Yellowstone County Commissioners pick Kerr-Carpenter to replace Kelker in the Montana Senate • Daily Montanan

One familiar face is the leaving the Montana Senate, one familiar face will take her place.

Longtime Yellowstone County leader and state Sen. Kathy Kelker, D-Billings, submitted her resignation last week to the Yellowstone County Democratic Central Committee. Kelker has been a leader at the city, county and state levels having served on the Billings Public Schools Board as well as in the Montana Legislature and with the area Head Start program.

On Tuesday morning, the Yellowstone County Commission met to interview and select Kelker’s replacement from a list of three candidates whom the Democrats forwarded for consideration. They unanimously chose Montana State Rep. Emma Kerr-Carpenter, who had just won re-election to the Montana House, representing the central core of the state’s largest city, Billings.

By state law, if a vacancy for the Legislature occurs, the central committee from that political party, in this case, Democratic, forwards three candidates for the selection by the commissioners. In this particular case, the Yellowstone County Commissioners are all Republicans selecting a Democrat, but all three admitted after the interviews that they couldn’t have made a bad decision.

“The advantage she has is her legislative experience,” said Commissioner Don Jones. “If we select Emma Kerr-Carpenter, she’s familiar with the issues and ready to go.”

The commissioners said that it was Kerr-Carpenter’s previous legislative experience and her openness in communication that would help get her up to speed with just about a month remaining until the opening of the Legislature. The process of replacing Kelker has ended, but the process to replace Kerr-Carpenter in the House will likely follow a similar path with a quick turnaround ending up back in front of the Yellowstone County Commission.

In her interview with the Yellowstone County Commission, Kerr-Carpenter spoke mainly of two issues, crime and public safety, as well as the cost of living. Both of those issues seemed to resonate well with the commissioners, who are in the process of trying to figure out how to handle an exploding jail population, and low reimbursement rates from the state for the prisoners it houses at county facilities.

“These are big hairy issues that take partnerships up and down the line, from state to county to city,” she said.

Her previous experience in the Legislature, which she’s been a part of since 2019, include serving on appropriations for public safety. She said that has helped her understand the complexity of the problems. She said that in addition to addressing issues like reimbursement rates for prisoners, the lawmakers must also consider more judges and public defenders.

She also said the 2025 Legislature must look at more ways to bring down the cost of living.

“We’re just pricing people out of their homes,” Kerr-Carpenter said.

Other candidates

The county commissioners seemed pleased with the other two candidates, and may see them back if they decide to seek Kerr-Carpenter’s House seat. Dr. Mark Nicholson, who ran unsuccessfully for the Legislature last month, as well as former U.S. Navy intelligence officer Rudolf Haden, who was beat out by Rep. Sherry Essmann, R-Billings, applied for Kelker’s open seat and are likely candidates.

Nicholson said that his background as a physician handling complex problems can help steer the Legislature through Medicaid reauthorization, a process expected to be contentious in the upcoming session. He pointed out that in addition to understanding the nuances of healthcare from a provider perspective, he also understands that to Yellowstone County, it’s the largest business sector.

He said as he door-knocked more than 5,000 homes during the campaign season that he heard about healthcare, property taxes and crime. He pointed out that the average per-capita crime rate in Billings is about 98% higher than most places in America.

“Billings does have a problem,” Nicholson said. “We need more jail space, we need more judges. But we also need to give people better alternatives and that means better schools.”

He said that the state continues to dump prisoners and parolees in Billings and it is not paying its fair share.

“Billings is sometimes being treated as the ATM of the rest of the state,” Nicholson said.

He also said that property taxes are a matter of simply lowering the taxation rate, as the Montana Department of Revenue had recommended.

“There are all these Rube Goldberg ways of adjusting property taxes that are being talked about,” Nicholson said, “but there is a simple, certain way to reduce the taxes that is straightforward, and that’s by reducing the multiplier.”

Haden, who served for several decades in the U.S. Navy as an intelligence officer, stressed that communicating back and forth among constituents is something that he’s literally trained for because of his background in the military.

He said that the top issue he heard while campaigning in Billings Heights was the cost of living.

“Since I’ve been back, I have seen my taxes go up,” Haden said. “And the cost of groceries: My refrigerator is a black hole.”

He said that one of the ways that the Legislature could help would be to encourage more housing and different types of housing. Driving around the core of Billings, there are buildings and spaces that are in need of transformation.

After the commissioners selected Kerr-Carpenter, Yellowstone County District Court Judge Collette Davies swore her in immediately. Kelker’s term runs through Jan. 4, 2027.