Jason Wilson

Jason Wilson (independent) ran for election to the Montana House of Representatives to represent District 37. He will not appear on the ballot for the general election on November 3, 2026.

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My family has been in Montana since 1911. My grandmother was born in Lewistown in 1920, and my grandfather graduated from the Montana School of Mines before going to work for the Anaconda Company in Butte, where my mom was born. Growing up as a military brat meant moving constantly, but my grandparents' home in Lewistown was the fixed point that kept everything else from spinning loose. After twenty years in national security and intelligence work, including time at the Pentagon and the Department of Defense, I brought that experience home because this is where I want to build my life, and the problems facing working families here are systems problems nobody in Helena seems interested in solving.

Property taxes are forcing longtime residents out of homes their families have owned for generations, the state tax code can't tell the difference between survival wages and millions made off a land sale, and the legislature handed data center corporations sweetheart deals while stripping local governments of the authority to push back. None of that fits neatly into a party platform, which is why I'm running as an independent for House District 37. Working families first. Everything else follows from that.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Working families in House District 37 are getting crushed, and the people responsible for fixing it keep looking the other way. Property taxes are forcing longtime residents out of homes their families have owned for decades. Grocery bills, heating costs, and gas prices keep climbing while paychecks stay flat. A full-time job should be enough to live on in the town where you work, and for too many of our neighbors that's no longer true. I'm running because the people who make this community function, our nurses, our teachers, our mechanics, the folks stocking shelves and keeping the lights on, deserve a representative who fights for them like their livelihood depends on it. Because it does.Something is happening to Montana that most people in small towns can feel even if they can't name it. Your property taxes doubled because outside money reshaped your neighborhood's valuations. The legislature passed laws giving data center corporations sweetheart tax deals at rates lower than what your home or your family business pays, then stripped counties and cities of the authority to do anything about it. None of these decisions involved public input from the communities carrying the consequences. The people who live here, who built these towns and keep them running, are watching their costs rise and their voice disappear at the same time. That's not growth. That's extraction.Fixing this starts with a tax code that can tell the difference between survival wages and millions made off a land sale. Right now Montana's system treats them nearly the same, and that's a choice the legislature made, not inevitable. I'll fight for property tax relief for people who actually live in their homes, not investors. I'll push to restore local authority over infrastructure decisions so counties aren't powerless when corporations show up demanding water, power, and tax breaks. I'll do it without owing a party a single vote. Good ideas should stand on their own no matter where they come from, and the only people I answer to are families in this district. Working families first. Everything else follows

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

The cost of living in rural Montana is a policy failure, not a fact of nature. I care about tax fairness because the current system asks someone on survival wages to carry nearly the same rate as someone clearing millions on a land sale, and Helena did that on purpose. Property tax relief for people who live in their homes matters to me because I watch neighbors get priced out of a town their families built. Local control over infrastructure is personal because I've seen the legislature hand corporations sweetheart deals while stripping counties of any authority to push back. Transparency in government is the baseline expectation that decisions affecting small towns should involve the people who live in them before the deals are signed

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

My mom.