2024 Valley County Election Results

Valley County voters made their voices heard on Election Day, Nov. 5, by not only choosing who will represent them at a county level as a County Commissioner, but also had the opportunity to choose the next President of the United States, the next Senator of Montana in addition to other state level positions including State Superintendent of Public Instruction, State Auditor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, among many other State positions. Voters also had the opportunity to vote on three. state initiatives.

The residents of Nashua had a unique question on their ballot, asking residents to choose who would serve on the local government review commission.

According to the Valley County Clerk and Recorder office, 4,148 Valley County citizens voted in the 2024 Election, which is 80 percent of the registered voters in the county. The County also voted overwhelmingly Republican in most of the partisan races.

In the local race of Valley County Commissioner, Jeff Alsberg defeated Mitch Willett with 60 percent of the vote, 2,313 votes. Willett received 1,538 votes. Alsberg will replace Mary Armstrong as Valley County Commissioner starting Jan. 1, 2025.

Nashua residents chose Joy Guttenberg (72 votes), Shandy Stingley (71 votes) and Sharon Merideth (68 votes) to serve on the local government review commission for the Town of Nashua. These three residents will be sworn in on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Over the next two years, the town of Nashua will be one of a dozen cities and counties across the state who will review their local governments over the next two years. During the Primary election, voters decided a study commission was necessary to study and potentially change the structure of the Town of Nashua Council, which is the town’s body of government.

In a contested race for House District #31, which encompasses the counties of Blaine, Phillips, Roosevelt and Valley, Democrat Frank Smith defeated Kevin Taylor, 59 percent to 41 percent. Valley County however voted for Taylor with 433 votes against Smith’s 237 votes. In House District #28, Republican Eric Albus defeated Democrat Blake Borst 77 percent to 23 percent. Valley County also voted for Albus with 580 votes against Borst’s 114 votes.

A total of 2,647 voters chose to have Judge Yvonne Laird of the District Court Judge District 17, Dept. 1, of the State of Montana be retained in office for another term, while 994 voters chose for her not to be retained.

Glasgow’s Republican Gregg Hunter received 2,210 of the votes to serve as State Senator District 15, while Republican Perri A. Jacobs received 62 percent of the Valley County vote to serve as State Senator District 16 against Democrat Jonathan Windy Boy, who received 330 votes. Republican Valerie Moore also received 100 percent of the vote, with 2,079 votes to serve as the State Representative for District 29.

Republican Jason Ulrich received 76 percent of the Valley County vote, 140 votes, to serve as the State Representative for District 32. He ran against Democrat Mike Fox, who only received 45 Valley County votes.

Valley County voters voted with the rest of the State and the Country by voting for Republican Donald J. Trump as the next President of the United States. A total of 3,019 votes were cast for President-Elect Trump in Valley County, while 935 votes were cast for Democrat Kamala D. Harris, 20 votes were cast for Libertarian Chase Oliver, 17 votes were cast for Green Party’s Jill Stein and 88 votes were cast for We The People’s candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

In the Senate race, Valley County voters choose Republican Tim Sheehy with 2,672 votes to serve, unseating incumbent Democrat Jon Tester who received 1,307 votes. Libertarian Sid Daoud received 57 votes and Green Party candidate Robert Barb received 47 votes. Senator-Elect Sheehy also received the majority of the State’s vote and will serve the next six years as Senator starting Jan. 1, 2025.

In the United States Representative 2nd Congressional race, Valley County chose Republican Troy Downing with 3,030 votes against Democrat John B. Driscoll’s 951 votes. Downing will serve as the State’s next House of Representative as he won 65 percent of the State’s vote.

Valley County voters also agreed with the State voters, choosing Republican Greg Gianforte with 3,009 votes versus Democrat’s Ryan Busse with 961 votes and Libertarian Kaiser Leib with 106 votes.

Christi Jacobsen won the State election for Secretary of State, helped by Valley County voters as she received 76 percent of the County votes, 3,044, against Democrat Jesse James Mullen with 808 votes and Libertarian John Lamb with 148 votes.

Austin Knudsen won the Valley County vote for attorney general with 74 percent of the vote, 2,957 votes, against Democrat Ben Alke’s 1,045. Knudsen, who is currently serving as Montana’s attorney general will continue to serve the State.

Republican James Brown won Valley County’s vote for State Auditor with 76 percent of the vote, 2,969, against Democrat John Repke with 953 votes.

Valley County also chose Republican Susie Hedalen to serve as State Superintendent of Public Instruction with 72 percent of the vote, 2,587, against Democrat Shannon O’Brien’s 1,026 votes.

Republican Bowen Greenwood won Valley County’s vote for Clerk of the Supreme Court with 71 percent of the vote, 2,750, against Democrat Erin Farris-Olsen with 967 votes and Libertarian Roger Roots with 173 votes.

In the non-partisan race for Supreme Court Chief Justice, Valley County voters chose Cory Swanson with 64 percent of the votes, 2,391, against Jeremiah Lunch with 1,328 votes. Valley County also chose Dan Wilson for Supreme Court Justice #3 with 52 percent of the vote, 1,962 against Katherine Bidegaray with 1,782 votes.

Valley County voters had the opportunity to vote for constitutional amendment CI-126, which in the county was voted no with 61 percent of the votes, 2,448, compared to 1,553 votes. A “yes” vote supported creating a top-four primary system for elections for governor, lieutenant governor, state executives, state legislators, and congressional offices, in which all candidates would run in one primary and the top-four vote getters would advance to the general election regardless of party. A “no” vote opposed creating a top-four primary system for elections for governor, lieutenant governor, state executives, state legislators, and congressional offices, thereby maintaining Montana’s existing open partisan primary system. As a state CI-126 was defeated.

Also on the ballot was CI-127, a constitutional amendment requiring a majority vote required to win Election Initiatives. A “yes” vote supported requiring that candidates for the following offices must receive a majority of votes (instead of just a plurality) to win the election, as specified by law: governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, auditor, attorney general, superintendent of public instruction, state legislature, and Congress. A “no” vote opposed requiring candidates to win a majority of the vote to win the election, thereby maintaining current law where a candidate must receive a plurality of the vote. Valley County voters agreed with the rest of the state, voting no with 68 percent of the vote, 2,448 versus 1,553 yes votes. At the State level, CI-127 was defeated.

The last initiative up for voters was CI-128, Right to Abortion Initiative.A “yes” vote supported amending the Montana Constitution to: provide a state constitutional “right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion,” and allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except when “medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.” A “no” vote opposed amending the Montana Constitution to: provide a state constitutional “right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion,” and allow the state to regulate abortion after fetal viability, except when “medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant patient.” Valley County was split on this initiative with Yes receiving 1,998 votes and No receiving 2,023. This initiative was passed at the State level.

Full county and state election results can be viewed at https://electionresults.mt.gov/.