The Flathead County Democratic Party has appointed JoLynn Yenne to challenge Republican incumbent Randy Brodehl in the House District 9 race.

Yenne will replace Diane Taylor, who was selected by the local Democratic Party in early July to be the candidate in the Senate District 4 race against Republican Mark Blasdel. That appointment came after Betsy Cummings withdrew from the state Senate race.

Raised on the Siderius dairy farm south of Kalispell, Yenne graduated from Flathead County High School and received teaching degrees from Eastern Montana College and Central Washington University. She taught at both the elementary and college levels throughout the Northwest.

She comes from a politically active family. Her father, Henry Siderius, was a member of the 1972 Montana Constitutional Convention.

Yenne has observed that through the years, Montana politics have taken an outside flavor. She maintains that out-of-state political action committees and organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council have manipulated the state with closeted agendas, deep pockets of money and a portfolio of carefully designed legislation.

“As a member of the Montana Legislature, I will listen to the concerns of the hard working people of our state and give them a voice,” Yenne said in a press release announcing her candidacy. “Montana legislators should have a responsibility to represent its citizens, not ALEC. There is work to be done in Helena for the people of Montana.”

The general election is Nov. 4.