MTPR is airing interviews with candidates running for federal office in 2026. MTPR's Shaylee Ragar speaks with Brian Miller, a Democrat running for Montana's eastern U.S. House seat.
Shaylee Ragar: Brian, thanks so much for coming in today.
Brian Miller: Good to be here.
Shaylee Ragar: We'll dive right in. Tell me why you are the best person for this job.
Brian Miller: Well, I don't know if I'm the best person, but I can just tell you what I bring to the table. We'll let the voters decide who the best person is. I've been a civil litigator for 15 years in Montana, raised kids here. I'm a dad. I care about my kids. That's why I'm doing this. And I think a lot of people are feeling a lot of worry right now. They have people they love and care about. And so that's kind of my motivation. That's what I bring to the table.
Shaylee Ragar: Talk to me about how your previous work experience, life experience, how would that translate to work in Congress?
Brian Miller: So I mean, I've done jury trials for regular people all over the state. You know, I'd been all over this state doing cases. So, and you know, won some and lost some, but you learn how to talk to regular people, which I think is important. Another thing that's important is in the line of work I'm in, you have to work with subject matter experts from a variety of different areas. And I think a member of Congress needs to be able to go to people who are experts in health care, economics, military policy, and understand how to ask the questions and get that information.
I also think that I'm not afraid to talk to anybody. So if I'm elected to Congress, I will be here. And if people don't like what I'm doing, I will give them an opportunity to let me know because I think that's part of the job description – is that you gotta take the negative and the positive. Too many politicians just wanna hear everything roses. That's not real life.
Shaylee Ragar: We'll dive into some issue-specific questions here. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the tariffs that President Trump enacted, saying that he overstepped into congressional authority. Do you agree with that ruling?
Brian Miller: Yeah, and this was the first article I put on my website was about how the tariffs were unconstitutional.
Shaylee Ragar: How should the U.S. Approach foreign trade policy?
Brian Miller: Well, we need to have free trade on the one hand, but we also need to look at our national interest. I agree with the underlying idea that we need revitalize manufacturing in the United States, but the way Trump is doing it is not right. For example, when Trump took office, there were 400,000 manufacturing jobs that were not filled. He didn't do anything to fill them. The tariffs can be used in the structure of a negotiation when you're trying to give and take.
And this has been something that goes back to the early days of the Republic. We've always had this issue. It was the British, when we first founded, that we're our main competitors. So this is not a new story, but you have to handle it skillfully in the context of negotiations.
But we do need, there are times when government needs to come in and help stimulate new industries. And this is something Alexander Hamilton talked about, that sometimes there's too much risk for private entrepreneurs, and so sometimes the government needs to kind of help kickstart things.
Shaylee Ragar: The Trump administration has made a big push to downsize the federal government. Are you happy with the results of that effort? Is further downsizing necessary?
Brian Miller: Well, we don't want to have government be too big, right? Nobody wants that. But the way they did it, absolutely horrible. They just went and cut all kinds of things. They cut veterans programs, for instance. They cut a program that helps veterans get home loans, and now veterans who have served our country are going homeless because of Donald Trump. That's not acceptable. I mean, we need to use a scalpel.
And the other thing that I never liked was you had people in these government jobs, they were depending on those jobs for their mortgages and things like that. If you're gonna downsize, give people some heads up and make sure that people know what's coming. Don't pull the rug out from under people.
Shaylee Ragar: If you were looking at a different way to maybe limit the growth of government, where would you start?
Brian Miller: Defense Department, I want to cut the Defense Department budget. The war in Iran has showed us that we are just wasting money left and right and that our military strategy is driven by the military industrial defense complex, not the people.
Shaylee Ragar: How would you balance the protection and development of Montana's natural resources?
Brian Miller: Well, it's hard to answer that in the abstract, right? Because we do, we live in a technological society. We need rare earth minerals, we need energy production, all those things. But on the other hand, farmers and ranchers need to have clean air and clean water to grow crops and have their cattle and their domestic livestock. There's a great value, as we all know in this state, to the spiritual and ethical side of being to be able to go out and be in nature. People like to do, you know, four-wheelers sometimes. I'm more of a hiker guy, but I respect the fact that some people have different uses. So it's complicated.
And I think in Montana, we've seen some examples where people have been brought together around the table and worked through those things. There's plenty of examples of that. I think sometimes though, not everyone's gonna be happy, but I think what's important is that everybody gets a voice at the table.
But there's so many land uses, so many things you gotta balance. But it's hard to answer it in the abstract because every case is different and I think that's what important is look at every single case on its own merits.
Shaylee Ragar: What would you say is a top priority for constituents in this district?
Brian Miller: Health care, agriculture policy, ending the war in Iran. Those are the big ones right now.
Shaylee Ragar: Thanks for taking the time today, Brian.
Brian Miller: Thank you so much.
