Particularly as the nation deals with the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, what federal action would you support to help create good, high-paying jobs for Montana workers?

The private sector is the proper entity for creating jobs. In partnership with the federal government, I support a variety of broad financial grant programs from government targeted toward our business, health care, education, agriculture, natural resource and manufacturing industries.

What separates you from your primary opponents as your party’s best candidate to represent Montana in Washington, D.C.?

I'm the only military veteran elected to statewide office in Montana. My father served in the Army, I served in the Navy, my son now serves in the Marine Corps. Public service is a family tradition, and five generations of my family have called Montana “home.” I've never lost to a Democrat (in 20 years) and I won my last race by 72,000 votes.

If elected to the House, how would you attempt to bridge partisan divides to represent the concerns of Montanans who don't share your political orientation in Washington D.C.?

I have worked across the aisle with Jon Tester, Carol Williams, Mike Cooney, countless other Democrats — for years. Being an officer and gentleman is a choice.

Would you have voted to impeach President Donald Trump based on the evidence presented to the U.S. House last year? Why?

No. That's why we have elections, to keep or remove presidents at the ballot box.

Do you see reining in the federal debt as a priority? If so, how should that be accomplished? If you support new taxes, whom specifically should that burden fall on? If you support spending cuts, which specific places in the federal budget should be targeted? (We assume that working to minimize waste, fraud and abuse is a given.)

As secretary of state, I've saved millions of dollars by consolidating the Helena office from four locations down to one (in the state Capitol). I do see reining in debt as a top priority, as I have always been a fiscal “hawk.” That being said… I support the federal government spending money to stave off a national economic depression.

Spending cuts can be made in agencies best run from the 50 states, by transferring expensive Washington, D.C. bureaucracy to the less-expensive (and equally capable) government workers who live and work across the nation.

Do you support keeping the Affordable Care Act in place? What if any alternate federal policies would you support to promote Montanans’ access to safe, affordable health care?

Five Congresses have come and gone since Obamacare became law. It's here. The trick is to make it better, and the path towards that is ensuring all Americans have health care which covers pre-existing conditions. The health care costs for 11 million illegal immigrants should be negotiated between the U.S. and (primarily) Mexico, and not be included in the Affordable Care Act accounting.

Do you believe the federal government has enacted effective policies to keep Montana’s family-owned farms viable businesses? If not, which pieces of federal policy would you push to change?

In a 4-1 vote on the Montana Land Board, I was the only statewide elected official who opposed the Montana government's purchase of a 17,000 acre working farm near Miles City (Angela Farm). The federal and state governments are destroying family farms and disrupting markets. I'm very disappointed, to say the least. I served on the agriculture committee in the Montana state Senate my whole tenure, and I look to bring that experience and leadership to Washington, D.C.

Should the federal government consider transferring some federally held land into state ownership?

Yes. There are times when it makes a lot of sense, and both sides benefit. For example, I was the lead sponsor of Montana's Otter Creek coal legislation, which would have produced five billion dollars of economic activity in Eastern Montana. That transaction was transferring federal lands (the coal tracts) to the state, in a land swap for a gold mine.

States like Montana are generally much better stewards of government land than the slower, more bureaucratic federal government. (Forest fires, for example.)

Do you support the Montana Water Rights Protection Act implementing the Confederated Salish-Kootenai Tribes Water Compact in its current form before Congress?

No.