Tom Winter - Candidate for U.S. House of Representatives

Tom Winter, incumbent Montana District 96 House member, and candidate for U.S. House of Representatives (whose campaign is the first in Montana history to unionize), talks about what motivated him to jump into politics. After watching a family member with a chronic illness struggle to manage day to day life, and then hearing his local state rep refer to people on Medicaid Expansion as “freeloaders”, he decided to run for office. What followed was a life changing and successful campaign in a Republican district followed by his first legislative session in which he introduced 24 bills and passed 4 of them. He describes his experience in politics as and the hardest thing he’s ever done, yet he finds it truly fulfilling. On his philosophy of public service, he says, “Government can be a force for good, and we don’t need to apologize for that.” In this very personal interview we cover a broad range of issues including a deep dive into health care, the question of why should it be so difficult to pass the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women Act (MMIW), the real economy and jobs, and a need to change the way we do things in politics. “Government done well expresses the will of the people and the will of the community, and the will of the community and the will of the people should be their own wellbeing.”