Former Montana Republican Legislator Running for Different State Position

Former Republican Montana State Legislator Corey Stapleton has decided to run to be the next Montana Secretary of State. That seat is currently held by Democrat Linda McCulloch. Stapleton said the biggest change he would bring to the office is his perspective on the state land board.

"I do think there's an important difference typically between the Republicans and the Democrats on the land board which is one of the important functions," Stapleton said. "The Democrats have controlled the land board for quite a while at 4 to 1. We need to get at least 3 to 2 at least with Republicans in order to control the agenda which maximizes the revenue of natural resources."

Stapleton said he would run the office more like a referee without much of an agenda. He also said he has big questions about the large number of Montana voters that fell off the voting roles this year.

"Both Republicans and Democrats who live in our state need to think about their Secretary of State as being pretty unbiased in terms of enforcing the integrity of our election," Stapleton said. "I was pretty concerned that we dropped off 52,000 voters out of our voting files this year and there has not been a conversation about that."

Current state auditor Monica Linden has hinted at running for the Secretary of State position on the Democrat side after McCulloch is termed out of office this year.