Ban Dark Money

Campaign donors buy elections and determine legislative agendas.  It’s a pay-to-play system where the donor with the fattest wallet wins.  If you’re not at the table when decisions are made, you’re on the menu. They will eat you. The Montana Plan puts small businesses back at the table. I’m a community organizer for this nonpartisan plan to end corporate and dark money spending in state politics. The Montana Plan—like the 1912 Corrupt Practices Act— is a citizen-led ballot initiative.  I-194 will appear on the November ballot, thanks to the work of a team of volunteers like me who gathered more than 51,000 signatures in 13 weeks from every county in the state.  We need to get money out of our elections—funds from Montana corporations, out-of-state corporations, PACs, SuperPACs, all “artificial entities.”  Public trust plummets when campaign spending accelerates. Ordinary people understand this: money corrupts and the donor class has way too much power. In 2025, the stock market turned 1200 people into millionaires every day. The rich keep getting richer and buying political influence. The Montana Plan will nullify Citizens United in our state by redefining corporate power, and it will level the playing field for Montana business owners. To be sure, we need a constitutional amendment on the federal level to turn back Citizens United. (Idaho is the 25th state to back a proposed US constitutional amendment.) For now, a state-by-state approach to the massive increase in election spending—an 2800% increase in reported independent expenditures by outside groups since 2008—is our most promising strategy. The Montana Plan is bold.  I’m proud to be part of the team that’s making it happen. My campaign accepts zero PAC money.

Protect Public Lands and Waters

The right to a clean and healthful environment is enshrined in the Montana constitution. I will work to protect wilderness and wild rivers, invest in the preservation of public lands, fight to keep public lands public, and prevent the poisoning of lands and waters by industry of any sort. This includes, in senate district 9, Calumet’s reckless proposal to inject jetfuel wastewater into the Madison aquifer, and the ongoing encroachment of private interests that seek to turn public lands to profit by purchasing, mining, logging, drilling, fracking, and dumping industrial waste. The EPA has exempted data centers from pollution regulations if they make their own energy; this adds another threat to our air, land, and water.  It is the job of the legislature to regulate and resist the appetites of industries seeking to extract resources from Montana, not to grease the wheels and turn a blind eye. We have 18 superfund sites in Montana, more than North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming combined. For too long, companies have been allowed to extract and walk away, leaving taxpayers with the burden of cleaning up after them. We need to honor our constitution and make good on the promise to protect and preserve our irreplaceable wild lands and waters—for ourselves and for future generations.  

Affordable Energy

We’ve seen utility costs rise dramatically in this region and we are looking down the barrel at the pending $15.4 billion dollar merger of NorthWestern Energy and Black Hills Corp. NorthWestern is the largest utility monopoly in Montana. A merger will further reduce local and state control.  NorthWestern is heavily invested in coal; the price of coal has held steady for the last 50 years, while the price of solar has dropped precipitously in the last decade.  We need to prioritize and incentivize solar energy because it’s the cheapest form of energy available; it is also accessible on an individual and community scale.  Global solar energy use exceeded the use of coal for the first time in 2026, an important milestone driven by affordability. Montana is way behind. Although Montana’s solar potential is 26% greater than the national average, the state ranked 46th in the nation last year for installed solar capacity. That ranking drops to 47th in growth predictions for the next five years.  We need to cut utility costs by moving away from coal, which is dirty and expensive. We need to invest in inexpensive solar and storage, streamline permitting, expand battery storage, and promote rooftop and community solar projects. (Last year, Governor Gianforte vetoed SB188, a bill for community solar that came to his desk with broad bipartisan support; the bill was opposed by utility companies and a consumer alliance from Houston partly funded by fossil fuel interests.) Lack of diversification positions us poorly for extreme weather events common across the state. The fossil fuel industry has enormous power in Montana, with a corporate-friendly Republican trifecta in Helena. Consumers foot the bill while the gas and oil industry heaps up record profits, enjoying subsidies, dreamy tax breaks (Exxon Mobil’s 2025 effective tax rate was 1.3% with 251 billion in pre-tax profit over the last five years) and exporting energy overseas to dwindling markets. The rhetoric of ideology obscures what’s real: we pay too much for energy. State policies and utility monopolies work hand in hand to keep us from affordable, reliable energy that we needn’t wage war to defend. This is simple: real energy independence will come from clean, abundant, renewable sources, not the dirty, large-scale, exhaustible sources we can’t dig down to ourselves.

Data Center Moratorium

We are facing a threat from eleven proposed data centers across the state. Quantica Infrastructure’s proposal to build a nine square mile data center in Broadview would use ten times more energy than all of Montana’s residential users combined. Another proposed data center in Bonner on the banks of the legendary Blackfoot River is a few hundred yards from the elementary school. A 2025 watchdog report calculates that 70% of the increase in utility costs is driven by data centers; Texans face a potential 79% increase in energy costs in 2027, an increase driven by data center demand.  There are currently 5426 data centers already running in the US, with AI fueling the current accelerated buildout. Requiring data centers to make their own energy is not a solution, in part because the EPA has exempted data centers from regulations on pollution, leaving local populations vulnerable to an even wider range of ugly effects, including smog-forming nitrous oxide, formaldehyde and particulate matter from diesel generators and gas-burning plants. Additionally, water withdrawals to run fossil fuel power plants increase stress on water supply. As the planet continues to warm, the cooling needs–and therefore the water use–of data centers will rise in parallel.  “AI dominance” is no excuse for destroying the Montana way of life. This is another end-run around the will of the people.  Rivers and aquifers are vital to all of us, especially given years of drought. Even closed-loop data centers harvest massive amounts of water. Data centers operate year-round 24 hours a day 7 days a week. They are hot and they are noisy; they increase the risk of blackouts and they drive up prices; data center wastewater can overwhelm local facilities and contaminate aquifers. What do they give in return? They can take your job, your kid’s job, conjure pornography, generate political ads indistinguishable from reality, imitate the voices of your loved ones, and promise immortality for the ruling few. I support a state-wide moratorium to give us time to enact sensible regulations and a citizen vote on any proposals in the region. Citizens should have veto power. We need to stand up before we get stepped on. We need legislators who will fight to protect us, not stuff their pockets selling out to billionaires. 

Health and Wellness

When you walk around town or open your local paper, too often you find a neighbor seeking help with medical bills, having to choose between medical care and food or electricity. Medical expenses are the number one reason for bankruptcy. Fear of injury or illness we can’t afford to treat weighs on all of us, even when we’re healthy.  Medicaid and SNAP cuts at the federal level increase the pressure at the state level and it will get worse after the midterms when even deeper federal cuts go into effect.  It gets harder to be a good neighbor, to help out when we’re needed. We need our rural hospitals—the distance to treatment can be the difference between life and death—and we need adequate mental health counseling. Montana is one of five states in the country where overdose deaths increased last year—in the other 45 states, they went down. Our young people die by suicide at three times the national rate and we have the second highest rate of gun suicide in the nation. We have the second highest high school vaping rate.  Medicaid covers more than half of all school-aged children and young people. Medicaid cuts affect students in schools: students are six times more likely to access mental health care when those services are available at school. Medicaid allows public schools to bring care directly to children instead of forcing families to navigate transportation barriers, provider shortages, unaffordable bills, and months-long waiting lists. There is nothing neighborly about these statistics. We need proper treatment, public awareness programs, and adequate funding for essential services.

Education

I’m an educator and I understand plainly that education is a civic duty. An undereducated citizenry is easily exploited, economically disadvantaged, and unprepared for the future. A sense of history and civics, of literature and art, enriches our understanding of what it means to be human; our kids need science and math, analytical skills and technical skills, the work of the head and the hands. Kids learn social skills at school and the ethics of competitive sports.  Community response to school system needs like deferred maintenance is overwhelmingly positive and tax credits for qualified contributions to education fly off the shelves in our small towns. I think Montanans understand the power and value of education. But funding for public education in Montana does not mirror public sentiment. We’ve had a Republican trifecta in Montana since 2021 and a GOP legislature since 2011. The problems persist.  We have no pre-K.  Our starting teacher salary of $36,682 is the lowest in the nation. We need to work creatively and collaboratively to meet our kids’ needs. 

Protect Ballot Initiatives

Citizen-led ballot initiatives have shaped the political landscape in Montana for over a century. They are the purest and most direct form of democracy; they assure that the voice of the people is heard.  Although millions are spent by political parties and special interests to persuade voters, we nonetheless maintain the right to make our own decisions.  This right is being eroded across the country, and it is being eroded here in Montana. Legislators—including Butch Gillespie and Llew Jones—voted to make citizen-led initiatives more difficult to get on the ballot and easier to overturn. This is arrogant and unethical. It is stark evidence of a failure to serve constituents. When the people speak, it is the job of a legislator to listen. Full stop.

Right to Repair

Farmers and ranchers are the backbone of this country and the lifeblood of this region. The 2026 settlement of the class action lawsuit against John Deere, the nation’s largest manufacturer of farm equipment, is a big step down the right road to federal right-to-repair laws that would permanently guarantee farmers access to repair equipment on reasonable terms.  Modern farm equipment is computerized—you can’t fix it without software tools—and companies like Deere have restricted access to those tools and forced farmers to seek repairs from authorized dealers, leading to big bills and long wait times. Big bills for farmers lead to higher prices for consumers; unreasonable delays lead to reduced yields and failed crops.  Farmers are resourceful and capable and they need to be able to fix their own equipment. That’s just common sense.  

Country of Origin labeling

Four multi-national meatpacking conglomerates—Tyson, Cargill, JBS, and National Beef—have for years kept mandatory country of origin labeling off Montana beef.  These industry heavyweights control roughly 80% of the beef market, giving them an outsized influence with legislators. When country of origin labeling was repealed in 2015, we lost a quarter of the state’s family ranches.  Montana ranchers deserve a fair market. Foreign producers often operate under weaker labor, safety, and environmental standards, and use steroid and antibiotics banned in the US. Cattle inventory across Montana is low, and consumers feel the pinch of higher prices at the grocery store. Two Montana meat-processing cooperatives in Havre and Whitefish ease the pressure, but the facilities aren’t big enough to process all the state’s beef.  This leaves ranchers at the mercy of conglomerates, decreases food security—as we saw during Covid—and leaves consumers in the dark about where their beef comes from. I join Montana legislators in urging Congress to include the American Beef Labeling Act of 2025 in the next Farm Bill. I support clarity for consumers and a fair market for Montana ranchers.

Term Limits

I believe in term limits–in Washington DC and in Helena.  We need citizen leaders, not career politicians.  Recent debate has made it clear that term limit laws in Montana are open to interpretation. The 1992 ruling hasn’t fully solved the issue and our lawmakers move–mostly without complication–between the Montana House and Senate. The 1992 ruling is ambiguous and the ambiguity is unproductive. I support a lifetime term limit for the sake of clarity and to prevent the shenanigans we saw in our district in the weeks before the ballot was certified. Primaries are not suggestions. Legislators who overturn the will of the people need to be voted out. On the federal level, I’ve signed the term limits pledge. Most voters want lawmakers to step down from public office before they accrue unwarranted power or become enfeebled by age–or both.  You can find my pledge at US Term Limits: https://termlimits.com/noy-holland-pledges-to-support-congressional-term-limits/