2026 Park County Commission & Local State Legislature Candidates
PCEC is providing information to support voters and encourage everyone to vote. We reached out to all candidates running for Park County Commissioner, House District 58, House District 57, and Senate District 29 in 2026.
We asked them to answer four key questions, which you’ll find below.
Responses are presented, unedited, in the order in which they were received. Jason Gunderson (Senate District 29) and Joshua Congleton (House District 58) did not provide a response.
Important Reminders:
Polls are open from 7am-8pm on Election Day Tuesday November 3rd.
You will only receive your ballot in the mail if you are a registered absentee voter.
Ensure your ballot reaches the election office BY Nov 3rd at 8pm, a post mark will NOT count.
We encourage you to drop it off in person, especially after October 23rd so it reaches the election office in time.
You can still register to vote or update your voter registration in person at the election office at 414 E Callender St in Livingston
Encourage your friends, family and neighbors to vote and make sure they have a plan to get to the polls.
What The Candidates Had To Say
County Commission Candidates
What are your top priorities or concerns? And how will you address them?
Frank O’Connor
Roads, land use issues, affordable housing, budgeting and more public participation. I will listen to the citizens of Park County and help to problem solve. One of the ways we could move things forward in Park County is to use our ties to our state representatives to look at the way our taxes are distributed back to the County this way we would have a chance at balancing our budget, and have more money for our roads and all our other projects.This job is complex and it requires a lot of patience and dedication and most importantly listening to the people of Park County. I will work with anyone and everyone who wants to see this place live up to its potential while still maintaining the same quality and style that makes this place the best place to be.
Mike Story
Our top priorities are balancing the budget while ensuring a safe environment for the public and county staff, who are our most valued asset in Park County’s professional workforce. Public servants deserve competitive wages. Next, we’ll focus on creating a future plan for infrastructure and generating revenue beyond property taxes. I’ll be collaborating with our representatives in Helena to explore new sources of income.
What is your vision for the future of Park County?
Frank O’Connor
I think we live in the most beautiful and amazing place in the world. I am grateful to live work and raise my family here. I would like to see us grow to our full potential yet still have the charm and neighbor helping neighbor feel. We need a long term vision for the direction we want our county to move toward. We can not stop change but we can shape our future.
Mike Story
Park County is diverse in both growth and preservation, with varying needs from one side to the other. I believe that by listening and finding solutions, we can move into the future together while still remaining good neighbors. I’m committed to fostering community understanding and restoring the openness needed to work together.
In a recent poll, Montanans overwhelmingly support land and water conservation. What do you think poses the greatest threat to our local natural resources? (See Poll Here)
Frank O’Connor
At the moment rural sprawl and data centers. I would support a two year moratorium on data centers. This would give the industries time to sort out better more efficient ways to manage their energy and resource use. If we need them we need to make them environmentally neutral and I think it’s just a matter of time before they can make them work responsibly and environmentally in our favor.
Mike Story
Conserving and protecting natural resources has been a priority for both public and private sectors, and keeping a mindset that we can always improve should be key for anyone using water, developing land, or growing food. Survival still requires extracting materials to build infrastructure and housing, so it’s important to find the right balance between the cost of protection and the need for affordable living.
What’s your favorite thing about Park County?
Frank O’Connor
The people, this is the best place to live. I have lived in a few different cities and states and have traveled to a few countries and this is the place to be. In late June when the grass is green and the mountains are still caped with snow it is simply amazing. With half of our county public land it is a great place to roam.
Mike Story
I grew up hiking, hunting, and floating down the Yellowstone River. The county boasts the tallest mountain in the state and two entrances to the nation’s oldest park. But the best part is the people—these past four years have been amazing, meeting and hearing their stories and history. Whether they’ve been here for generations or just arrived last week, everyone has ideas and input on where this county is headed in the future.
House District 58 Candidates
What are your top priorities or concerns? And how will you address them?
Jamie Islay
There are many priorities and/or concerns that I have, I will quickly try to list a few.
I am very much Pro-Education, and will continue to work towards providing Montana's Students a quality education system for all that is well funded, well staffed, and of high quality.
Our healthcare system in our country and consequently in our state is in great disrepair. The overall costs of healthcare is over the top, accessibility is compromised because of this, and quality is lacking because most entities involved are focusing on profits instead of patients.
Preserving Public Lands and our environment.
Fair taxation
Affordability for all.
Food security
Affordable Housing
The list is long, and a 150 word limit is not enough to address them all, other than I will work hard to do what I can for Montana and Montanans.
Joshua Congleton
no response
What is your vision for the future of Park County?
Jamie Islay
Maintain Quality education opportunities.
Making sure that growth is done thoughtfully and sustainably.
Providing essential services for all.
Continued economic growth sustainably.
That all citizens of the county have the ability to live quality lives.
Joshua Congleton
no response
In a recent poll Montanans overwhelmingly support land and water conservation. What do you think poses the greatest threat to our local natural resources? (See Poll Here)
Jamie Islay
There are many, but it really comes down to too many looking at the land and resources as a way to make money, grow wealth, for personnel benefit; instead of looking at it as treasures for all to enjoy and something that we need to preserve forever. Data Centers, Billionaires, and lack of regulations in extraction of all of our treasures are all great threats.
Joshua Congleton
no response
What’s your favorite thing about Park County?
Jamie Islay
Sense of community, Location and availability to mountains, wildlife and nature. Diversity of people. Access to arts, good food, music, entertainment, all nestled within our town and county.
Joshua Congleton
no response
House District 57 Candidates
What are your top priorities or concerns? And how will you address them?
Bob Crank
Fiscal Responsibility: It’s not the Government’s money, it’s yours. Be accountable to spend taxpayer money wisely on essential and constitutional programs. Public Safety: Safeguarding our communities is not controversial. Those who commit crimes should be held accountable, because the alternative is more crime. Agriculture: America is losing small farms and ranches. Protecting agriculture is not only a national imperative, it is also Montana’s largest commodity. Public Lands: Protecting public lands is more than just setting it aside, it’s creating researched and balanced management programs to ensure we have clean/healthy forests, grasslands and water. Affordable Housing: Housing costs have increased beyond the scale of reality for regular people and property taxes have gone up with the housing costs. Stewardship over Politics: Legislators have a responsibility to their communities, not to the political machine. We are stewards for our citizens, not political operatives for our party.
Becky Edwards
1. Affordability: we must lower property taxes, reject a regressive sales tax and unfair flat income tax - full stop. The wealthy must pay their fare share. Additionally, healthcare premiums continue to rise. I'd like to pursue an option for individuals to buy into the state health plan, or other cost-saving measures.
2. Protecting our public lands: last session I was proud to vote to reject several land transfer/land sale bills that would have reduced Montanans access to our public lands. Additionally, I authored and passed HB932, which directs $37 million to working ranches, parks, trails, wildlife habitat and wildlife crossings every other year.
3. Responsible energy development: establishing a moratorium on data centers, and expanding renewable energy options such as geothermal - which is a bill I just finished in our interim energy committee.
4. Supporting and funding our public schools: we must grow our funding amounts to ensure stability for our rural school districts.
What is your vision for the future of Park County?
Bob Crank
Maintain some semblance of ourselves; hard working, humble and neighborly people that enjoy being part of our small communities. Growth and change seem to be inevitable, and while that growth seems unstoppable I do not want to see Park County become something even more unrecognizable to the people that have spent their whole lives here. Many years ago, Livingston's moto was "Livingston Mont. - It's Good Enough For Me". While tourism seems to be a major economic driver of our county, we can still maintain our sense of "self" without becoming a "playground" for the wealthy. I want to continue enjoying my outdoor and wilderness adventures, I want family ranches to survive, I want to protect our wilderness and wildlife habitats and I want our youth to grow up being proud of where they came from.
Becky Edwards
My hope for Park County is that families can afford to live, work, and raise their families here for generations to come. My vision is for a more affordable Park Co, with lower property taxes and free from regressive sales tax. Our public schools would have increased funding and support, and our rural healthcare networks would be solvent and capable of handling the needs across Park County. The wealthy would pay their fare share. Our county would have more funding for roadways and bridges, ensuring safe travel from Wilsall to Cooke City, with thoughtfully placed wildlife crossings for safer critters and safer travelers. And finally - we continue to invest in perhaps our most valuable asset: our public lands and waters. I will work to ensure Park County residents for generations to come can camp, hunt, fish, bike, float, hike and climb in the diverse public lands across the county, and that the thousands of jobs who depend on our recreational economy can continue to prosper.
In a recent poll Montanans overwhelmingly support land and water conservation. What do you think poses the greatest threat to our local natural resources? (See the Poll)
Bob Crank
In my opinion, corporate greed and irresponsible adventurers have always been the greatest threat to nature. Since our country has become less commodity based and more service orientated, we've become heavily reliant on importing natural resources. So, not only are citizens paying more for imported commodities, our government relies more on income/property taxes to function. I think there can be a balance between responsible and proportional management of natural resources, while keeping our land and water safe can clean.
Becky Edwards
Growth. Montana's population continues to grow, and more and more folks are building homes and establishing ranches in the wildland urban interface...places wild critters use for migration corridors and home ranges. As our communities grow and tourism visitation grows - our trails, backcountry campsites, forest service roadways, and more become more congested. Very simply, more people equates to more use, which stresses our natural resources and wildlife. However, there is a bright side to increased use: more folks are immersed in our wild spaces, and hopefully feel compelled to protect and advocate for them. We can thoughtfully find a balance between people living, working, and playing here in Montana, visitors enjoying our natural assets, and the space, care, and advocacy needed to ensure these places and critters live on comfortably for generations after us.
What’s your favorite thing about Park County?
Bob Crank
Exploring the wildness areas; Crazy Mountains, Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains, Custer National Forest, and Gallatin National Forest. I love that I can still work on the ranch on my days off, enjoy horseback rides in the mountains and drink from snow-melt streams in the high country. I appreciate being part of small-town and a community where being neighborly still means something.
Becky Edwards
As a farm kid who has spent many decades climbing and skiing mountains: Park County is the most amazing place in Montana, where you can raise a 4H steer in your backyard with Yellowstone National Park right out your front door. Park County is a blend of our agricultural and outdoor heritage as a state, and still believes in helping your neighbor. It would be a great honor to represent HD57 where I have lived, worked, and recreated in for nearly 3 decades. Thank you!
Senate District 29 Candidates
What are your top priorities or concerns? And how will you address them?
Scott Rosenzweig
My greatest concern is how incredibly expensive it is to live, work and raise a family in Montana. I want my children to have the same opportunities I did, and I’m not confident they currently do, by no fault of their own. Housing, groceries, gas, healthcare, and access to everything from public lands to quality education is increasingly unequal. That’s not the Montana way, and I want our political system to look for Montana solutions not try and parrot overly ideological decisions from other states.
Many of the proposed tax changes in Helena are unfortunately driven by ideological extremes and not focused on trying to help Montanans. A flat tax is a selfish tax driven by a desire to allow those who have benefited the most from Montana to refrain from paying their fair share. We should focus on property tax reductions, rather than income tax cuts for the wealthy.
Jason Gunderson
no response
What is your vision for the future of Park County?
Scott Rosenzweig
Park County is the most beautiful place in the entire country — if not the world — and I want to continue to serve Park County by making it a more inclusive place where we can all benefit from and enjoy what makes Park County special. Supposedly Park County has one billionaire per thousand residents, as many others are unable to pay rent, afford food or get the healthcare they need. We need to remind ourselves that we are in this together, and though a rising tide lifts all boats, we still need to proactively work to better our community and help our neighbors.
Jason Gunderson
no response
In a recent poll Montanans overwhelmingly support land and water conservation. What do you think poses the greatest threat to our local natural resources? (See the Poll Here.)
Scott Rosenzweig
I’m very concerned about the threats to our land and water posed by data centers and the persistent activism of a narrow minded few who wish to close off, restrict access to and sell our public lands.
Data centers are a part of what may be the largest disruption in the global economy since the printing press or first industrial revolution. If Montana decides to allow data centers, it should be done so only with the buy-in and support of local communities. We shouldn’t let data centers drive up our electricity rates, pollute our land and waters, and degenerate our natural beauty.
Montana is proudly the Big Sky and Treasure state, and it is just as incumbent on us to protect our natural beauty as it is to protect our access to it. We need to acknowledge the right to corner crossings and prevent the further sales of public lands without public benefit.
Jason Gunderson
no response
What’s your favorite thing about Park County?
Scott Rosenzweig
Too many things! I’m here in Montana because of the peace I feel every time I open my eyes, because my battery gets recharged when I’m running in the woods on a snowy day, and because I am grateful that I got to raise my children here. But the only reason a place is great to live in is because the community is – the people are – great. Park County has more collective community spirit than any place I’ve ever been, and I am grateful for the opportunity I have to help Park County, where and how I can, in the legislature.
Jason Gunderson
no response
AAUW 2026 CANDIDATE FORUM
COME HEAR THE CANDIDATES DISCUSS THE ISSUES
October 19, 2026, 6:00 pm-8:45 pm
Community Room, Park City County Courthouse, 414 E. Callender, Livingston
6:00 pm – 7:15 pm
Park County Clerk of the Court
County Commissioner
Sheriff
7:30 – 8:45 PM
House District 57 and 58
Senate District 29