Steven Kelly (Montana House of Representatives District 9)
2025 - Present
2027
0
Steven Kelly (Republican Party) is a member of the Montana House of Representatives, representing District 9. He assumed office on January 6, 2025. His current term ends on January 4, 2027.
Kelly (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the Montana House of Representatives to represent District 9. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.
Biography
Steven Kelly was born in San Luis Obispo, California. He attended Lassen County Community College, Blue Mountain Community College, and earned a graduate degree from the University of Phoenix in 2010. His career experience includes working in law enforcement. He has been affiliated with Flathead County Republican Central Committee, Flathead Valley Clay Target Club, and Back Country Horseman of the Flathead.[1]
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
2026
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 9
Incumbent Steven Kelly is running in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 9 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Steven Kelly (R) | |
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
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2024
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 9
Steven Kelly defeated Joanne Morrow in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 9 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Steven Kelly (R) | 74.6 | 4,807 |
| Joanne Morrow (D) | 25.4 | 1,641 | ||
| Total votes: 6,448 | |||
| = 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 9
Joanne Morrow advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 9 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Joanne Morrow | 100.0 | 575 | |
| Total votes: 575 | |||
| = 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 9
Steven Kelly defeated Lee Huestis in the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 9 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Steven Kelly | 55.4 | 1,235 |
| Lee Huestis | 44.6 | 993 | ||
| Total votes: 2,228 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kelly in this election.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
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2024
Steven Kelly completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kelly's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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The primary industries in my hometown were logging and ranching.
I spent 30 years in law enforcement, starting in a three-person agency in a small Utah town and eventually moving to Washoe County, Nevada, where I served as a Sheriff's Deputy, retiring with the rank of Captain after 25 years.
During my tenure in law enforcement, I served in various departments such as Patrol, Detention, and Administration. As a Lieutenant, I commanded the Hostage Negotiation Team, wrote and managed grants, oversaw technology projects, and was the sheriff's office liaison with the general contractor on major building projects. As a Captain, I wrote the first significant patrol reorganization for the county in 20 years. When I was assigned to the Detention Division, I managed a team of over 200 sworn officers and oversaw a facility with a 1400-bed capacity. I was responsible for a budget of over $34 million and came in under budget for two consecutive years. As a fiscal conservative, I am a serious steward of the taxpayer's money. By my retirement, I received multiple service ribbons and the Meritorious Service Award.- Our property valuation system in Montana is not fair, and taxes need to be capped!
Our current tax system is dependent on the market value at a given time and does not protect property owners from sudden, considerable changes in taxation. This puts homeowners at risk of being taxed out of their homes, which is unacceptable. The taxation system should be stabilized to ensure that any increases are done incrementally and spread out over a long period rather than through sudden surges in the market.
The revenue stream for the State needs to be diversified, so the majority of the budget is not balanced on the backs of property owners. - Illegal Immigration is primarily a federal problem. However, it is clear that our federal government has and is failing us with its inadequate and ineffective response to this mounting threat. We should implement all of the legal measures available to us that remove any advantage for those not here legally.
- In Montana and the United States, judges' impartiality is a fundamental requirement. However, recent rulings on essential issues have raised concerns about their objectivity. Although they claim to be non-partisan, we must take steps to ensure they are genuinely unbiased. I will work with fellow Montana House members to propose changes to the rules for selecting and retaining judges. By doing so, we aim to promote fairness and transparency in the judicial system.
Education - schools need to return the their core mission, and that is providing our children with the skills they need to succeed.
Natural resource management - while we do need to be environmentally sensitive we need to develop common sense ways for our state to benefit from the natural resources of which we have in abundance.
General Oliver Smith and how he got the Marines out of the Chosin Reservoir battle in Korea. I personally have met Col. Danny Mc Night who led the Rangers out of Mogadishu in Somalia during the Black Hawk Down incident. I have great respect of those who lead under difficult circumstances and are successful. And of course I admire Ronald Reagan. I saw him speak once as governor of California at UC Davis. I was there for a 4-H leadership conference. I was impressed that he would take the time to speak to us kids. I was appalled at what the paper said about his speech afterwards as the write up went to great lengths to distort what he actually said. I believe that he was probably to most genuine president that we have had and I honestly believe he always tried to do the right thing.
Transparent. All of an office holder's dealings should be open and above board. There should be no doubt as to their actions and why.
Character. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Be honest. Be thrifty. We spend the people's money, not our own. Someone worked hard to provide it, we need to honor that.
2 years.
The change in property values has thrown our property tax system into overdrive and we are now overtaxing many property owners. we now have long term residents who can no longer afford their property. We need to find a new tax structure that takes this burden off of the property owner. We need to diversify our tax system so that no single sector is paying the majority of the bill.
State Parks and Wildlife
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Campaign finance summary
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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.
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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.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
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Candidate Montana House of Representatives District 9 |
Officeholder Montana House of Representatives District 9 |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 2, 2024
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Montana House of Representatives District 9 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
