Election Guide '22
The candidates and issues on Montana's 2022 ballot
Kyle Austin
Austin, 39, describes himself as a pharmacist, farmer and pilot. He was raised near Havre and holds a pharmacy degree from the University of Montana. He lives in Billings, where he operates a retail pharmacy and a mobile vaccine clinic.
He says he is running because he believes current elected leaders have failed the state, citing challenges around health care, agriculture and population growth.
This biography is based on information provided by Austin and materials available on his campaign website, verified against news reports about his work as a traveling pharmacist during the COVID-19 pandemic.
MTFP coverage
Campaign finance
On the issues
We need to limit total contributions. Our elected individuals should be elected on qualifications, not how much outside money they can raise.
I feel many factors played into Biden prevailing. Do we need a more secure, reliable, accessible voting system in America? Yes we do.
Insurance companies are the problem. At the federal level, we need to consolidate our resources into one program. We need to create a taxpayer-owned single-source payer that has transparency across all health plans and providers. The plan is called "one plan" and the corporation will be the United States Health Plan Corporation.
Housing costs are going up for many reasons: inflation, population, greed, government red tape, realtors... however, eliminating red tape that causes increased fees for developing or building a house will be my first priority.
Climate change is an issue, as we see a huge population influx on this Earth, everyone needs to do their part to find a good balance. As a farmer, we are seeing drier and drier conditions for raising crops or feeding livestock. At some point, Americans may see a struggle finding food to put on their table. Do we raise the issue of world population control to reduce consumption, pollution and waste? I believe our first federal action should be to back our farmers and ranchers to ensure they have the tools to fight climate change and be successful for the future to ensure we have a sustainable food supply chain.
I believe we cut everyone's taxes across the board by 25%, cap those taxes for 10 years, and force our government to operate on that budget while paying off our national debt. We can do many things if we run our government like a business. We need to consolidate a bunch of government waste and use taxpayers’ dollars wisely.
Currently, I feel we leave these lands the way they are.
The problem I see is that our current university system does a great job extending graduation dates and sending students out of state instead of keeping graduates in Montana. This is causing a huge shortage in our workforce, especially in health care. This needs to stop. On a federal level, we will intervene in limiting the years to a program and make education more affordable.
Should abortion be regulated? Yes. Should there be consequences for having an abortion? Yes. However should there be a safe place in health care to have an abortion, and should the final decision be made between a physician and the mother? Yes
I would like to see more manufacturing of firearms and ammunition, so we never see shortages at our sporting goods outlets ever again!
Yes. I agree that it is time to remove cannabis from DEA control. This will not only allow users to use it within their own home, but allow our farmers to have more freedom with industrial hemp and industry.