Election Guide '22

The candidates and issues on Montana's 2022 ballot

A digital project by | Support this work
Sponsored in part by
Sponsor logo
HomeU.S. HousePublic Service CommissionMT Supreme CourtBallot initiativesLegislatureHow to vote
James Boyette
Lost Republican primary for U.S. House District 2 (East) in June 2022

James Boyette

Bozeman resident
Active candidates in race

Boyette, 29, grew up in Idaho and has lived in Bozeman since 2020. He says he’s held a variety of jobs, including farmwork, landscaping, construction, IT, the fitness industry and in medical sales. He also says he has served as a kidney donor and provided CPR for his mother following a heart attack.

At a May 8 candidate forum, he said he wants to address health care and K-12 education and is frustrated by a divide in American politics “that is being widened by extreme viewpoints on the left and the right and this inability to work together.”

This biography is based on information provided by Boyette and materials on his website.

MTFP coverage

Reporting on this candidate published by the Montana Free Press newsroom.
Get MTFP work in your email inbox

Campaign finance

Based on reporting required by the U.S. Federal Election Commission. See individual candidate pages on the FEC website or the FEC's race summary page for more information. The FEC summary page may include candidates who haven't filed for the ballot in this race with the Montana secretary of state.
Candidate
Raised
Spent
Remaining
Matt Rosendale (R)
$2.1M
$1.2M
$1.2M
Gary Buchanan (I)
$563k
$343k
$221k
Penny Ronning (D)
$158k
$135k
$23k
Sam Rankin (L)
thru 10/19/22
$31k
$28k
$2k
Mark Sweeney (D)
thru 10/19/22
$123k
$120k
$0
Skylar Williams (D)
$5k
$5k
$0
James Boyette (R)
thru 5/25/22
$2k
$6k
−$3k
Kyle Austin (R)
$0
$0
$0
Roger Roots (L)
No FEC filings on record
$0
$0
$0
Samuel Thomas (L)
No FEC filings on record
$0
$0
$0
Charles Walking Child (R)
No FEC filings on record
$0
$0
$0

On the issues

The material shown below was solicted from candidates via a written questionnaire in May 2022. Responses were limited to 1,000 characters and edited lightly for punctuation and spelling. Responses have not been exhaustively fact-checked. Send questions to Eric Dietrich at edietrich@montanafreepress.org.
Q1: Polls indicate many Americans are concerned about the integrity of the nation’s democratic institutions. Both as a political candidate and as a potential member of Congress, what can you do to promote Montanans’ faith in American democracy?
James Boyette:

As a citizen of Montana and the United States, I too have concerns about the integrity of our government and the institutions. If elected, I will fight to bring honesty, integrity and transparency to all levels of the government. You may ask "How?" Here is what I would be fighting for:

—Single Topic Bills — All contents must match the title of the bill and have a financial disclosure page to increase transparency on where money is going. This will also end massive spending packages.

—Cut funding to duplicate and fragmented federal agencies

—Put an end to the financial influence by Big Tech and Big Pharma over elected officials

—Push to ban stock trading by elected officials and implement harsher punishments for any illegal activity, including insider trading.

—Fight to restore gun rights to Americans

—Demand mandatory accountability reports for all federal agencies to disclose how all finances are being spent and what work is being done.

Q2: Do you believe Joe Biden was legitimately elected president in 2020?
James Boyette:

I believe that the Russia collusion hoax created by Hillary Clinton that was blasted as "fact" for the entire duration of President Trump’s presidency and then four years and over 30,573 other forms of false or "misleading" claims about President Trump (Washington Post report) by various media outlets had resulted in a mass defamation and slandering of President Trump. This had caused the American people to lose trust in our president. So when the 2020 election came along, I believe that four years of manipulation by the media and Hillary Clinton had caused a large portion of voters to not vote for Trump. Then you had a majority of Biden voters who simply voted for him because he wasn't Trump.

So with that being said, I don't believe that Biden was "legitimately" elected and we are seeing day in and day out the result of electing a president who is not fit for office.

Q3: The cost of health care is a concern for many Montana families. What federal action would you support to improve the U.S. health care system?
James Boyette:

There are several aspects to the cost of health care that I would seek to address.

1. Enact guidelines for medical device, pharmaceutical and supply companies that would rein in the massive price markups. Currently these companies increase their profit margins by over 500% and focus more on profit than patient quality. By decreasing the costs for products, hospitals can cut the costs to the patients.

2. Create baseline standards for insurance companies to guarantee coverage for any medical procedure, treatment or medication deemed necessary by the physician, end prior authorizations and cut the costs of premiums to individuals/ families.

By reining in the massive price markups of medical products, we would be able to cut the cost to the hospitals, reduce the coverage cost of the insurance companies and result in lower costs to the patient. By reducing the costs of medical products, insurance companies will not have to cover high prices, which would allow for lower premiums for patients.

Q4: Housing costs are an increasing concern for many Montanans. What federal action would you support to promote housing affordability in Montana?
James Boyette:

First, I would propose a "Coming to Montana" tax that would be around 5%, which would vary in size based on the cost of the property. Example: Home for $500,000 = $25,000 in "Coming to Montana” tax.

The "Coming to Montana Tax" would be for 3 purposes:

First, to slow the influx of people moving to Montana. Second, placing collected tax money into a state fund that would allocate a portion of grant funding to home buyers with poor credit or low income as well as assistance needed for rent and other housing related costs. Third, the other portion of tax money collected would be granted to Montanans who have been residents for over five years.

Second, Montana residents should receive priority over out of staters when seeking to rent or purchase a home.

Q5: To what extent do you see climate change as an urgent issue? What if any federal action would you support to mitigate its effects?
James Boyette:

The "urgent" climate change issues that I believe should be addressed are the drought issues. The oil crisis is not related to climate change, but rather the decisions made by the Biden administration. Regardless, we do need to work on developing alternative fuel and energy sources.

I believe that the government should provide access to funding and resources, but stay out of the picture as much as possible. By providing funding and resources to our rural communities, to farmers and ranchers, to create drought resiliency water resources. Then by providing the funding and resources to biofuel/ biodiesel innovators, we can support the research and production of alternative fuel resources.

Q6: Do you see reining in the federal debt as a priority? If so, how should that be accomplished? If you support new taxes or spending cuts, please identify specifics about who would pay more or what budget areas you’d cut. (We assume that working to minimize waste, fraud and abuse is a given.)
James Boyette:

Yes, I do. I would implement single topic bills to rein in reckless spending, cut funding to duplicate and fragmented federal agencies and fight to repeal wasteful budget allocations that are not in the best interest of the American people.

I would cut funding to the 1,144 agencies identified by the Government Accountability Office as fragmented, overlapping and duplicate federal agencies.

I would then call for an evaluation of the Biden FY 22 budget and the costs over the next 10 years by cutting these items:

Make permanent the American Rescue Plan (including all tax credits) — $799 billion

Add at least four years of free public education — $436.9 billion

Spark widespread adoption of electric vehicles — $137 billion

Make our airports the best in the world — $25 billion

Fund research infrastructure for historically black colleges — $80 billion

Cut the IRS expansion to target taxpayers in order to take $1.8 trillion away from Americans through “IRS enforcement” to fund their wasteful spending.

Q7: What do you see as the most important priorities for the management of federal lands in Montana? Should the federal government consider transferring some federally held land into state ownership?
James Boyette:

I believe that we should protect our federally owned public lands at all costs. Federal land consists of wilderness areas, national parks, national trails, national wildlife refuges and more. These federally owned lands are beloved by hunters, anglers, hikers and other lovers of the outdoors and a key piece of what makes Montana the beautiful state that we live in. If we were to transfer this ownership over to the state, then we would have billionaires, such as the Wilks brothers, come in and buy up this land and privatize it for their own personal use and access. We owe it to Montanans, present and future, to preserve and protect these public lands for future generations.

Q8: What do you see as the single most significant issue facing Montana’s public education system, and what if any federal action would you support to address it?
James Boyette:

When it comes to public education and our students, I believe the single most significant issue is a unilateral focus on the STEM programs. By focusing solely on STEM programs and not providing support for struggling students, not pushing for academic excellence and by not offering electives such as shop, home economics, agriculture, business, personal finance, etc., we are setting our children up for failure.

If elected, I would work towards bringing back the "No Child Left Behind" program that was an integral part in pushing children to strive for academic excellence supporting children who are struggling. As a part of this program, I would seek to bring back the offering of electives to teach our children real life skills and physical education classes to teach the importance of physical health.

We need to give our children every opportunity to succeed and prepare them as best as we can for life after graduation.

Q9: In the event Roe v. Wade is overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, would you support federal legislation that either guarantees abortion access or that, alternatively, establishes legal protections for life beginning at conception? What specific provisions would you like to see included in future federal abortion law?
James Boyette:

I feel that abortion should be reserved for specific cases of rape, incest, assault, underage pregnancy, medical risks to the fetus or the mother or an extenuating circumstance. Abortion should not be pushed the way it is in today's society for it to become a "norm," nor be mass funded and abused like it often is in today's society.

I believe that we should protect the life at all costs. Like I had mentioned, I would be open to some exceptions. However, in today's society we are perpetuating irresponsible behaviors and letting people take the easy route. We need to promote responsible choices and responsible decisions to prevent unwanted pregnancies, not providing a "kill" button to anyone who does not act responsibly, especially when they have multiple abortions.

Q10: What changes, if any, would you like to see to current federal regulations regarding firearm ownership?
James Boyette:

I believe that there should be fewer regulations when it comes to firearm regulations. Currently, the federal government can deny you the purchase of a firearm if you have a charge, such as a misdemeanor, even if there was no violence associated with the charge. I believe that anyone should be allowed to purchase and own any firearm they see fit, so long as the individual has not been convicted of a violent crime with the use of a deadly weapon.

I believe in protecting the Second Amendment rights of Americans at all costs.

Q11: Montanans voted to legalize adult marijuana use in 2020. Do you support removing cannabis from the federal government’s Schedule 1 controlled substance list?
James Boyette:

Yes, I do support removing cannabis from the controlled substance list. It should never have been put on the list and made illegal in the first place. We had government officials perpetuate blatantly false information about marijuana in order to gain control back during the Prohibition when people had alcohol taken away and began using marijuana more heavily. With the enormous amount of marijuana convictions and the continuous data coming out that shows the multitude of benefits that marijuana and hemp provide, we have no reason to have it remain on the controlled substance list.

Election results

June 7 Republican primary vote
12%
11,930
Count reported by Montana secretary of state as of 7/19/22

Projects

About

Join

© 2022 Montana Free Press. Privacy PolicyMTFP logo