Knudsen Keynotes Local GOP Dinner
Author: MT 43 News Staff Reporter
MT 43 News Staff Reporter
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen fired up a gathering of about 120 people who attended the 35th annual Broadwater County Republican Lincoln Day fundraising dinner Saturday evening. Knudsen, running for election to a second term in office, was keynote speaker at the event held at the Watson Center.
He was introduced by Broadwater Republican Central Committee chair Ed Regan, who touted Knudsen’s work on public safety issues and for fighting efforts by Planned Parenthood to put a constitutional initiative on this year’s election ballot to ensure legalization of abortion in Montana.
Knudsen was raised on a ranch near Culbertson in northeastern Montana. He began his legal career as County Attorney in Roosevelt County as a fighter against drug trafficking. He described a major part of his job as combatting the synthetic drug fentanyl. What began in 2023 as a small amount of fentanyl smuggled into the state from Mexican cartels has become a huge danger to public safety.
Knudsen reasoned the huge rise in fentanyl crossing the U.S. southern border is our No. 1 public safety issue. As such, he has worked to get bills passed in the legislature that give local sheriffs more tools to conduct searches and arrest drug traffickers. New laws also give county attorneys better ways to prosecute them.
Knudsen touched on the right of girls to compete in sports without competition from transgender persons. He pointed out laws passed by the 2023 legislature which protect those rights.
Asked to comment on the abortion rights amendment, Knudsen was forceful in pointing out that the Montana Supreme Court overrode his legal filing by ruling that Planned Parenthood’s initiative is sufficient to collect signatures to get on the ballot in November. He called the Supreme Court’s judgement “flagrantly wrong and biased.”
Knudsen encouraged voters to take care in electing Supreme Court candidates and he endorsed Broadwater County Attorney Cory Swanson who is running for Supreme Court chief justice. He also endorsed Dan Wilson, Kalispell, who is one of three candidates for associate justice.
Various political candidates were present, including Jane Gillette and Kyle McMurray, competing for GOP nomination to the House District 77 seat in the legislature. Broadwater County is in that district.
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Image 1 Caption: Broadwater Republican Central Committee Chairman Ed Regan with State Attorney General Austin Knudsen
MT 43 News Photographer
Image 2 Caption: House District 77 candidate Jane Gillette visits with Missy Cox, Linda Davis and Cliff Cox at the Lincoln-Ragen Day Dinner.
MT 43 News Photographer
