Montana Public Service newcomer candidate Evans pulling in big money

Montana Public Service Commission (via PSC Twitter account).

Newcomer and independent Elena Evans is walloping incumbent Republican Jennifer Fielder in fundraising for the Montana Public Service Commission.

Evans, a water quality expert and candidate who qualified for the ballot through signature gathering, has pulled in more than $58,000 in all, according to campaign finance reports.

Fielder, currently vice president of the Montana Public Service Commission, has raised $1,020, including a $500 loan she gave herself, according to Commissioner of Political Practices records. She also loaned herself her filing fee.

The Public Service Commission is made up of five commissioners elected by district, currently all Republican. Three seats are up for grabs this year, including Fielder’s in District No. 4.

In a phone call Wednesday, Fielder said her opponent is pulling in money from out of state, from places such as New York and California.

“It’s obvious to me that out-of-state interests are going to try to buy this race, and I am going to put my faith in the Montana voters to know the difference between somebody that serves them well and somebody who has a campaign financed almost entirely out of state,” Fielder said.

Evans’ first finance report showed more donors from outside Montana than inside the state.

However, roughly 70% of all of her contributors total come from Montana, including at least one from Fielder’s turf, Mayor Russlyn “Rusti” Leivestad of Thompson Falls.

At the start of her campaign, Evans said she wasn’t asking Montanans for money, she was asking them to gather signatures, so she isn’t surprised her first report shows support from friends, family and others outside Montana.

She said she grew up in Wisconsin, has friends all over, and people become interested in the campaign once they learn about “all the nonsense that’s been happening at the Montana Public Service Commission.”

In addition to recent and steep rate increases commissioners have granted, Evans points to gerrymandered districts and audits showing questionable spending and misconduct.

“This is a reality TV show,” Evans said.

She said people’s reaction is, “‘Wow, this should be a race that someone who is a mom and has a budget and wants to actually do this job should be in.”

A Legislative Audit Division report in 2024 found the PSC had addressed some problems but needed to make additional improvements, including to address commissioner conduct.

Out-of-state contributors to Evans’ campaign include a former water quality program director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, according to his LinkedIn profile. (Evans said she doesn’t know him: “No idea. People are just coming out of the woodwork, and that’s great.”)

She also counts donors from San Francisco, Texas, Maryland, Wisconsin, Colorado, and elsewhere, including many giving the maximum $450.

The Montanans opening their wallets to her message include a couple of former Public Service Commissioners, Democrats Ken Toole and Gail Gutsche, and current and former Democratic state legislators.

They also include retired Supreme Court Justice Patricia Cotter, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau, a Democrat, and many other donors from western Montana.

As part of her campaign, Evans has highlighted the Public Service Commission’s approval of a settlement proposed in NorthWestern Energy’s most recent rate case and steep increases for customers — 28% for residential ones.

“When was the last time your paycheck increased by 28 percent?” Evans asked in an opinion piece she shared with the Daily Montanan.

Although her donors include Democrats, Evans said she likely wouldn’t know them herself, and her interest is not in a political brand but in representing ratepayers, or families, farmers and ranchers setting their budgets.

“This is a campaign for the people,” Evans said.

She said she’s driving around to Libby and Eureka and Troy and talking to people about railroad safety and telecommunications, and she said people want change.

“They want people to respect their budgets and how hard things are right now,” Evans said. “I don’t even know how that’s partisan, really.”

Fielder, first elected in 2020, defended the recent rate increase the PSC approved, although she said it’s also the last thing she and her family want, especially given “Bidenflation.”

She said customers are paying less money than NorthWestern originally had asked for in the case, saving them “tens of millions” of dollars. She also said commissioners have to follow laws in regulating utilities, and they can’t put a company at risk of going out of business.

Additionally, she said, a lot of the costs consumers pay are “pass-through” costs, property taxes, which commissioners “have no control over.”

“We can’t just say ‘no’ to all the rate cases,” Fielder said.

Incumbents have advantages, but Evans said she’s been surprised at the money pouring into her campaign.

At the same time, she said a lot about it has surprised her, from the fact no one had challenged Fielder early on, to commissioners who earn a salary of $115,000 “phoning it in” and “rubber stamping” proposals from utilities.

“If you empower people to take action, they’ll do it,” Evans said. “And people are empowered by this race and people really want this change.”

In the most recent reporting period, Fielder had $600 left to spend, and Evans had more than $27,000 in the bank.

In District No. 2 , Republican Sen. Brad Molnar, also a former commissioner, has pulled in roughly $19,828 in the general and primary, including about $10,000 he loaned to himself. The most recent report shows he has $631 in the bank.

Democrat Susan Bilo has raised about $15,729 in all, including some $4,100 she loaned herself and mostly refunded. She had nearly $8,400 in the bank in the most recent report.

In District No. 3 , Republican Sen. Jeff Welborn has raised about $13,700, including for a loan for the filing fee he paid back. He has $1,514 in the bank.

Opponent and Democrat Leonard Williams has raised about $3,086 and also loaned himself the filing fee.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to note signature gathering took place to put Evans’ name on the ballot, but she is not a “write in” candidate.