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Ed Stafman

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Ed Stafman
Image of Ed Stafman
Montana House of Representatives District 59
Tenure

2025 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

0

Prior offices
Montana House of Representatives District 62
Predecessor: Tom Woods

Compensation

Base salary

$104.86/legislative day

Per diem

$171/day

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

High school

Brooklyn Technical High School

Bachelor's

State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1975

Graduate

Florida State University

Law

Florida State University College of Law, 1977

Other

Florida State University, 2008

Personal
Birthplace
Key West, Fla.
Religion
Jewish
Profession
Rabbi
Contact

Ed Stafman (Democratic Party) is a member of the Montana House of Representatives, representing District 59. He assumed office on January 6, 2025. His current term ends on January 4, 2027.

Stafman (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Montana House of Representatives to represent District 59. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Biography

Ed Stafman was born in Key West, Florida, and lives in Bozeman, Montana. He received a bachelor's degree from State University of New York at Stony Brook, a graduate degree from Florida State University, and a J.D. His career experience includes working as an attorney and as a rabbi.[1][2] Stafman has volunteered with Family Promise, the Fork and Spoon Café, the Food Bank, and Eagle Mount.[2]

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

Stafman was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Stafman was assigned to the following committees:

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 59

Incumbent Ed Stafman defeated Marc Greendorfer in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 59 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Ed Stafman
Ed Stafman (D)
 
62.8
 
4,851
Image of Marc Greendorfer
Marc Greendorfer (R) Candidate Connection
 
37.2
 
2,871

Total votes: 7,722
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 59

Incumbent Ed Stafman advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 59 on June 4, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Ed Stafman
Ed Stafman
 
100.0
 
1,977

Total votes: 1,977
Candidate Connection = 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 59

Marc Greendorfer advanced from the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 59 on June 4, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Marc Greendorfer
Marc Greendorfer Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
1,096

Total votes: 1,096
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Stafman in this election.

2022

See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Montana House of Representatives District 62

Incumbent Ed Stafman defeated Marc Greendorfer in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 62 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Ed Stafman
Ed Stafman (D) Candidate Connection
 
72.9
 
4,734
Image of Marc Greendorfer
Marc Greendorfer (R) Candidate Connection
 
27.1
 
1,762

Total votes: 6,496
Candidate Connection = 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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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 62

Incumbent Ed Stafman advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 62 on June 7, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Ed Stafman
Ed Stafman Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
2,151

Total votes: 2,151
Candidate Connection = 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 62

Marc Greendorfer advanced from the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 62 on June 7, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Marc Greendorfer
Marc Greendorfer Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
827

Total votes: 827
Candidate Connection = 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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Endorsements

To view Stafman's endorsements in the 2022 election, please click here.

2020

See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Montana House of Representatives District 62

Ed Stafman defeated Francis Wendt in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 62 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Ed Stafman
Ed Stafman (D) Candidate Connection
 
74.0
 
5,924
Image of Francis Wendt
Francis Wendt (L)
 
26.0
 
2,079

Total votes: 8,003
Candidate Connection = 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 62

Ed Stafman advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 62 on June 2, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Ed Stafman
Ed Stafman Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
2,757

Total votes: 2,757
Candidate Connection = 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.

Libertarian primary election

The Libertarian primary election was canceled. Francis Wendt advanced from the Libertarian primary for Montana House of Representatives District 62.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Ed Stafman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Candidate Connection

Ed Stafman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Stafman's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

It’s been an honor to serve my community these past two years, and to be a voice for my neighbors on important issues, such as affordable housing, mental health, conservation/public lands, the climate crisis, and women’s health care. I believe strongly in public service and the democratic process, and have devoted much of my life to serving others, first as a civil rights attorney representing the disenfranchised, and then as a rabbi teaching and focused on interfaith work. I've lived in my home for more than a decade and in the district for longer than that. For many years, I've been active in the community, working with groups like Family Promise, Eagle Mount, HRDC, and music and arts groups. I have a history of bringing people of different backgrounds together to achieve solutions. I’ve done just that during my first term as the only freshman to be elected to chair a major committee (on a bipartisan vote) – the Interim Children, Families, Health & Human Services committee. Working together, my bipartisan committee has produced eight bills which, if passed by the full legislature, will improve Montana’s mental health system. Serving in this way has been rewarding.
  • Rising housing costs, rents, and property taxes are making it difficult for people to live in Bozeman, and difficult for local businesses to find employees. Workforce issues have especially hit healthcare and schools.. I support policies which will result in building more homes for people who live here, as opposed to out of state second homeowners and short term investors, who remove homes from prospective residents. I also support lowering property taxes for those whose homes are their primary residence, and for a local option sales tax that focuses on luxury items for tourists who use our roads and parks. Also, the State must pay its fair share of education and medicaid expenses, rather than passing those expenses on to homeowners.
  • I support our Montana constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment. As we confront the climate crisis, we must reduce our reliance on fossil fuels through a combination of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and the development of clean, renewable, and reliable energy sources. We can achieve this goal AND create or provide transitions into good Montana jobs. Also, as a hiker, biker, skier, and kayaker, I’m committed to keeping Montana pristine and will always advocate for our environment, preserving our public lands for recreation, hunting, and fishing. I’m proud to be endorsed by the Montana Conservation Voters, the Montana Sierra Club, and to have 100% ratings from several conservation groups that publish ratings.
  • i support the right to privacy laid out in Montana's constitution, and all that it protects, including families' and women's health care decisions. While the Montana Republican party platform calls for a ban on all abortion, and rejected exceptions for rape, incest or the health of the mother, I believe that government has no business inserting itself between a woman and her doctor. I also believe in ag-appropriate sex education so as to reduce unwanted pregnancies, as well as protected the right to contraceptives.
I'm committed to improving our broken mental health and nursing care systems. I am the only freshman to be elected to chair a major committee (on a bipartisan vote) – the Interim Children, Families, Health & Human Services committee. Working together, my bipartisan committee has produced eight bills (four of which I proposed) which, if passed by the full legislature, will dramatically improve Montana’s mental health system. We must stop sending Montana kids out of state by adequately funding our Montana facilities. We must reverse the loss of mental health crisis beds and nursing home slots by developing new means of delivering these services.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (who went to high school with my mother). I'm influenced by here admonition to “fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.” I also am influenced by many of my seminary teachers who emphasized that "the only was to get it together... is together."
"Night" by Elie Wiesel. He teaches there that hope is an active thing. It is the belief that everything we do makes a difference and even if we don't see that difference in our lifetime, we must have hope that it will eventually land and matter.
I am driven by ethics, as laid out by the Biblical prophets Isaiah, Micah, and Jeremiah. We are here to share our bounty with others and make the world a better place. I also am influenced by one of my teachers, who was fond of saying that the only way to get it together is together.
As a rabbi, I listen to people. As a legislator, I've knocked the doors of nearly my entire district and listened to them. They sometimes teach me what I don't know. As a representative, my job is to represent, not carry forward and ideological agenda, and that's what I do.
To listen to his/her constituents and other legislators and to be in dialogue with them.
I remember the assassination of President Kennedy and the sadness that followed. I also remember the early space flights and how proud one felt to be an American.
In high school, I worked as a baker, and as a counselor for underprivileged children in the summers. In In college, II worked as a waiter, and later as later as a computer programmer. upon graduation from law school, I worked for 25 years as a civil rights and criminal defense attorney. I then returned to school for eight years where I completed the coursework for a Ph.D. in Religion and was ordained as a Rabbi. I then served the Bozeman community as rabbi for 10 years, and am now Rabbi Emeritus.
Non-fiction: The Righteous Mind or "Night" by Elie Wiesel
Fiction: The Grapes of Wrath
The greatest challenges will be dealing with growth and its implications for housing, workforce, and our public health care systems, including mental health care and nursing homes. Additionally, transitioning away from carbon will require a careful balancing of addressing the climate crisis and assuring that we have the energy we need.
A unicameral legislature may save money, but there is less input on policy without the checks of a second house.
Absolutely. In all of life, good relationships are keys to success. Good relationships assure that we listen to one another and that we are open to changing our views when we hear different views from people who we respect.
I served on Judiciary and Health & Human Services. The first is highly contentious and has the minority party mostly playing defense. The second is much more cooperative and there are opportunities to make real progress. there.
Recently, a woman reached out top me when her paraplegic mother's nursing home announced its closure and she couldn't find another spot elsewhere. It reminded me how serious this problem is and how much attention it needs. Also, recently, after Republicans voted to reduce requirements for childhood vaccines, a woman called to tell me about her experience with polio when she was a child. This was impactful.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

Candidate Connection

Ed Stafman completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Stafman's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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I know the value of hard work. I've waited tables, worked in retail, and programmed computers. My passion for justice led me to become a civil rights attorney representing victims of discrimination and working people and labor unions, later shifting mainly to criminal defense, often defending those facing the death penalty.

After 25 years of law practice, inspired by Jewish teachings on seeing the unique light in every person, I spent 8 years in rabbinic school, simultaneously pursuing a PhD in Religion. I then served Bozeman as its rabbi for the next decade, and now as Rabbi Emeritus. I've been with people at baby namings, marriages, illnesses, and deaths, developing a deep sense of the values we all share as humans.

Interfaith work is a big part of my life. The skills I learned there involve building on commonalities among diverse people, and that will be transferable when working in the legislature. I will be a voice for preserving our precious planet, economic justice, loving our neighbor and the stranger, values which most people share, and we must build on that.

I am married for 36 years with two wonderful adult children. I have been a hospital and hospice chaplain, and have volunteered with many charitable, conservation, justice and music and arts organizations. I'm an avid cyclist, skier, kayaker, hiker, and dog owner.

  • Keep public lands public, confront c the climate crisis and conserve our environment
  • Promote quality public education from pre-K through University
  • Economic justice in the form of a fair minimum wage, affordable healthcare, protecting medicaid expansion.
Addressing the health of our planet by tackling climate change and preserving our quality outdoor spaces.

Promoting quality public education from pre-K through University

Increasing economic justice in the form of a fair minimum wage, affordable healthcare, protecting medicaid expansion.
I remember visiting my grandparents in Miami Beach at age 3. I remember how green and beautiful the sea appeared.
My first jobs were in elementary school, where I mowed laws and shoveled snow. I later worked in retail and as a computer programmer, before attending law school.
Non-fiction: The Righteous Mind, by Johnathan Haight
Fiction: The Glass Bead Game, by Hermann Hesse
Relationships are critical to every aspect of life. Legislators must work together to serve the citizens of the State. they can only effectively do this with trust and respect for one another. Building relationships builds trust and respect.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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.


Ed Stafman campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* Montana House of Representatives District 59Won general$34,232 $0
2022Montana House of Representatives District 62Won general$75,858 $0
2020Montana House of Representatives District 62Won general$69,729 N/A**
Grand total$179,819 N/A**
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Montana

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


2023


2022


2021










See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 8, 2020
  2. 2.0 2.1 Elect Ed Stafman, "About," accessed January 25, 2021

Political offices
Preceded by
-
Montana House of Representatives District 59
2025-Present
Succeeded by
-
Preceded by
Tom Woods (D)
Montana House of Representatives District 62
2021-2025
Succeeded by
-


Current members of the Montana House of Representatives
Leadership
Speaker of the House:Brandon Ler
Majority Leader:Steve Fitzpatrick
Minority Leader:Katie Sullivan
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
Ed Byrne (R)
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
District 27
Paul Tuss (D)
District 28
District 29
District 30
District 31
District 32
Mike Fox (D)
District 33
District 34
District 35
District 36
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
District 41
District 42
District 43
District 44
District 45
District 46
District 47
District 48
District 49
District 50
District 51
District 52
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District 55
District 56
District 57
District 58
District 59
District 60
District 61
District 62
District 63
District 64
District 65
District 66
District 67
District 68
District 69
District 70
District 71
District 72
District 73
District 74
Marc Lee (D)
District 75
District 76
District 77
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District 79
District 80
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District 82
District 83
District 84
District 85
District 86
District 87
District 88
District 89
District 90
District 91
District 92
District 93
District 94
District 95
District 96
District 97
District 98
District 99
District 100
SJ Howell (D)
Republican Party (58)
Democratic Party (42)