There are many reasons why no woman has been elected to federal office in Montana since Jeannette Rankin. But it largely begins with deeply rooted beliefs about where women belong and who should have power. Montana women say the challenges Rankin had to overcome are still largely present today. Learn more from them on this episode of The Big Why.
Austin Amestoy: Welcome to the Big Why, a series from Montana Public Radio where we find out what we can discover together. I’m your host, Austin Amestoy. This is a show about listener-powered reporting. We’ll answer your questions – large or small – about anything under the Big Sky. By Montanans for Montana, this is The Big Why.
Austin Amestoy: Reporter Shaylee Ragar is here.
Shaylee Ragar: I’m back, Austin!
Austin Amestoy: We’re continuing with part two of our episode answering a question from a Browning listener about why no woman has been elected to federal office in Montana since Jeannette Rankin.
Shaylee Ragar: That’s right, Austin. To recap, last time we dug into former Congresswoman Rankin, who was the first woman ever elected to Congress, and the last woman to represent Montana on Capitol Hill. As MSU Professor Jennifer Hill said:
"She was a fireball. She was quite the character."
Shaylee Ragar: Now, we’re fast-forwarding to the challenges women face today. I interviewed women who have campaigned themselves, on both sides of the aisle, and a longtime journalist who’s been covering politics for decades. Their experiences shed a lot of light.
Ok, Shaylee, Rankin was last elected about 80 years ago. A lot has changed since. Set the political scene for us.
Shaylee Ragar: Since Rankin’s time, women have had a lot of wins at both the federal and state level. Let’s focus just on Montana here.
Montana elected its first female governor – Judy Martz – in 2000. And in 2009, Denise Juneau became the first Native American woman to hold any statewide office in the United States. She was elected Montana’s superintendent of public instruction.
I want to drill down on Juneau’s experience both at OPI and running for Congress because it reflects both progress and the influence of gender roles in politics.
Austin Amestoy: Juneau’s experience? How do you mean?
Shaylee Ragar: While Juneau needed to overcome racism and sexism in the political arena, the Office of Public Instruction has historically been run by women. In fact, only one man has held the State Superintendent title in the last century.
Denise Juneau: I do think people see public education sort of as, you know, of course it’s a natural leadership position for a woman. When I was running one time, I had this guy, an older guy, ask me like, ‘oh, that’s that school marm position?’ And so it's a perspective of what seats are okay for women to be leaders of.
Shaylee Ragar: After her tenure at OPI, Juneau decided to run for Congress in 2016. She saw a major change in attitude compared to her run for superintendent.
Austin Amestoy: Wow, ok so 2016 is exactly 100 years from when Rankin won her first race. How did that election go for Juneau?
Shaylee Ragar: Well, we know she lost to Congressman Ryan Zinke.
Juneau says her campaign gathered data on how her identity impacted her candidacy. Juneau is a woman, Blackfeet and Mandan Hidatsa, and she came out publicly as gay in 2016. Polling looked at potential political weaknesses.
Denise Juneau: Being a lesbian was the lowest hit against me, which I thought said a lot. Like, we had a Libertarian streak. People were just like, live your life, don’t bug mine.
Shaylee Ragar: Juneau’s race – being Native American – polled the second highest in cause for skepticism. She attributes that to racial prejudice and the prior lack of Native representation in office.
Denise Juneau: And the number one reason people would not see me in that seat was because I was a woman. The model for a congressman is basically white, male, military-background, wealthy.
Austin Amestoy: So that demonstrates the added hurdles we talked about, Shaylee. One for women, another for people of color, and another hurdle for sexual orientation. It’s compounding.
Shaylee Ragar: Right, and to be clear: campaigns are hard work for everybody. But Juneau says she had to work double time to pitch herself as the best candidate while also addressing all of the doubt attached to her identity based in perception, not reality.
Denise Juneau: A woman who has other identities – and even just a woman, a white woman – has to work through a lot more layers to convince voters that they are the right person for the job.
Shaylee Ragar: Juneau does not plan to run for office again. She says that prejudice she saw back in 2016:
Denise Juneau: It’s more outward now even than 10 years ago. Like, people express their hatred of women, their hatred of otherness all the time. And that is not a good place for us to be in.
Austin Amestoy: That’s gotta be part of the answer to our question, Shaylee – why Rankin was the last woman Montana elected to Congress.
Shaylee Ragar: Absolutely. There are, of course, many factors that contribute to our answer – some unexplainable. But it largely stems back to deeply rooted beliefs about where women belong and who should have power.
I talked with former MTPR News Director Sally Mauk about this. She’s been covering Montana politics since 1980 and is a wealth of knowledge. She says the challenges Rankin had to overcome are still largely present for women today.
Sally Mauk: Money is a big issue. The gender disparity in funds available to run a campaign is huge. So that’s part of it. And the other part is just plain old misogyny. I mean let’s just say what it is.
Shaylee Ragar: The absence of Montana women in federal office is certainly not for lack of trying.
Austin Amestoy: Right, there have been many women who have run for Congress over the years.
Shaylee Ragar: Correct, and Mauk says they checked all the boxes, aside from gender.
Sally Mauk: I mean there have been so many women run who are so qualified, either because of their political experience – like several terms in the state Legislature – or because they have served in state government. And they’re certainly as qualified as any of the men who have run, and more qualified than many.
Austin Amestoy: Does Mauk have thoughts on what it’ll take for a woman to win in the future?
Shaylee Ragar: Well, a lot would have to change. A lot. And the odds are still stacked against women. In the current midterm election, more than two dozen candidates are running for three congressional seats. Only four of those candidates are women.
Mauk says she hopes to see Montana elect a woman to Congress or for the country to elect a woman president in her lifetime.
Sally Mauk: I don’t think either of those things are going to happen in my lifetime. And that makes me sad.
Austin Amestoy: I imagine the challenges we’ve discussed would be very discouraging to anyone who’s not a straight, white man.
Shaylee Ragar: There are certainly tenacious women still out there running for office despite the setbacks.
For example, let’s talk about Stacy Zinn. She ran for Congress in 2022 and had a rocky go of it. She was with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency for more than 20 years. After a long career in high-stakes law enforcement, she wasn’t expecting a campaign to be so daunting.
Stacy Zinn: Being naive gave me, it gave me the courage to go for it. If I would have known what I know now, I probably would have hesitated.
Austin Amestoy: What was her experience like?
Shaylee Ragar: Incredibly expensive and time-consuming. She says she felt like she was questioned in ways others weren’t. She got pushback about not having a voting record from a prior legislative office.
Stacy Zinn: I would have died for my country. And to hear someone say, ‘well, let’s see how she votes.’ That’s a sticking point to me.
Shaylee Ragar: But Zinn hasn’t given up.
Austin Amestoy: Oh really? What’s she doing now?
Shaylee Ragar: Nowadays, she’s vice-chair of the Montana GOP. She was also appointed to take over a state legislative seat in Billings, and she’s running for reelection.
She could see herself run for Congress again.
Stacy Zinn: If I can be an example – a positive example – for females, absolutely. So that’s why I also think it’s important to have women in leadership.
Shaylee Ragar: I certainly don’t believe Rankin will be the last woman elected to federal office in Montana, Austin.
Austin Amestoy: It remains an open question of who that will be, and I’m sure we’ll cover it here at MTPR. Thanks for your reporting, Shaylee.
Shaylee Ragar: No problem, Austin.
Austin Amestoy: Now we want to know what makes you curious about Montana. Submit your questions below, or leave a message at 406-640-8933. Let's see what we can discover together! Find us wherever you listen to podcasts and help others find the show by sharing it and leaving a review.
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