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LouAnn Hansen
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
LouAnn Hansen (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Montana House of Representatives to represent District 97. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Hansen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2020
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 97
Incumbent Brad Tschida defeated LouAnn Hansen in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 97 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brad Tschida (R) | 56.9 | 3,577 |
 | LouAnn Hansen (D)  | 43.1 | 2,707 | |
| Total votes: 6,284 | |||
| = 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 97
LouAnn Hansen advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 97 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | LouAnn Hansen | 100.0 | 1,703 |
| Total votes: 1,703 | |||
| = 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 97
Incumbent Brad Tschida advanced from the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 97 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brad Tschida | 100.0 | 2,046 |
| Total votes: 2,046 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
LouAnn Hansen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hansen'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'm a lifelong Montana girl with Montana values. Born in Missoula, MT the daughter of a US Marine, I was raised on a ranch/farm in the beautiful Mission Valley. Being the eldest sibling of four girls and no boys, it was growing up on the farm where I learned how to work hard, persevere and deal with the every day struggles of the country life.
I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Education from Montana State University in Bozeman and my Master's degree in Literacy Education from Lesley University. I completed coursework for my elementary education endorsement and my educational leadership and administration endorsement at the University of Montana in Missoula. 35 years of my life was dedicated to teaching students in our Montana public schools and in 2017 I retired from teaching in Missoula County Public Schools. During my teaching years I served as a building representative to the board of directors and on the executive board for our local Missoula Education Association. I also served as a delegate to and later as a trustee on the Missoula Area Central Labor Council representing all Missoula County Public School teachers. I'm currently serving as our HOA president as well as co-second vice-chair of the Western Montana Retired Educators Association. In my leisure I like to garden and tend my fruit trees as well as take on labor intensive home improvement projects. When I get tired of working it is time to hit the road and enjoy our beautiful and vast public lands.
- Affordable health care for all Montanans should be a goal and I support Montana's Medicaid expansion.
- Affordable housing, while a local issue, could benefit from expanded state low interest loans from coal tax money.
- Public employees rights, benefits and safety need to be protected.
I am particularly passionate about adequate educational funding at all levels, making sure we have a healthy workforce who can afford housing that is in line with their income and protecting our public employees who often are our first responders. Montana's public lands must be protected.
The number one characteristic of an elected official is to have the ability and desire to form relationships. One must use their experience, knowledge and skills to contribute positively. An understanding of community issues and the ability to address them while understanding differing perspectives is a must. An elected official must understand the roles, procedures and limitations of the office. Voters expect elected officials to be ethical and honest. Representatives must understand and embrace the fact they represent all constituents, not just those who voted for them. Some form of communication with constituents is required and voters want to talk to their elected officials face-to -face once in a while. Elected officials need to be patient, respectful and kind as well as possess well developed listening skills. They need to be accountable to the community they represent as well as accountable for their own conduct. Because there are many facets to holding an office, one must be prepared , organized and have the ability to ask the hard questions. Decision-making should be scientifically and data driven.
I possess the qualities of of an elected official previously discussed. I will strive to form positive relationships with others who do not agree with me. I want to work for the common good of the people of Montana. I have always believed that it should be people above party.
The first historical event that I remember was the assassination of JF Kennedy. I was 4 years old at the time and I vividly remember where I was and what I was doing as we watched the horrible event unfold. Both my parents held outside full time jobs in addition to running our farm. They were at work and I was at my babysitter's house. The black and white TV was on and the journalists cut in with video showing what had happened. My babysitter started to cry and I cried because I knew he had two young children and now they were not going to have a father. They were America's family. I felt like I knew this family. My mother worked for the federal government so she was sent home from work early. She came to pick me up and had been crying. It was a particularly upsetting time in my life because I understood the finality of death. The TV stations played the videos over and over. To this day I tear up remembering that tragic day.
As a middle school teacher I've had many opportunities to read some of the best literature out there. One such novel was Peak by Roland Smith. As a young teen, Peak had many struggles and very unique ways of dealing with those challenges. He prepared for and set out to climb Mount Everest. The entire school where I was teaching read this book at the same time. My students bonded with Peak as he worked his way through some difficult times. At one point during a silent reading time, one of my more challenging girls announced to the class with tears in her eyes that she wanted Peak to be her friend. At the end of the novel, we all, including myself, wanted Peak to be a member of our class but that sadly could never happen.
In Montana we have the House of Representatives composed of 100 elected officials. These offices are two year terms and all 100 representatives are elected every two years. The Senate is composed of 50 senators who hold four year terms. 25 or half of these senators are elected every two years so there will never be a complete turnover in the Senate in one year. Most revenue bills originate in the House.
It may be beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government but it certainly is not mandatory or required. It is refreshing to watch newly elected officials who have expertise in specific areas bring new ideas and viewpoints to the table.
Montana's greatest challenge will be to balance the budget as we work our way back to living in a post-Covid 19 world. Revenue will be down. Agreeing on priorities to receive significantly decreased funds could be tough. This means it is important that Montana voters elect common sense legislators who are willing to work with all parties across the aisle to arrive at solutions we all can live with.
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.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
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
Neil Duram (R)
District 2
Tom Millett (R)
District 3
Debo Powers (D)
District 4
Lyn Bennett (R)
District 5
Braxton Mitchell (R)
District 6
Amy Regier (R)
District 7
District 8
Lukas Schubert (R)
District 9
Steven Kelly (R)
District 10
Terry Falk (R)
District 11
Ed Byrne (R)
District 12
Tracy Sharp (R)
District 13
Linda Reksten (R)
District 14
Paul Fielder (R)
District 15
Thedis Crowe (D)
District 16
District 17
Zachary Wirth (R)
District 18
Llew Jones (R)
District 19
Jane Weber (D)
District 20
District 21
Edward Buttrey (R)
District 22
District 23
Eric Tilleman (R)
District 24
District 25
Steve Gist (R)
District 26
Russ Miner (R)
District 27
Paul Tuss (D)
District 28
Eric Albus (R)
District 29
Valerie Moore (R)
District 30
Morgan Thiel (R)
District 31
Frank Smith (D)
District 32
Mike Fox (D)
District 33
Brandon Ler (R)
District 34
District 35
Gary Parry (R)
District 36
Greg Kmetz (R)
District 37
Shane Klakken (R)
District 38
Greg Oblander (R)
District 39
District 40
Mike Vinton (R)
District 41
Jade Sooktis (D)
District 42
District 43
Larry Brewster (R)
District 44
Katie Zolnikov (R)
District 45
Denise Baum (D)
District 46
Denise Joy (D)
District 47
James Reavis (D)
District 48
Curtis Schomer (R)
District 49
Sherry Essmann (R)
District 50
Anthony Nicastro (R)
District 51
Jodee Etchart (R)
District 52
Bill Mercer (R)
District 53
Nelly Nicol (R)
District 54
Lee Deming (R)
District 55
Brad Barker (R)
District 56
Fiona Nave (R)
District 57
Scott Rosenzweig (D)
District 58
Jamie Isaly (D)
District 59
Ed Stafman (D)
District 60
Alanah Griffith (D)
District 61
Becky Edwards (D)
District 62
Josh Seckinger (D)
District 63
Peter Strand (D)
District 64
Kelly Kortum (D)
District 65
Brian Close (D)
District 66
Eric Matthews (D)
District 67
Jedediah Hinkle (R)
District 68
Caleb Hinkle (R)
District 69
Kenneth Walsh (R)
District 70
Shannon Maness (R)
District 71
Scott DeMarois (D)
District 72
Donavon Hawk (D)
District 73
Jennifer Lynch (D)
District 74
Marc Lee (D)
District 75
Mark Reinschmidt (R)
District 76
John Fitzpatrick (R)
District 77
Jane Gillette (R)
District 78
Randyn Gregg (R)
District 79
Luke Muszkiewicz (D)
District 80
Melissa Romano (D)
District 81
Mary Caferro (D)
District 82
Pete Elverum (D)
District 83
Jill Cohenour (D)
District 84
Julie Darling (R)
District 85
Kathy Love (R)
District 86
David Bedey (R)
District 87
Terry Nelson (R)
District 88
Greg Overstreet (R)
District 89
Mark Thane (D)
District 90
Curtis Cochran (R)
District 91
Shelly Fyant (D)
District 92
Connie Keogh (D)
District 93
Katie Sullivan (D)
District 94
Marilyn Marler (D)
District 95
Zooey Zephyr (D)
District 96
Bob Carter (D)
District 97
District 98
Jonathan Karlen (D)
District 99
Tom France (D)
District 100
SJ Howell (D)
Republican Party (58)
Democratic Party (42)
