Democrat incumbent Rep. Debo Powers is running for reelection in House District 3.  

The massive district includes the north and west sides of Whitefish and encompasses Big Mountain, Olney, Tally Lake, Polebridge and West Glacier. It is 93% public land.  

Powers, a Polebridge resident, is running against Whitefish Republican Derek Peachey. Read Peachey's interview here. 

Powers was a teacher and principal who came to Montana every summer to recharge beginning 1979. She bought her property north of Polebridge in 1996 and spent 12 summers building an off-grid house. She retired and became a full-time resident and quickly became involved in volunteer conservation efforts.  

Powers was appointed to the Legislature in 2019 during the interim. She lost the 2020 election to Republican Rep. Braxton Mitchell and didn’t run in 2022. In 2024 after redistricting, Powers said she was encouraged by conservationists and educators to run again. 

“I have loved being in the Legislature,” Powers said. “I majored in U.S. history and political science and I taught it in high school for 20 years. So to get to actually do what I’d been teaching, was a dream come true. I love democracy. 

“I think we made a difference in the last Legislature. Democrats working with moderate Republicans got a lot of good things passed – Medicaid expansion continued, more money for public schools.”  

Property tax changes were not perfect but had some good things, she said.  

“I think it’s fair for people who live here full time to pay a lower property tax ... We have to make some changes to make it more fair. But the attempt was to try to make it work for most people.” 

She said she’s against Gov. Greg Gianforte’s proposed flat income tax rate. 

“It is not anywhere near fair. It is a tax break for the wealthiest people,” she said.  

Powers believes the state should more adequately fund public schools so frequent levy requests aren’t as necessary.   

“Every child has a constitutional right to a free, quality education. If the state only covers 80% ... it creates inequality, because some communities can afford it and others can’t.” 

Powers said it broke her heart when a family member said she no longer wanted to be a teacher because of the pay. She said she encouraged them to testify in front of the Legislature.  

Powers described public lands as “our Montana way of life.”  

“And it’s under attack right now. That’s mostly on the federal level, but there’s a lot we can do on the state level,” she said, referencing legislation last session that didn’t pass, but could have paved the way for transferring federal lands to state control, and a bill that did pass using marijuana revenue for conservation.  

Another big priority for Powers is affordability. 

“We’re in an affordability crisis,” she said. “Thousands of Montanans are going to lose their health insurance if they haven’t already. We need healthy people to have a healthy economy. We need rural hospitals which rely on Medicaid... the paperwork that’s required to stay on Medicaid is outrageous. We need to fix that.”  

She added that legislators should look to address the high cost of childcare, and that it’s exciting to see Habitat for Humanity building homes in Whitefish. 

All three constitutional initiatives on the ballot this fall are common sense, she said.  

Powers opposes data centers to protect many things from water to ratepayers.  

“But in fact, I think I’m going to introduce a bill that gives local communities control over whether or not they get to start that process,” she said.