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Brandon Ler
2025 - Present
2027
0
Brandon Ler (Republican Party) is a member of the Montana House of Representatives, representing District 33. He assumed office on January 6, 2025. His current term ends on January 4, 2027.
Ler began serving as State Speaker of the House in January 2025.[1]
Ler was an entrepreneur and owner of the fencing company Double L Fencing and served six years on the Savage School District Board of Education.[2]
Ler was first elected to represent District 35 of the Montana House in 2020. He defeated incumbent Joel Krautter (R) 53%-47% in the Republican primary and was unopposed in the general election. According to the Montana Free Press at the time, Ler "campaigned on being less a bridge builder and more a reliably conservative vote in Helena."[3] Ler stated, "You can count on me not giving two pennies for what Democrat legislators across the state care about. I care about what you think."[3] He was re-elected unopposed in 2022 and served as majority whip during the 2023 legislative session.[4]
Following redistricting, Ler ran for re-election in District 33 in 2024. He defeated Dawson County Community College board member Kathy Hoiland (R) 63%-37% in the Republican primary and won the general election unopposed.
During his 2024 campaign, Ler published an op-ed in the Billings Gazette, writing, "As a State Legislator, the topic I receive the most questions about is by far property taxes. Why are Montanans paying so much in property taxes? What’s behind the recent property tax hikes? ... The increases we’ve seen in property taxes can be directly linked to the decrease we’re seeing in natural resource development, and loss of taxable land we’re seeing in our state."[5]
According to the Northern Plains Independent, in his bid for speaker, "Ler said the state’s governing majority should focus on reducing government spending, decrease the tax burden, and protecting families and individuals’ constitutional rights."[4] He also stated, "With the radical overreach of the judicial branch, as Speaker, I will not be afraid to flex the power we hold. The judicial branch has nothing over me."[4]
Biography
Brandon Ler was born in Sidney, Montana and graduated from Sidney High School in 2005.[6] Brandon Ler's career experience includes owning Double L Fencing.[7]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Ler was assigned to the following committees:
- House Education Committee
- Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee
- House Judiciary Committee, Vice Chair
- House Rules Committee
2021-2022
Ler was assigned to the following committees:
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 33
Incumbent Brandon Ler defeated Kathy Hoiland in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 33 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brandon Ler (R) | 94.6 | 4,576 |
Kathy Hoiland (R) (Write-in)  | 5.4 | 263 | ||
| Total votes: 4,839 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 33
Incumbent Brandon Ler defeated Kathy Hoiland in the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 33 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brandon Ler | 63.1 | 1,586 |
| Kathy Hoiland | 36.9 | 926 | ||
| Total votes: 2,512 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Larry Brewster (R)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Ler in this election.
2022
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 35
Incumbent Brandon Ler won election in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 35 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brandon Ler (R) | 100.0 | 3,160 |
| Total votes: 3,160 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 35
Incumbent Brandon Ler advanced from the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 35 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brandon Ler | 100.0 | 1,877 |
| Total votes: 1,877 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2020
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 35
Brandon Ler won election in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 35 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brandon Ler (R) | 100.0 | 4,760 |
| Total votes: 4,760 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 35
Brandon Ler defeated incumbent Joel G. Krautter in the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 35 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brandon Ler | 52.6 | 1,457 |
 | Joel G. Krautter | 47.4 | 1,313 | |
| Total votes: 2,770 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Brandon Ler did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Brandon Ler did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Brandon Ler did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Montana scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Montana State Legislature was not in session. |
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Montana State Legislature was in session from January 2 to May 2.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Montana State Legislature was not in session. |
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Montana State Legislature was in session from January 4 to April 29.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Montana House of Representatives District 33 |
Officeholder Montana House of Representatives District 33 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Montana Free Press, “Regier, Ler elected to lead 2025 Montana Legislature" accessed January 6, 2025
- ↑ SenGov, "Representative Brandon Ler," accessed April 18, 2025
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Montana Free Press, "Flanked from the right," May 27, 2020
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Northern Plains Independent, "Savage’s Ler To Become Montana’s Speaker Of The House," November 21, 2024
- ↑ Billings Gazette, "Brandon Ler: Property taxes and natural resources in Montana," February 23, 2024
- ↑ MT Legislative, "Brandon Ler," accessed September 5, 2025
- ↑ Facebook, "Brandon Ler," accessed April 26, 2021
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Montana House of Representatives District 33 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by Joel G. Krautter (R) |
Montana House of Representatives District 35 2021-2025 |
Succeeded by - |
