Schwaderer wins District 14 Representative race

Nicholas Schwaderer was at his Superior home on election night, watching the votes trickle in for the Montana District 14 Representative race.

Around midnight when the first votes were reported from Missoula, Schwaderer realized it was "mathematically possible" that he had won the race.

As the night wound and the districts reported their final vote counts, Schwaderer emerged with a victory.

"I was just so exhausted by that point – it was surreal, it was exciting, it was humbling," Schwaderer said. "I realized it was time to get to work. Now is when the real work starts and you have to give energy everyday to having a good session and putting together laws that really help folks."

According to Schwaderer, a large part of helping involves adhering "to the principles and convictions I articulated during the campaign."

"That’s what people voted on and I need to stay at that base," Schwaderer said.

When asked about what excites him most about his first session as a representative, Schwaderer jokingly said he wasn’t sure if it would be "voting no on bad bills or voting yes on good bills" prior to delving into his plans for his time in office.

"Being able to have a say, after elections there are a lot of people who are ecstatic or upset, after the elections you have this body of emotions and the most you can do as a citizen is write a letter," Schwaderer said. "It is exciting to be able to go there and do something. To have gone out and met the people, gone through the district and found out what the big problems are and go up there."

Schwaderer said he expects this session to be largely focused on employment issues – an issue that he said greatly impacts his district.

"You are looking at one in five poverty rates, you are looking at per capita income of $18,000 a year and if you are fighting for every bit of income, everyday decisions become difficult," Schwaderer said. "We have to focus on the economic side of things when we get there to Helena and also try to minimize the harm that can come from the state at times."

Schwaderer gave property taxes as an example of how the state has cause harm to the economy and emphasized that he would strive to "focus on the right things and not get caught up in the little minutia."

"I am very optimistic for Montana," Schwaderer said. "I would like to say thank you (to my supporters). It is an honor and a privilege to serve this community. Even those who didn’t vote for me, I am going to fight to represent everybody and all those interests. I know we will have diverging opinions but on the whole we need to think about this community."