Current:Home > MarketsMontana Rep. Zooey Zephyr must win reelection to return to the House floor after 2023 sanction-InfoLens
Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr must win reelection to return to the House floor after 2023 sanction
View Date:2024-12-23 10:59:27
Follow live: Updates from AP’s coverage of the presidential election.
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr is seeking reelection in a race that could allow the transgender lawmaker to return to the House floor nearly two years after she was silenced and sanctioned by her Republican colleagues.
Zephyr, a Democrat, is highly favored to defeat Republican Barbara Starmer in her Democrat-leaning district in the college town of Missoula. Republicans still dominate statewide with control of the governor’s office and a two-thirds majority in the Legislature.
The first-term Democrat was last permitted to speak on the chamber floor in April 2023, when she refused to apologize for saying some lawmakers would have blood on their hands for supporting a ban on gender-affirming medical care for youth.
Before voting to expel Zephyr from the chamber, Republicans called her words hateful and accused her of inciting a protest that brought the session to a temporary standstill. Some even sought to equate the non-violent demonstration with an insurrection.
Her exile technically ended when the 2023 session adjourned, but because the Legislature did not meet this year, she must win reelection to make her long-awaited return to the House floor in 2025.
Zephyr said she hopes the upcoming session will focus less on politicizing transgender lives, including her own, and more on issues that affect a wider swath of Montana residents, such as housing affordability and health care access.
“Missoula is a city that has cared for me throughout the toughest periods of my life. It is a city that I love deeply,” she told The Associated Press. “So, for me, getting a chance to go back in that room and fight for the community that I serve is a joy and a privilege.”
Zephyr’s clash with Montana Republicans propelled her into the national spotlight at a time when GOP-led legislatures were considering hundreds of bills to restrict transgender people in sports, schools, health care and other areas of public life.
She has since become a leading voice for transgender rights across the country, helping fight against a torrent of anti-trans rhetoric on the presidential campaign trail from Donald Trump and his allies. Her campaign season has been split between Montana and other states where Democrats are facing competitive races.
Zephyr said she views her case as one of several examples in which powerful Republicans have undermined the core tenets of democracy to silence opposition. She has warned voters that another Trump presidency could further erode democracy on a national level, citing the then-president’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has said he does not think his running mate lost the 2020 election, echoing Trump’s false claims that the prior presidential election was stolen from him.
Zephyr’s sanction came weeks after Tennessee Republicans expelled Democratic Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson from the Legislature for chanting along with gun control supporters who packed the House gallery in response to a Nashville school shooting that killed six people, including three children. Jones and Pearson were later reinstated.
Oklahoma Republicans also censured a nonbinary Democratic colleague after state troopers said the lawmaker blocked them from questioning an activist accused of assaulting a police officer during a protest over legislation banning children from receiving gender-affirming care, such as puberty-blocking drugs and hormones.
___
Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.
veryGood! (4)
Related
- NASCAR Cup Series Championship race 2024: Start time, TV, live stream, odds, lineup
- How Ben Affleck Really Feels About His and Jennifer Lopez’s Movie Gigli Today
- Reds honor Pete Rose with a 14-hour visitation at Great American Ball Park
- Trump announces Tom Homan, former director of immigration enforcement, will serve as ‘border czar’
- Joan says 'Yes!' to 'Golden Bachelorette' finale fantasy beach proposal. Who did she pick?
- Sister Wives’ Kody Brown Explains His Stance on His Daughter Gwendlyn Brown’s Sexuality
- Trump's election has women swearing off sex with men. It's called the 4B movement.
- Michael Jordan and driver Tyler Reddick come up short in bid for NASCAR championship
- What Just Happened to the Idea of Progress?
- Sister Wives’ Madison Brush Details Why She Went “No Contact” With Dad Kody Brown
Ranking
- Ryan Reynolds Clarifies Taylor Swift’s Role as Godmother to His Kids With Blake Lively
- Kirk Herbstreit berates LSU fans throwing trash vs Alabama: 'Enough is enough, clowns'
- Chiefs block last-second field goal to save unbeaten record, beat Broncos
- LSU leads college football Week 11 Misery Index after College Football Playoff hopes go bust
- Avril Lavigne’s Ex Mod Sun Is Dating Love Is Blind Star Brittany Wisniewski, Debuts Romance With a Kiss
- Is Veterans Day a federal holiday? Here's what to know for November 11
- Deebo Samuel explains 'out of character' sideline altercation with 49ers long snapper, kicker
- AP Top 25: Oregon remains No. 1 as Big Ten grabs 4 of top 5 spots; Georgia, Miami out of top 10
Recommendation
-
John Krasinski named People's Sexiest Man Alive for 2024
-
Steelers shoot for the moon ball, but will offense hold up or wilt in brutal final stretch?
-
Sister Wives’ Kody Brown Explains His Stance on His Daughter Gwendlyn Brown’s Sexuality
-
California voters reject proposed ban on forced prison labor in any form
-
The Daily Money: Markets react to Election 2024
-
Climate Advocacy Groups Say They’re Ready for Trump 2.0
-
World War II veteran reflects on life as he turns 100
-
Trump breaks GOP losing streak in nation’s largest majority-Arab city with a pivotal final week