When the dust settled early last Wednesday morning, Finley Warden had soundly trounced Republican incumbent Linda Reksten in the primary race for House District 13. The 20-year-old Warden, a political newcomer, outpaced the three-term incumbent with 65% of the vote.

In a statement emailed Monday, Warden attributed his success to “the culmination of months of showing up for Lake County. I knocked on nearly every door in the district, stayed actively engaged in our community, and genuinely listened to the wants and needs of residents,” he wrote.

“The message I heard was unmistakable – Lake County wants a fighter who will truly represent conservative values in Helena – and voters delivered a clear mandate for a new generation of conservative leadership.”

Warden’s vote total of 1,611 was also significantly higher than the total accrued by the unopposed Democrat, Dalton Bradford, who collected 910.

To Warden, the results reflect “just how hungry our community is for that change.”

Reksten, in a letter that appears on this week’s Opinion page, reminds constituents that she’s still in office until Jan. 1, regardless of who wins the primary, and also chairs the Interim House Education Committee until then.

She also criticized the “low-level campaigning” of such “dark-money groups” as Americans for Prosperity, Accountability in State Government PAC and Make Liberty Win PAC, and even the Montana GOP and local Republican groups in targeting several legislators, including Reksten, who worked with Democrats to pass property tax reform, Medicaid expansion, and other bills unpopular with the right-wing of the party.

“In almost every case the data that was sent out by the dark money groups to disparage Republican candidates were lies, and phony, artificially generated deceptions,” she writes. “If you don't condone this kind of low-level campaigning, I encourage you to take this into account when you vote next time.”

She also noted in an interview that it’s become quite challenging for voters to separate truth from fiction due to misinformation “across the political spectrum.”

“I just want to assure people that I'm still working. I'm going to continue to play a role,” she said. “I’m not sure what that role will be in the future, but I'm going to try and help our state in my strong suit, at least in education.”

Warden countered that voters weren't responding to mailers. “They were responding to the truth about my opponent's voting record. That record consistently aligned with the far-left, not the common sense, conservative values of the people in this district,” he said. “Part of what my campaign did was make sure that record didn't stay buried. We shared it factually, and voters drew their own conclusions.”

Warden vows to take a his “grassroots organization and information-sharing campaign” forward against his Democratic opponent.

“We are just getting started,” he said. “We're going to keep growing that operation heading into the general.”

He also promises to focus on “the message that resonated in the primary – lowering property taxes, making life more affordable, removing left-wing indoctrination from our schools, and eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in state government.”

Bradford – a property appraiser for the Montana Department of Revenue, and graduate of Polson High and the University of Montana – says the issues that matter most to him “aren't Republican issues, and they aren't Democratic issues – they're Montana issues.” Those include making property taxes “more transparent, fair and understandable for the people who pay them,” addressing the rising cost of living, and strengthening public schools and rural healthcare facilities.

He’s also committed to running “a positive, policy-focused, community-based campaign.”

“A common concern I've heard is that people are tired of personal attacks, mudslinging, and having their mailboxes filled with political advertisements,” he said. “They object to the growing influence of outside dark money in local elections.”

To that end, he said he’s publicly pledged to conduct the upcoming race “with respect and integrity. And I intend to keep that promise.”

    Dalton Bradford, Democratic candidate for House District 13