The race for House District 5, which covers Whitefish and overlaps into neighboring areas, pairs a longtime Whitefish School Board trustee against a recent Whitefish High School graduate.

The unique race for the district took shape soon after Democratic Rep. Ed Lieser decided not to seek re-election. Democrat Dave Fern stepped up to contend for the empty seat. Fern, 63, has served on the Whitefish School Board continuously since 1992.

“As I get older, this is an opportunity for a new challenge to support my community,” Fern said.

As a long-time CASA volunteer who speaks up for children’s interests in court, Fern said he’s witnessed over-stretched workers and under-funded programs struggle to meet the needs of the state’s growing foster kid population. At the same time, he’s said he’s watched a growing senior population lack vital resources.

“These are social problems dealing with some of our most vulnerable populations in the state, they hold a priority to me,” he said. “Both will probably require some additional funding.”

However, he said with a predicted smaller state revenue than expected, legislators will have to be careful with the budget and establish priorities over wants.

Republican Chet Billi, 19, said his focus rests on the rights he feels Montanans are in danger of losing due to an overreaching federal government.

Billi gained recognition when he launched a 2015 ballot initiative that would have allowed public school teachers with a concealed weapons permit to carry a weapon inside a school classroom. A high school junior at the time, Billi said he believed “allowing good guys to have guns” could make schools safer.

“There was a lot of talk of school shootings, and I looked out of my classrooms and saw walls of windows and imagined what could happen if someone came here,” Billi said.

Somewhere along the way, he converted his concerns into action. Though the initiative failed to make it on the ballot, it was a stepping stone in his political interests. Billi said after graduation he intended to become an Army Ranger to fight overseas for his nation, but he shifted that fight to efforts at home.

“Our liberties and freedoms were being eroded away by people with, I’m sure really good intentions,” he said. “Like more restrictions on the ability of people to access firearms for self defense.”

He said one way to protect Montanans is to minimize the state’s reliance on federal funding.

“The federal government is nearly $2 trillion in debt, yet we still rely on them,” he said. “We need to make sure that state services are funded through reliable and sustainable means.”

He said state taxes should only fund government services that can’t be provided by the private sector — such as infrastructure maintenance.

He said he would support a bill aimed at infrastructure, especially since legislators failed to agree on a bill in 2015. But to support an infrastructure bill, Billi said it would have to prioritize roads, sewer and water needs.

“I’m not going to support spending on new government buildings, but there could be agreements to set aside a little extra for communities that don’t have the tax base to support projects,” Billi said.

Fern said he believed the infrastructure bill failed because there wasn’t an agreement on the definition of infrastructure. Like his opponent, Fern said he would consider some government entities with a lower tax base in the bill, such as schools in rural communities.

Where he disagreed with his opponent is how to pay for it.

“Since [the Federal Reserve] has kept interests rates extraordinarily low, and all indications are ... they will continue to, it makes borrowing very attractive,” Fern said. “And that is a strategy a state can use to deal with a backlog of infrastructure needs.”

Another area where the two candidates disagree is the federal government’s involvement in Montana lands.

Billi said he would support increased access to public lands by moving some federally managed lands to state control to give Montanans a voice in their management.

Fern said it’s hard to imagine state resources managing areas such as the Bob Marshall Wilderness. He said before considering a land transfer, he would want to see a business plan that comes out in favor for Montana’s budget.

Both candidates said they were interested in serving on the taxation committee after watching Flathead homeowners carry the weight of growing property taxes. Fern and Billi each said they were interested in the return of a law that capped the property tax at 75 percent of the value of the home — though each said that percentage could vary.

Fern also said he would be interested in seeing rebates for families with property taxes that outmatched their income.

Reporter Katheryn Houghton may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at khoughton@dailyinterlake.com.