In 2025, I helped deliver real results for Carbon County. Working with Governor Gianforte, we cut property taxes for more than 80% of Montana homeowners. Carbon County resident homeowners saw an average 7.5% reduction in 2025, with another 17% reduction coming in 2026. We passed a fiscally responsible state budget that grew spending by less than 1%, far below inflation and among the lowest in the country. We expanded access to vocational training and apprenticeship programs for kids who aren't headed to college. And we protected access to rural healthcare so Carbon County's hospitals and clinics can stay open.
Now, out-of-state special interests and party bosses want to take those wins away from you.
Art Wittich - the Freedom Caucus-backed State GOP chair who, by his own admission, spends most of his time in Florida and was fined $68,232 for illegally coordinating with out-of-state dark money groups - recently sent me an unhinged letter of "rebuke" with a series of demands. He gave me 10 days to cut ties with my campaign vendor or face “consequences” from the Montana Republican Party. These demands are based on the false allegation that I am "working with leftists," even though campaign vendor Fireweed's Communications Director previously served the Oregon Senate Republicans in the same capacity. I responded with one word, “NUTS!”
Wittich has created a "Conservative Governance Committee" to test the ideological purity of elected Republicans, and a "Red Policy Committee" focused on internal party wedge issues rather than helping Montanans. Now he's trying to use primary elections to replace representatives who deliver results with ones who simply follow his orders.
Wittich didn't come alone. Americans for Prosperity – an organization that pretends to be a grassroots movement while paying door-knockers $27 to $29 an hour across Carbon County and has already spent several 100 thousand across the State – is backing his effort. These are the same groups that want to repeal property tax cuts. Think about that: the people calling me a RINO are the same out-of-state interests who want your property taxes to go back up. Their agenda isn't conservative. It's about protecting the out-of-state corporate industrial property owners who enjoyed a tax holiday from 2021 to 2024 – a holiday that ended when we passed the homestead exemptions.
Their logic is simple but dishonest: if you disagree with Wittich, AFP, and the Freedom Caucus on even a single point, you're a “leftist” and a “RINO”. If you do whatever they say instead of representing your constituents and honoring what you campaigned on, you're a "conservative." That's not conservatism. That's a loyalty test designed to replace your voice with theirs. For the record: in the 2025 session, Montana House Republicans voted together 90% of the time. I voted with Republicans 88% of the time. We are supposed to represent our constituents and evaluate each piece of legislation on its merits, not follow orders from party bosses.
They have endorsed my opponent, Mary Horman, whose largest home is in Billings and who owns short-term rental properties in Red Lodge. Mary opposes the homestead tax exemptions, and it's worth asking why. Homestead exemptions gave resident homeowners and long-term rentals real property tax relief and increased taxes on short-term rentals to a level more comparable to that of hotels and motels that they compete with. Representation should be about serving the citizens of each district, not pursuing personal financial interests.
Carbon County has its own economic conditions, its own needs, its own people. The issues that matter most here – property taxes, agricultural policy, rural healthcare, vocational training for our kids – are not necessarily the priorities of the largest legislative delegations in Billings and the Flathead. Billings already has 13 Representatives and 8 Senators. The citizens of House District 55 deserve their own representation – someone who will stand up for you in Helena, not take orders from unelected party bosses.
Mary's supporters have argued there's no need for her to debate because legislators are simply supposed to vote with the party. That position is counter to everything our representative republic stands for. If Mary wants to represent Carbon County, she should demonstrate she can defend her positions here. The Chair of the Carbon County Republican Central Committee offered to accommodate her schedule. She did not participate in the debate in Joliet. She is also skipping the Republican debate at Bridger Elementary School tonight at 7pm, choosing instead to hold her own campaign event.
Carbon County Republican Central Committee Chair Scott Boggio said it best: "The people down here don't want [Wittich's] input one way or another. They're smart enough to vote for who they want."
George Washington warned us that cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men would use political parties as tools to seize power and subvert the will of the people. That warning describes exactly what's happening in Montana right now. I don't work for Art Wittich. I'm not intimidated by the Montana Freedom Caucus or Americans for Prosperity. I work for you.
It is an honor to serve you.
Brad Barker
Representative
House District 55 (Carbon County)
brad@bradbarker.com
bradbarker.com
https://www.facebook.com/Representative.Barker
406-426-1034
