Schutt 4 HD8

We will be catching up with all of the legislative candidates in the coming weeks, but following the flurry of filings in the closing hours leading up to the March 15 deadline I wanted to highlight a few local races.

• In House District 3, there are six candidates from four different parties running for the open seat in Columbia Falls. Jerry O’Neil, Harm Toren and Sandy Welch are running as Republicans. Shawn Bailey is running as a Constitutional Party candidate. Shawn Guymon is running as an Independent. And Zac Perry is running as a Democrat.

• Unbeknownst to me, incumbent Democratic Rep. Mike Jopek withdrew from the race for House District 4 in Whitefish. Democrats Will Hammerquist and Trevor Caudill will challenge each other in the primary and face the winner of the Republican primary among Damon Pace, Derek Skees and Bill Geisse.

• Former Kalispell Fire Chief Randy Brodehl will face Steven Thompson, the grandson of Semitool founder Ray Thompson, in the Republican primary for House District 7 in Kalispell. The winner will face Democrat Karen Reeves.

• And in House District 8 in Kalispell, a seat vacated by Democrat Cheryl Steenson, there are five candidates, including Bill Jones who previously held Bigfork’s H.D. 9 seat as a Republican but is now running as an Independent. He will face the winner of the Republican primary between Carl Glimm and Steve Lavin. Bryan Schutt and Dane Clark are running as Democrats.

This should be an interesting election season. For a complete list of all the legislative candidates, visit the secretary of state’s Web site.

Among Friday’s filings for elected offices, several Democrats filed for local legislative seats that had been uncontested and a second Democrat has filed for county commissioner race, raising a June primary election for incumbent Commissioner Joe Brenneman.

Noel Gorton, a Creston-area business owner, filed Friday afternoon with the county Election Department.

Republicans Howard Gipe and Pam Holmquist previously filed for the county commissioner race.

The deadline for filing for state and local races is Monday at 5 p.m.

A Democrat who ran in 2008, Scott Wheeler, has jumped in the House District 6 race to once again challenge Rep. Bill Beck, R-Kalispell. Also in the race is Constitution Party candidate Keith Sibbert.

Democrat Mary Reckin has filed as a candidate in Senate District 4, challenging Republican candidate Jon Sonju, who currently represents House District 7. Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell, currently represents Senate District 4 but cannot seek re-election because of term limits.

In House District 5, James Henry Mahnke filed as a Democratic challenger to incumbent Rep. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell.

Another Republican, Damon Pace, has filed in the Whitefish area’s House District 4. Pace will contend against Republican Derek Skees in the June primary election. Also in the race is the incumbent, Rep. Mike Jopek, D-Whitefish.

Michael-John Davis, a Republican, withdrew from t