Montana legislative redistricting

This past year, Montana legislative district boundaries were changed by the Montana Redistricting Commission. This happens every 10 years after the Census counts are made to reestablish senate and house districts statewide that represent an equal number of voters. 

I will give a rough description of the changes that will affect Mineral and Sanders County voters in the upcoming 2024-2032 elections.

House District 14 will no longer include any of Mineral County.   Mineral County's new house seat will be House District 90.   This new district will include all of Mineral County, the portion of Missoula County from its western boundary to a few miles east of Frenchtown, then south over the mountains to all of Lolo Creek to within 2 Miles of the town of Lolo.  

House District 90 will also include the portion of Sanders County going eastward from Highway 28 to the reservation line, including Paradise, and south and west from Plains on the south sides of River Road West, Blackjack and Swamp Creek Roads.  

Another change for Mineral County is the change in the Senate district. House District 90 will combine with House District 89 to make up Senate District 45. House District 89 includes the town of Lolo and the lower end of Missould south of 39th Street. This means Mineral County will combine with a large population of Missoula County for both the House and Senate seats.

Now for the new boundary of House District 14. Previously Plains was included in HD14. Now the entire county west of Highway 28 to the Idaho state line are in HD14.  Another important change is the movement of the bandary for House District 13. That new boundary roughly proceeds ftom near Niarado easterly to Flathead Lake, then southerly and east including Polson and beyond,, then south to just west of Pablo to the Round Butte Road, then west back toward Highway 28. One more big change is the combining of HD 13 and HD 14 to create Senate District 7. This will put Sanders County and much of Lake County combining on this senate seat.

This is just a rough explanation that may be confusing but looking at the map can be confusing as well but this is what was adopted by the committee. The statewide district map is available on the Montana Secretary of State website and the Montana State Library website.

— Rep. Denley M. Loge, R-St. Regis