT.
I propose tax breaks & waiving building permit fees to those who build housing for employees.
Spending & taxes must be reduced. State & county govt must evaluate what services are essential. State govt is mainly funded by income tax collections. Rather than increasing income tax, reduce tax burden and regulation on businesses. allowing businesses to spend time & resources expanding & improving businesses, for more jobs & more tax base.
To help Montanans struggling economically, the state needs to continue to promote more jobs in Montana.
Tax burdens and regulations need to be decreased on businesses. When business owners spend less time on government red tape, they have more resources for expanding & improving business, resulting in higher wages.
High taxes also affect Montanans economically. Increases in property taxes must be limited on working Montanans and Montana families. Montanans that pay income tax should get rebates on their property taxes. Non-residents of Montana that own property, but do not pay state income tax should not be allowed rebates on property taxes.
Many elections in MT are mail-in, making it easy for many to vote, And Voters have the option to receive absentee ballots for other elections. I support providing Photo ID to vote & registering to vote ; limiting same-day voter registration to noon on election day, when election workers already have so much to do on this day. Without distraction of registering new voters, election workers can focus on verifying rules are followed.
The role of money in elections is complicated , and becomes more so every year. Candidates must spend great sums of money to get the word out about their goals and proposals, & build name recognition. The state might consider limiting the amount of money candidates may accept from any one source.
I am a Butte Democrat, a Montana public school kid, and the son of waves of immigrants to Montana, starting in the 1890s and continuing through the 1980s. My family came to Montana in search of the American dream, which they found in Butte and I found here in Missoula, where my wife and I raised our family. I graduated from Butte High School, the University of Montana (Physics & Philosophy), and NYU Law (Real Estate & Tax Law). I built my career here in Montana, preserving historic Montana buildings, developing community housing, and running a small business. Over the last 47 years Montana has given me everything - my education, my life-perspective, my family, my career - and I am running to pay that gift forward to the next generation.
(1) Fixing our broken system for funding government services and (2) Protecting our unique 1972 State Constitution. All other issues facing us flow from these two root causes. As a pragmatic progressive I believe that by focusing on “boring” issues like tax policy, we can make real change to the economic, social, educational, and environmental problems facing us today. As a lawyer by training, I deeply appreciate what the crafters of our State Constitution created, with its emphasis on the rights of working Montanans to a clean and healthful environment, a free quality public education, an explicit right to privacy, and a prohibition on the importation of armed persons into the State (the Pinkertons in Butte in the 1900s, ICE today).
I’m a small Montana business owner. I get it. I’ve opened the store at 6 am, shoveled the snow, taken out the garbage, unpacked loads, run payroll, tried to figure out IT, dealt with insurance, covered shifts, closed up at 9 pm, kissed my sleeping kids goodnight, and woke up to do it all over again, hoping something would be left to show for it. That’s why when Gov. Schweitzer asked me to serve on the State Workforce Investment Board and Gov. Bullock asked me to join his Main Street Montana Program, I said yes. We need to support Montana-grown businesses, invest in public education, provide public healthcare for all, and take care of our elders. We need to stop catering to the Epstein class and start focusing on working Montanans.
Montana elections are secure. Mail-in ballots are safe and effective and allow all Montanans, including rural voters and the elderly, to exercise their constitutional right to vote. The biggest challenge to free and fair elections in Montana is the pernicious influence of dark money flowing from out-of-state PACs. We’ve seen the show before with William Clark, Marcus Daly, the Anaconda Company, and the “Copper Collar.” Citizens United was wrongly decided. We need the Montana Plan transparent election initiative, strong donor disclosure laws, prohibitions on campaign coordination, public campaign financing, and small donor matching. We need to enforce existing laws, not make it more difficult for Montanans to vote.
Born in Mineral County, MT. Age 43 on election day. Missoula County resident since age 5. Currently between jobs after a recent layoff. Background in SaaS sales, program management, and technical operations. I earned my MA in Education and BA in Geography and Spanish Literature from UM.
I've worked across more industries than most legislators encounter in a career, including maritime research, renewable energy, emergency medicine, education, and technology. I've often had to leave Montana to find work, and always came back. The more I see of the world, the more grateful I am to raise my daughter here. I'm living close to the issues my constituents face, not observing them from a distance. That firsthand experience is my qualification.
Healthcare and education come first, because you can't fight for public lands or environmental protections when you're struggling to pay a medical bill or working multiple jobs to get by. Healthy, educated, and financially secure people are the prerequisite for solving everything else.
We have work to do addressing housing affordability and property tax relief in Montana, especially for fixed-income seniors. Then on capturing tax revenue from out-of-state companies and extractive industries, and encouraging visitors to pay their fair share. We also need to fully fund and support science-backed state management agencies to protect our public lands. I prioritize in that order because the foundation has to come before the rest of the house.
Expand Medicaid fully and improve the delivery of existing coverage. Fully staff DPHHS, bring support jobs back to Montana, and fix the user experience so qualified Montanans can easily access existing healthcare and nutrition benefits they legally qualify for, and pursue affordable childcare options that let parents stay in the workforce without going broke.
On costs broadly, instead of cutting direct programs, we need to close loopholes for out-of-state employers and extractive industries, freeze property taxes for fixed-income seniors, and firmly reject regressive solutions like a sales tax that hits working Montanans hardest. The goal is making Montana affordable for people who live and work here, not just those passing through.
Every eligible Montanan should be able to vote without barriers. That means protecting mail-in ballots, same-day registration, and tribal voting access, and opposing measures that prevent legal voters from exercising their right. On election security, I trust our county elections office and their existing processes. On money in politics, I support full transparency in campaign finance, strongly oppose candidates who benefit from dark money or corporate spending, and support candidates who get their support from people within the state or district. I'm the lowest-budget candidate in my primary, with lots of small donations, and I don’t like to ask people who are already struggling for more. I believe that should be an asset, not a liability.
