Brown wins Montana GOP primary for state auditor

James Brown, current president of the all-Republican Montana Public Service Commission, has won the primary for state auditor. As of Wednesday morning, Brown had secured 70% of the race’s votes to John Willoughby’s 30%.

As president of the Montana Public Service Commission, Brown regulates monopoly utility companies to balance their financial health with the interests of their ratepayers. Brown, a lawyer who owns properties in Dillon and Helena, declined to run for a second term on the PSC to campaign for the job as Montana’s commissioner of securities and insurance. He’ll become the state’s top insurance watchdog if elected in November.

In a Tuesday night conversation with Montana Free Press, Brown said he was pleased with his victory over Willoughby, a Helena-area insurance salesman who highlighted his experience working in the insurance industry and its importance to everyday Montanans’ lives in his pitch to voters.

Brown attributed his win to voters’ recognition of his work at the PSC.

“I think a lot of the margin is attributable to the fact that people recognized the good work I’ve done on the Public Service Commission,” he said. “I think I’ve served the public well.”

Brown said that if elected in November, he’s looking forward to making affordable health insurance attainable for Montanans, particularly rural residents, and bringing his experience working with agricultural producers to the Montana Land Board, which oversees the management of state trust lands.

“I grew up in and around agriculture,” Brown said. “I look forward to adding that perspective should I have the privilege of being elected in November.”

Brown also commended Willoughby on running “a clean race.”

“It’s not an easy thing to run for public office and anybody who does certainly gets my respect. I hope that Mr. Willougby looks to run for a different office in the future, maybe a local office or a legislative office.”

Willoughby said he appreciated the clean campaign on both sides, but he won’t be pursuing another elected office.  

“I have no political aspiration beyond the state auditor’s office,” he said. “The whole intent of [my candidacy] was to fix 25 years of mess that’s been created by people using it as a stepping stone.”

“The voters didn’t buy into that, so I apologize to the nearly 50,000 voters that placed their trust in me — that I didn’t do a good enough job of resonating their position. But I am deeply humbled by the many Montanans who put their faith in me.”

Willoughby told Montana Free Press in May that the “final straw” that inspired his run for office was a conversation with one of his 70-year-old clients on a fixed income who was “in tears” over the double-whammy of rising property taxes and insurance increases. 

Willoughby said “daily” occurrences of insurance non-renewal notices and policy cancellations have created a “hornet’s nest” situation that Brown will be stepping into if he secures the seat in November.

Whoever assumes the office “better be ready to go, boots on the ground, day one when the Legislature opens,” Willoughby said.

In the general election, Brown will face John Repke, a retired executive from Whitefish who was unopposed in the Democratic primary. 

Repke underscored his experience with insurance programs, self-funded employee health plans, and risk management in his pitch to voters, arguing he can sympathize with Montanans’ frustrations when purchasing insurance and dealing with the claims process.

The winner of the seat will oversee a $10 million budget and manage approximately 72 employees. The office is currently held by Tory Downing, who declined to run for a second term to run for the U.S. House.