HD 13 candidate clarifies Polson residency

Finley Warden, a Republican candidate for House District 13, asked the Leader to clarify "rumors" about his residency mentioned in last week's front-page story titled "Two Republicans compete to represent Polson in statehouse." 

Warden delivered a lease agreement to the Leader office Monday, indicating that he's rented an apartment on Highway 93 in Polson from Jan. 23 through July 21, 2026, as proof that he currently resides in House District 13. 

In a letter addressed to the Leader, he also stated that his family has "deep and longstanding roots in this community," having owned a home on Highway 35 since the 1960s. Warden said he lived at that address before "securing my current home in Polson.”

He also clarified that his statement that he was from Bozeman, quoted in the story and gleaned from a video posted online in August 2025 by Americans for Prosperity, was recorded “during a period when I was attending school in Bozeman,” and was used, he writes, “in a casual, situational sense.”

According to Montana Code Annotated, Article V, Section 4: “A candidate for the legislature shall be a resident of the state for at least one year next preceding the general election. For six months next preceding the general election, he shall be a resident of the county if it contains one or more districts or of the district if it contains all or parts of more than one county.”

Warden clearly qualifies on both counts.