Lake County’s primary Republican race for House District 13 is between three-term incumbent Linda Reksten and 20-year-old newcomer Finley Warden.  

The race has drawn attention across the community from Republicans and Democrats alike, thanks in part to some mailers sent by Americans for Prosperity, which have criticized Reksten for her voting record. 

The primary election is June 2, and it will determine who runs against the Democratic candidate, Dalton Bradford, in the general election on Nov. 2.  

Linda Reksten 

Reksten grew up in Polson and spent close to 40 years of her career in the education world. She was a teacher in California before taking on a number of administrative roles.  

Reksten later moved back to Montana and became superintendent of the Butte School District and later the Polson School District. Four years after retirement, she successfully ran for her first term in the House of Representatives in 2020.  

While Reksten graduated from Flathead High School because her parents worked in Kalispell, she has deep roots in Polson. Her grandfather built the first mill in 1912 and most of her family is in the area. She recalls spending summers as a teen working in Polson and teaching swimming lessons at Boettcher Park.  

Now, Reksten has served three terms putting her education background to work on the House Education Committee, first as a member, then vice chair and in 2025 as chair. She’s also spent three terms serving on the House State Administration Committee and two terms on the Local Government Interim Committee. 

Reksten's last few campaign themes have been “promises made, promises kept for Lake County,” which she said she has delivered on. As head of the education committee, she says she worked on fiscal responsibility, promoted policies that protect taxpayer dollars and expand school choice, and focused on vocational training.  

“You learn in education and through my background and experiences, you always put your teachers, your students ahead of yourself, and I do the same with my constituents,” Reksten said. “I always put Lake County's constituents ahead of outside special interests.”  

Reksten noted her past terms and life experience have prepared her for the Legislature. She has looked back at what she promised during her last campaign, including property tax relief, taxes in general and teacher starting pay, and wants to return for one final term before passing the baton to someone else.  

She noted her support on the Student and Teacher Advancement for Results and Success Act (STARS), which improved starting teacher salaries. She also points to her efforts on property taxes that either stayed the same or were relieved for “80% of Lake County,” and the reduction in income taxes. She added that the property tax bill came later in the session and will need to be tweaked this session.  

Reksten’s priorities, if elected, include affordable housing, healthcare, law enforcement resources, education that is centered on student outcomes, and Medicaid. She noted her recent involvement in public meetings and is working with the Polson City Commission, along with Mayor Laura Dever, on a boardwalk in Polson.  

“With three terms under my belt, I can probably influence some people who would probably get some resources for us that maybe a new person in the Legislature couldn't get,” she said. “You elect me for influence and for experience.”  

Reksten said that while housing isn’t her strong suit, she has studied the topic and has already worked to cut a lot of red tape that affects developers. She said additional tax incentives are needed to encourage more housing.  

“I'm really involved in our community, and I care about our community, and regardless of if I finish this last term, I'm still going to be involved in the community,” she said. “I pay taxes here, I live here, and I care about us.”  

Finley Warden 

Warden is a sixth-generation Montanan whose grandparents came to Polson in the 1960s. He said he grew up half in Polson and half in Missoula.  

Warden attended Sentinel High School in Missoula for two years before switching to an online high school program. He later attended Missoula College and Montana State University in Bozeman before transferring to Liberty University.  

Warden is now a senior studying political science online at Liberty, a private evangelical Christian university based in Lynchburg, Va.  

Warden said his interest in politics came from witnessing firsthand “left-wing ideology” in the Missoula classroom. He said everything in his English and history classes from middle school to high school was anti-capitalism and the “oppressed narrative that the left preaches.”  

This led him to ask questions about why this was in his classroom and caused him to attend the educator conference organized by the Montana Federation of Public Employees. He attended the 2024 and 2025 conferences as a private citizen and reported on what he observed.  

Warden posted a video on X, which went viral. Multiple conservative groups and radio talk shows began sharing the post according to a Montana Free Press article about Warden’s experience.  

“It's very disheartening what I uncovered,” Warden said.  

The audio clips detail a librarian defending a book featuring romance between two boys, and another clip documents a teacher encouraging classroom discussion about censorship after the removal of Sally Mann’s photographs at a museum.  

He said these clips provide parents with direct evidence to share about what’s happening in their children’s classrooms. 

Warden was also heavily involved in Montana Young Republicans — a grassroots organization that seeks to foster the next generation of Republican leadership — while attending MSU. During the last legislative session, he testified on multiple bills to expand school choice and “restrict left-wing ideology” in schools.  

He also volunteered as a doorknocker during Senator Tim Sheehy’s campaign and volunteered for Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group that advocates limited government spending, lower taxes and reduced regulation. Warden said his experience during the last session and at the teachers' conference led him to pursue politics. 

If elected, Warden wants to contribute to the Republican majority in the state legislature. He wants to lower property taxes for businesses, farmers and ranchers and make Montana a flat-tax state. He also aims to remove taxation on social security, which is only taxable in some cases.  

Warden supports school choice, public safety and has opposes illegal immigration. He further backs removing housing burdens and regulations that are “roadblocks” the state has created for single-family homes and smaller-unit apartments.  

He is also concerned about the government spending and Montana’s budget surplus, which he said should be returned to the people to reduce property taxes. 

“I'd say, for a 20-year-old, I still have a lot to learn, but for a 20-year-old, I'm pretty knowledgeable about how state government operates,” he said.   

While Americans for Prosperity is endorsing Warden, he said he has had no contact with the organization and has only filled out their candidate survey.  

Some rumors have floated about whether Warden is actually from Polson or is currently living in the community. In his interview with the Lake County Leader, he said he attended Missoula schools “because my dad worked there.” Later in the interview, he stated his parents lived in the Hellgate School District in Missoula.  

Warden also said he lives in Polson and couldn’t have legally registered as a candidate if he didn’t. However, in a video posted by AFP on Aug. 5, 2025, Warden, while volunteering for AFP, said he was from Bozeman.  

‘A conservative you can trust’  

Warden is calling himself a “real conservative Republican” and said in his interview with the Leader that his opponent is “consistently” voting alongside Democrats.  

“I want to contribute to the true Republican majority in the state legislature. There are Republican candidates all across the state who are running to primary these fake Republicans,” Warden said. “So that's my first goal, to provide a real Republican majority.”  

Warden said if someone is elected as a conservative Republican, they actually need to vote that way. He added that the best thing for Reksten to do is run as a Democrat.  

“When you vote alongside the Democrat majority on almost all legislation, it's so dirty, it's not fair,” Warden said. “It's disenfranchising to voters.”  

(Editor’s note: The Republicans have held majorities in the House and Senate for nearly two decades. According to Ballotpedia, the current count is 32 Republicans to 18 Democrats in the Senate and 58 to 42 in the House.) 

Warden also said that Reksten voted against a bill restricting drag shows and in support of minors receiving gender-affirming care and illegal immigrants obtaining a driving privilege card. Reksten said she didn’t support any of these bills, and her life has been dedicated to protecting kids. 

Reksten’s voting record  

Reksten said Warden has misrepresented her voting record and cited past votes for lower property taxes, a balanced budget, expanded vocational training, and support for law enforcement, and said she’s a strong advocate for protecting life at conception.  

“I have three terms that you can point to, a voting record, unlike my opponent,” Reksten said. “My opponent calls himself ‘a conservative you can trust,’ but he has no record he can point to.”  

Reksten said Warden hasn’t built relationships with the people in Lake County and has “behaved in ways that haven’t built trust in our community.” She added she’s heard him speak and hasn’t heard him put forth a policy agenda with what he wants to do for the county.   

“I can only speak for my own voting record and accomplishments for Lake County,” she said. 

Reksten explained she was a cosigner of 2023 HB 359, which restricted drag shows in public places. In the following session, HB 675 was brought forward to revise laws related to “hypersexualized shows,” and Reksten voted against the second reading due to its similarity to the previous bill.  

She also cited HB 469, which aimed to revise the out-of-state driver’s license exemption, and said she initially supported it for people with Green Cards. However, she later found out that lawful permanent residents can already obtain a license.  

In the 2025 session, HB 275 was introduced to create a “driving privilege card” that would allow eligible residents and lawfully present individuals to legally drive. According to Montana Legislative Services, Reksten voted to pass this bill on the second and third readings. Reksten further cited bills she supported to prohibit voting for illegal aliens and efforts to update voter registration.  

Reksten also voted for the SB 99 from the 2023 session, which banned gender-affirming medical care such as puberty blockers. She further voted against SB 164 from the 2025 session, which was a proposed law to criminalize gender affirming care for individuals under the age of 16.  

Americans for Prosperity  

Americans for Prosperity, a political advocacy group based in Virginia, gave Reksten a score of 69 for her voting record in the 2025 session and has produced ads in support of Warden’s campaign. These include accusing Reksten of “Setting Montana’s Budget on Fire,” and “standing for bigger government, more spending, higher taxes and less accountability.”  

Reksten said these ads are untrue and use misinformation to discredit her record. She said this organization has its own special interests and is funded with “dark money.”   

“They seem to have unlimited resources and money, but they don't care about us or our community,” Reksten said. “People in the community are just infuriated by the attacks and don't want these national groups interfering in the Montana elections.”  

She also counters that the Montana Conservative Index, which touts itself as promoting “practical conservatism for Montana” gave her an “A” rating. 

    Three-term incumbent Linda Reksten filed as a republican candidate for Montana House District 13. (Jesse Vargas Photo)

 Twenty-year-old Finley Warden has filed as a republican candidate for Montana House District 13. (Emily Messer/Leader)