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Margaret Gorski
Margaret Gorski (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Montana State Senate to represent District 44. She lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Gorski completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Gorski was a 2016 Democratic candidate for District 88 of the Montana House of Representatives.
Biography
Margaret Gorski was born in Tampa, Florida. She obtained an undergraduate degree from the University of Washington in June 1975 and a graduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in June 1982. Her professional experience includes working in natural resources management. She is a board member for the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and the Partnership for the National Trails System. She is also the president of Friend of Fort Owen and a member of the Ravalli County Citizens Collaborative.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: Montana State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Montana State Senate District 44
Theresa Manzella defeated Margaret Gorski in the general election for Montana State Senate District 44 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Theresa Manzella (R) | 67.2 | 9,485 |
 | Margaret Gorski (D)  | 32.8 | 4,626 | |
| Total votes: 14,111 | |||
| = 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 State Senate District 44
Margaret Gorski defeated Timothy Gibney in the Democratic primary for Montana State Senate District 44 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Margaret Gorski | 89.7 | 2,102 |
| Timothy Gibney | 10.3 | 242 | ||
| Total votes: 2,344 | |||
| = 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 State Senate District 44
Theresa Manzella defeated Nancy Ballance in the Republican primary for Montana State Senate District 44 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Theresa Manzella | 63.0 | 3,655 |
 | Nancy Ballance | 37.0 | 2,142 | |
| Total votes: 5,797 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Scott Roy McLean (R)
2018
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 88
Sharon Greef defeated Margaret Gorski in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 88 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Sharon Greef (R) | 63.1 | 3,669 | |
| Margaret Gorski (D) | 36.9 | 2,141 | |
| Total votes: 5,810 | |||
| = 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 88
Margaret Gorski advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 88 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Margaret Gorski | 100.0 | 976 |
| Total votes: 976 | |||
| = 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 88
Sharon Greef defeated Jim Crews and Kim Stoltz in the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 88 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Sharon Greef | 46.5 | 782 | |
 | Jim Crews | 36.3 | 611 | |
| Kim Stoltz | 17.1 | 288 | ||
| Total votes: 1,681 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2016
Elections for the Montana House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on June 7, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 14, 2016.
Incumbent Ed Greef defeated Margaret Gorski in the Montana House of Representatives District 88 general election.[2][3]
| Montana House of Representatives, District 88 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Ed Greef Incumbent |
66.68% | 3,639 | |
| Democratic | Margaret Gorski | 33.32% | 1,818 | |
| Total Votes | 5,457 | |||
| Source: Montana Secretary of State | ||||
Margaret Gorski ran unopposed in the Montana House of Representatives District 88 Democratic primary.[4][5]
| Montana House of Representatives, District 88 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Margaret Gorski (unopposed) | |
Incumbent Ed Greef ran unopposed in the Montana House of Representatives District 88 Republican primary.[6][7]
| Montana House of Representatives, District 88 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Ed Greef Incumbent (unopposed) | |
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Margaret Gorski completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gorski's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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• Have Lived in the Bitterroot Valley for 29 Years. • Father was an Air Force Master Sargent and Mother was a Junior High Math Teacher! • Bachelor's Degree from University of Washington in Forest Resources, Master's Degree in Environmental Planning and Landscape Architecture from University of California-Berkeley • 35 Year Career in Public Service and Public Land Management with the National Park Service and US Forest Service, plus 7 years working with non-profit organizations. • President of Friends of Fort Owen, Past President Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and Board Member of Partnership for the National Trails System; member of Ravalli County Citizen's Collaborative. • Married for 29 Years. • Avid gardener, photographer, hunter, loves the outdoors, and Labrador Retrievers.
- Fiscally Conservative: I am a Democrat, but I don't believe in giving away your hard earned tax dollars. We need to combine the strength of both private business and government to develop comprehensive and coordinated solutions to solve the complex and long term problems facing us and our children. We need to attract clean industry jobs to the Bitterroot and the state that benefit from Montana's strength of open space and public lands.
- I believe there can be a balance between promoting entrepreneurship and lending a helping hand when balancing the budget. However, I don't believe in giving away your hard earned tax dollars. We should be grateful for the privilege of living in this great nation and should all contribute to society by volunteering; serving in the military; working as an elected official; or just by paying our taxes. I am a strong supporter of public education and believe everyone should have access to affordable health care.
- Conserving what we have left in America to pass on to future generations is the epitome of being a Patriot. A clean, quality, natural environment is good for our health and valuable to our economy. I support family agriculture and keeping public lands in public hands.
Everyone in Montana has access to affordable broadband internet.
Education
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.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Margaret Gorski completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gorski's responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
Support family farming and ranching and a natural resources industry. Enhance the State's ability to carryout cross boundary fire protection. Fight for quality public education for all. Diversify our economy and invest in needed infrastructure. Support collaborative management of Federal public lands. Ensure access to affordable health care and services.
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
Management of Public Lands The question of how our backyard national forest should be managed is the subject of heated discussion. I frequently hear that our public lands are "mismanaged" and that they would be better managed by the State. This is reinforced by the 2018 Montana GOP Party Platform that says that the party will continue to "support returning federal managed public lands to the states". When I hear the statement that they are "mismanaged", I assume the expectation is that our national forests should be managed primarily to create jobs for timber workers and generate revenue to supplement the county budget. I interpret this to mean that if the forest returned to the 70's and 80's harvest levels, we would have more jobs and that wildfires wouldn't be so bad. Based on my knowledge about forest and fire management and how much it costs, it would be foolish to transfer our national forests to the state. Instead, there needs to be a more serious commitment by the county, state and the Forest Service to develop an integrated, cross boundary strategy to reduce the fire risk to the 15,000 homes that are built in the woods next to the national forest. We could have a much more robust restoration program that focuses on thinning trees and reducing fuels on both sides of the line. Regardless of how fuels are reduced, we must still to do our part to make our homes more fire resistant. The county could help neighborhoods get fire insurance more easily by instituting "firewise" building codes and the maintenance of "defensible space". Some zoning and transportation planning in the high fire hazard areas would be beneficial as well. If I am elected, one of my priorities would be to seek more funding for restoration forestry for DNRC and to support the use of collaborative groups to make management decisions. I would expect The Bitterroot National Forest to have greater participation in the governor's "Forests in Focus" program and expand the use of the Good Neighbor Policy.
What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?
A good listener.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?
Why Am I The Best Choice? My opponent says that being the wife of the incumbent and being a Bills Coordinator in Helena for two years is sufficient experience to qualify her to be a legislator. I have 30 years' experience negotiating solutions to problems. I have actually provided staff expertise in drafting bills, writing rules, and finding funding and resources to implement them. I have experience working with all three levels of government. People who know me will tell you I am a person of action, expect results and won't take "no" for an answer. I have no time for uncompromising ideology, hollow rhetoric and deliberate distraction. I want to hear all sides of an issue and am willing to compromise to find workable solutions that satisfy as many interests as possible. I have used these skills throughout my career and as a volunteer and leader in a number of local and national non-profits. I WILL PUT IDEAS AHEAD OF IDEOLOGY: I won't just parrot the party line, limiting my options by signing some ideologically driven party pledge. I WILL PUT ACTION OVER DISTRACTION: You won't hear me playing the blame game and looking for scapegoats. I won't divert your attention from the real problem by creating another. I WILL PUT RESULTS OVER RHETORIC: I will use the best ideas from all sides to find common ground. I am not a follower and I am not a wall flower. What you see is what you get. If you want someone to fight for you, and the future of the Bitterroot Valley and Montana, I am your choice.
What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?
To represent all the citizens of their district, not just those who vote for them.
What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?
The assassination of John F. Kennedy
What was your very first job? How long did you have it?
National Park Service Ranger
Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?
Yes
What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?
Diversify our Economy to broaden our source of income from Natural Resources to other sources of revenue.
Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.
Yes
What process do you favor for redistricting?
Computer generated based on science.
If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?
Natural Resources
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
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 10, 2020
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 Candidate Filing List: Legislative," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 Legislative General Election Canvass," accessed December 21, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 Candidate Filing List: Legislative," accessed March 24, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 primary election - June 7, 2016," accessed June 7, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 Candidate Filing List: Legislative," accessed March 24, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 primary election - June 7, 2016," accessed June 7, 2016
