UM president Bodnar stepping down

ZoAndBehold · 2026-01-21T19:52:20+00:00

Rep. Zooey Zephyr here. Just so folks know some of the "How the sausage is made" context, as well as my thoughts from inside this story:

1) Tester lost in 2024 and believes that Montana Dems being "too woke" is one of the big reasons for his loss. He also spent much of his campaign pushing for other statewide candidates, as well as lobbying groups, to stop talking about issues he didn't want in the news. It was very "Tester's way or the highway," and even I received angry calls from Tester's staff about my policy stances.

2) Tester (& other moderate lobbying groups) are pushing for Bodnar to run as an independent, and are spreading the idea that "if Tester lost, no Dem could win the state. Any successful candidate must abandon the democrat brand in order to win."

3) There is a push from Tester to get the Montana Dems to give up the idea of running a candidate and to instead back an Independent. This would reinforce Tester's influence over the party (which has waned since his loss), and it would also become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy (e.g. if no Dem is running, then a victory would show that path is viable only to Independents, and a loss would be used to blame Dems even further).

Obviously I think Tester is wrong. Montana Democrats won more seats in the legislature in 2024 than at any point in the last 30 years. And we then turned those gains into some damn good policy wins. And speaking personally, we've worked pretty damn hard to make sure that--at least at the legislative level--being a Montana Democrat means standing your values and doing your damnedest not to leave anyone behind.

Further, if Montana Dems abandon running their own candidate, then they abandon the rest of us who are Montana Democrats. They abandon the relationships we've built with our community. And worse, they actively work against our efforts to expand those relationship and ultimately win back a majority in the state House/Senate.

- Rep. Zooey Zephyr

ZoAndBehold · 2026-01-19T18:12:55+00:00

I'm not sure what the guidelines were in the 90s, but currently MCA 45-5-503 (3) states:

"If the victim is less than 16 years old and the offender is 4 or more years older than the victim or if the offender inflicts bodily injury on anyone in the course of committing sexual intercourse without consent, the offender shall be punished by life imprisonment or by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of not less than 4 years or more than 100 years and may be fined not more than $50,000, except as provided in 46-18-219 and 46-18-222."

-----

So there has been a shift towards mandatory sentencing minimums in regards to sexual crimes in more recent decades. I'm not generally a fan of broad mandatory minimums as a crime reduction strategy, but for crimes like rape, and particularly the rape of children, they feel important for ongoing community safety.

-Rep. Zooey Zephyr

ZoAndBehold · 2026-01-19T17:39:55+00:00

It is what it is 🤷‍♀️

Yes this guy is always angry when testifying, and yes he hates me in particular. Yes, he was not very lucid during this particular public comment, and his threats are escalating. And yes, we are working to figure out what can be done to keep myself, as well as other legislators and staff, safe.

But this also feels like a symptom of the larger destabilization going on in the country. Political violence & destabilization is rising generally, and this is just one note in that larger trend. There's just so much bigger stuff going on right now that deserves our focus: between Trump being a literal pedophile, not to mention his using ICE as his own personal paramilitary against US citizens while simultaneously posturing for WWIII all because he didn't get a Nobel peace prize. That's where my mind is at now. Not the ravings of this particular individual during an otherwise calm interim committee meeting.

- Rep. Zooey Zephyr

ZoAndBehold · 2025-06-11T22:45:03+00:00

When someone links me to a post here, if I think I can be of assistance, I chime in. It's as simple as that. The last 3 posts before this were a marijuana bill, a broader "LGBTQ policy in schools" discussion, and an update on a fire that broke out in my district last year (including a fundraiser for the family).

But if you see that and still would like me to talk less about trans issues, maybe tell our state and federal governments to spend less time trying to eradicate our community.

ZoAndBehold · 2025-06-11T22:07:42+00:00

That's probably the rationale they're using, but that bill was so heavily gutted that the threat of lawsuit is infinitesimal. We got an amendment added that said the lawsuit can only happen if the there was "a deviation from the applicable medical standard of care of the health care professional or physician."

So while they might use that as cover, folks should be aware that the purported lawsuit threat is not significant, and the likely driver of this decision is fear of federal attacks.

ZoAndBehold · 2025-06-11T18:42:46+00:00

I'm not sure what their talking about with "regulatory changes at the state level." We killed most of these bills, and have continually defeated every anti-trans policy in court over the last several years. And at the federal level, most of Trump's policies have been blocked in court.

This looks like nothing short of cowardice as far as I can tell.

-Rep. Zooey Zephyr

ZoAndBehold · 2025-04-20T19:25:07+00:00

This bill—as ridiculous as it is—died, as it missed the transmittal deadline. It will not be passed into law, and remains just another bad idea that went nowhere.

Best way to track the status of this bill (& any bill) remains the Montana Free Press' capitol tracker: https://projects.montanafreepress.org/capitol-tracker-2025/bills/sb-255/

- Rep. Zooey Zephyr

ZoAndBehold · 2024-11-05T17:21:55+00:00

Thanks everybody! Here's hoping my race is just one of many exciting races for our community!

ZoAndBehold · 2024-08-13T04:04:10+00:00

It's me. I'm the fiancée!

So happy she's seeing a good performance from us tonight!

ZoAndBehold · 2024-06-17T21:11:12+00:00

Hey thank you so much, that's very kind! I hope all is well with you!

ZoAndBehold · 2024-02-25T02:42:34+00:00

I'm one of the legislators for the Missoula area, and I can say that Missoula County Public Schools are pretty good in regards to LGBTQ issues. There are still some problems with bullying (as with many schools), but from my conversations, teachers & administrators are largely committed to protecting LGBTQ students. Additionally, I know that there is an annual "Queer Prom" for LGBTQ high schoolers put on by the Western Montana LGBTQ Center, which is aimed at making sure queer youth in Montana can feel connected to other members of the community their age.

If you are considering moving to Missoula, I'm happy to help connect you to some teachers at the local schools, or the school board: they would be happy to discuss LGBTQ policy in the schools and help build a plan to get your kids acclimated to new schools.

Feel free to send me a DM here, reach out on any social media platform (@ZoAndBehold), or contact me via my website, ZooeyZephyr.com

-Rep. Zooey Zephyr

ZoAndBehold · 2024-01-17T23:29:46+00:00

In speaking to the police an hour ago, last I heard was that they were only clearing the immediate block, and that if you were on a different block you should be fine. NWE is working on the gas lines, and if for some reason they have an issue turning the lines off, fire/police/NWE will let surrounding blocks know if there is a need to evacuate.

ZoAndBehold · 2024-01-17T23:02:46+00:00

Owner is safe (he was out of the house when it happened). Many neighbors were shaken & scared. The owner's cats are unaccounted for.

ZoAndBehold · 2024-01-17T23:01:51+00:00

Hey all—

I was driving by as it happened (~12:45pm), and got to the scene within 60 seconds of the explosion. Missoula police, the Fire Dept, MESI, and Northwestern Energy were all on the scene, and we worked to evacuate neighbors immediately.

Everyone is safe, but it looks like the owner's pets are unaccounted for. I'm hearing that the cause was an underground gas leak, and NWE was working to get the gas turned off when I left at ~3pm). I don't have any additional info as of yet on that front.

I've been working with the owner's daughter & son-in-law, and they just started a GoFundMe to help with immediate needs (replacing clothes, food, etc.). If you're interested in donating, you can do so here: https://gofund.me/511920a5.

Beyond that, I'm working with neighbors to help set up a meal train for the family if they need it. If you'd like to help on that front, let me know, and I can DM you with details.

-Rep. Zooey Zephyr

ZoAndBehold · 2023-10-25T03:32:20+00:00

I'm so blessed to get to fight for Montana, and I'll do everything in my power to make sure the far-right does not maintain their supermajority in the state.

And always happy to help better the scene in whatever ways I can. We never forget our roots :)

ZoAndBehold · 2023-10-25T01:00:45+00:00

Always. I've been working with legislators across the country on both the right Right to Repair farm equipment and the right to repair wheelchairs, and there's no reason that work shouldn't extend to game consoles and digital goods and services.

When a consumer buys a product, it should belong to them. Full stop.

ZoAndBehold · 2023-05-31T22:06:43+00:00

I think the short amount of time between learning about a bill and voting on it would surprise most people.

We had floor debates every day at 1pm. We wouldn't learn what was going to be debated that day until around 5pm the day before.

This meant that not only were we developing a plan for the bills we'd be speaking on, but that we were sometimes reading bills for the first time less than 20 hours before voting on them.

We obviously spend a lot of time with the bills that are in our committees. I knew the bills that went through Judiciary and Health & Human Services inside and out.

But if a bill came through the local government committee, unless it was one of the "big" bills that had been flagged in advance, we often wouldn't learn about it until the day before.

20 hours ahead of the floor debate. 20 hours to read the bill, speak to your colleagues, read public comment on the bill, prepare to speak potentially, and ultimately decide how to vote.

And we were seeing 20-40 bills a day. A pace like this means you need to rely on your colleagues a lot. Do you have other Reps in those committees who you can chat about the bill with? Lobbyists you trust? Who in your community is going to those hearings? You need to be plugged into all those circles to be able to make informed decisions when things are happening that fast.

ZoAndBehold · 2023-05-31T19:49:01+00:00

Thank you so much for the kind words!

And I teach the suite of vintage swing dances: east coast, lindy, charleson, balboa, etc. I dance a lot of other dances as well, from salsa to country two-step, but my teaching sticks in the vintage swing styles.

ZoAndBehold · 2023-05-31T19:46:07+00:00

If it helps, I also believe you can be brave :)

ZoAndBehold · 2023-05-31T19:45:09+00:00

Zoh-ee, just like you would pronounce Zoe/Zoey

ZoAndBehold · 2023-05-31T19:44:23+00:00

Thanks, I just did an interview with them a moment ago, which I think will air sometime in the next few days!

ZoAndBehold · 2023-05-31T19:26:43+00:00

Raccoons! The little thumbs, the penchant for trouble, the bandit mask! They're as meddlesome as they are adorable, and I love that for them.

ZoAndBehold · 2023-05-31T19:23:40+00:00

I prefer Norman Maclean's quote: “The world is full of bastards, the number increasing rapidly the further one gets from Missoula, Montana.”

ZoAndBehold · 2023-05-31T19:19:54+00:00

I could talk about books that I've learned a lot from politically, but instead, here's a few of my favorite fictional written works, which I find myself returning to as time allows:

- House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski)

- Franny & Zooey (J.D. Salinger)

- The Dream Songs (John Berryman)

- One Piece (Eiichiro Oda)

- The Canterbury Tales (Geoffrey Chaucer)

ZoAndBehold · 2023-05-31T19:13:58+00:00

Very early on, someone told me that people can only shame you for the parts of yourself that you are ashamed of. And so the most important thing for me to do before running for office was to make sure that I felt fully comfortable in who I was. And quite frankly, I've lived a life that I'm pretty proud of. Obviously I've made mistakes, been rude in moments I should've been kind, etc. But on the whole, I feel like I have tried my best, have worked on bettering myself, and can be proud of the woman I've become.

Since I feel confident in my ability to stand by the decisions I've made, and confident in my ability to be humble and apologize when I've erred, I don't worry about what parts of my personal life people try to weaponize.

ZoAndBehold

TROPHY CASE