BILLINGS — Ken Bogner currently serves as the Senate president pro tempore in the Montana Legislature. He represents Miles City but wants to take the issues he’s championed in Montana to Congress.
“I served in the military, came back home and was asked to run for office, and ran for the senate in 2018, and won,” he said.
(Watch: MTN's profile on Ken Bogner)
Bogner became the youngest member of the senate in 2018 and has served since, representing his hometown, Miles City.
“I’ve passed some important legislation in Montana that I want to take to the federal level. I passed a bill to prohibit foreign adversaries, like China, from buying our land. You’ve seen a lot of campaign ads and people talking tough on China, but I’m the one who actually passed the bill, and we need that on the federal level,” Bogner said.
His security agenda includes focusing on immigration issues on the southern border of the United States.
“The biggest issues are drug enforcement. We see it here in Billings as well as the reservations. We need to reform the BIA and the FBI to have the resources to go after drug enforcement. At the same time, increasing penalties for people who traffic drugs like fentanyl,” he said.
He said he’s concerned about the decline of some industries in eastern Montana and would work to boost business.
During his tenure in the Montana Legislature, he’s passed a bill that he says will prevent the government from spying on its citizens through facial recognition technology.
“I passed an election integrity bill that prevents fraud by making every single precinct in Montana subject to post election audit,” Bogner said.
He supports a conservative slate of issues about healthcare – including having reproductive rights be an issue for each state to determine.
“I passed medical freedom bills, and parental rights bills that were really important to me in protecting our freedoms as Americans, and we need that at the federal level. Congress isn’t acting on these things, so we need someone who takes these seriously,” he said.
Bogner is just one of 12 candidates, including eight Republicans, running for the eastern district House seat. You can find interviews with all of them here.
