Kelly Kortum
2025 - Present
2027
0
Kelly Kortum (Democratic Party) is a member of the Montana House of Representatives, representing District 64. He assumed office on January 6, 2025. His current term ends on January 4, 2027.
Kortum (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Montana House of Representatives to represent District 64. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Kelly Kortum lives in Bozeman, Montana. He earned a bachelor's degree from Montana State University in 2008. His career experience includes working in information technology. Kortum co-founded Gallatin Progressive Action Network.[1][2]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at:[email protected].
2023-2024
Kortum was assigned to the following committees:
- Energy, Technology, and Federal Relations Committee
- House Local Government Committee
- House State Administration Committee, Vice Chair
2021-2022
Kortum was assigned to the following committees:
- Energy, Technology, and Federal Relations Committee
- House Local Government Committee
- House State Administration Committee
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 64
Incumbent Kelly Kortum defeated Jolene Crum in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 64 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kelly Kortum (D) | 54.3 | 3,177 |
| Jolene Crum (R) | 45.7 | 2,673 | ||
| Total votes: 5,850 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 64
Incumbent Kelly Kortum advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 64 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kelly Kortum | 100.0 | 1,053 |
| Total votes: 1,053 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 64
Jolene Crum advanced from the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 64 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Jolene Crum | 100.0 | 767 | |
| Total votes: 767 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kortum in this election.
2022
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 65
Incumbent Kelly Kortum defeated James Cocco in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 65 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kelly Kortum (D) | 63.6 | 4,562 |
 | James Cocco (R) | 36.4 | 2,615 | |
| Total votes: 7,177 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 65
Incumbent Kelly Kortum advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 65 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kelly Kortum | 100.0 | 1,705 |
| Total votes: 1,705 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 65
James Cocco defeated Ryan Eisele in the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 65 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | James Cocco | 70.2 | 724 |
| Ryan Eisele | 29.8 | 308 | ||
| Total votes: 1,032 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2020
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 65
Kelly Kortum defeated Jolene Crum in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 65 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kelly Kortum (D) | 60.6 | 5,906 |
| Jolene Crum (R) | 39.4 | 3,834 | ||
| Total votes: 9,740 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 65
Kelly Kortum advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 65 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kelly Kortum | 100.0 | 2,428 |
| Total votes: 2,428 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 65
Jolene Crum advanced from the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 65 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Jolene Crum | 100.0 | 1,253 | |
| Total votes: 1,253 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Kelly Kortum did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Kelly Kortum completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kortum's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Kelly Kortum grew up in Ekalaka, a small agricultural community in southeastern Montana. His family was working class, as most are in our rural and frontier parts of the state, and Ekalaka’s strong community and neighborly culture made becoming a healthy adult all but inevitable. On his grandparents’ ranch, Kortum developed an appreciation of hard work as well as both the importance of self-reliance and having neighbors to call on. While in school and sports, he learned to value cooperation and teamwork. As a teenager, locals began calling him to help them with their computer troubles as his reputation as a friendly problem solver grew.
In the 2021 Legislative session, Kelly brought bills to protect our right to vote, improve internet access, and pay our workers a fair wage. He is running for re-election to ensure that the Montanan youth have the same (or better) opportunities to grow and thrive that he had growing up.
- Healthcare is a human right. We have the means, as a country and state, to provide better health outcomes for our fellow Montanans. The health and happiness of our people are essential to the success of our state. Limiting access to a basic level of care is both cruel and unnecessary. Everyday Montanans should be able to keep their families healthy without worrying about crushing medical debt and bankruptcy.
- Montanans deserve to live in the community in which they work. Areas where housing is available and affordable have much better economic prospects than those with limited options. Our state must enact housing policy that fosters a vibrant community and strong economy.
- Voting is an essential right of all American citizens and we must exercise and defend that right to remain a free and democratic nation. Voting for our leaders and government is fundamental to properly ensuring opportunity, justice, and human progress. Efforts to restrict any citizen's ability to vote directly threatens our freedom, liberty, and shared future.
I am very passionate about our right to vote, our right to privacy, and the infrastructure that ensures stable, prosperous communities (particularly internet infrastructure).
I cut hay on my grandparents ranch during the summer, from age 15 to 18, when wildland firefighting lured me away.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2020
Kelly Kortum completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kortum's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Kelly Kortum grew up in Ekalaka, a small agricultural community in southeastern Montana. His family was working class, as most are in our rural parts of the state, and Ekalaka's strong community and neighborly culture made becoming a healthy adult all but inevitable. On his grandparents' ranch, Kortum developed an appreciation of hard work as well as both the importance of self-reliance and having neighbors to call on. While in school and sports, he learned to value cooperation and teamwork. As a teenager, locals began calling him to help them with their computer troubles as his reputation as a friendly problem solver grew.
After spending the first half of his life in Ekalaka, he moved to Bozeman to attend Montana State University and has not considered moving again. He quickly grew appreciative of Bozeman's growing technology scene, healthy local economy, and the diverse palette of cultural experiences that it provides. He works at Bozeman's Community Food Co-op as a Systems Administrator.
Kortum became involved in the day-to-day politics of Bozeman in the summer of 2015 when he became the volunteer website/communications director for the Gallatin County Democrats. He went on to attend every Democratic state convention since, and voted in the 2017 special election primary convention. His strong sense of fairness and ability to reach across any aisle has served him well in these roles and extended his reputation as a friendly problem solver into this part of the state.
- Healthcare is a human right. We can improve our tools, as a country and state, to provide better health outcomes for our fellow Montanans. We should make use of these tools to increase the general health, happiness and well-being of our neighbors. Limiting access to a basic level of care is both cruel and unnecessary. Everyday Montanans should be able to keep their families healthy without worrying about crushing medical debt and bankruptcy.
- Voting is an essential right of all American citizens and we must exercise and defend that right to remain a free nation. Voting for our leaders and government is fundamental to properly ensuring opportunity, justice, and human progress. Efforts to suppress any citizen's voting rights directly threaten our freedom, liberty, and shared future.
- Providing all citizens a quality education is essential to having a successful and prosperous state and country - not to mention a right guaranteed to each person by our Montana Constitution. When we have the tools to make better decisions, we and our neighbors benefit. Public education is the best investment in America's future, so we must fund it accordingly. We should ensure that continued education doesn't bury our students in a lifetime of debt by supporting our universities and vocational schools.
Net neutrality is one of the most overlooked issues of our time. The Internet is an essential part of our economy, our education, and our daily lives. It was funded and created with public money and should be treated like our interstate highway system or our national parks: we all share the upkeep and we all can utilize its many benefits. Allowing a small number of people to extract or exploit this shared space will guarantee America falls behind the rest of the world in innovation, economy, and education. We must provide all citizens protections from these self-appointed gatekeepers of the Internet to ensure all of us can utilize and contribute information and efficiencies that make all of our lives better. The Internet must be free, open, and neutral.
A healthy government is free of corruption. Corporations aren't people. People are people, and their rights should be protected equally. Transparency, free elections, and shared common ethical standards ensure that our government serves those people. Montana has led the nation in combating corruption in politics and government, and must maintain that priority.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Montana scorecards, email suggestions to [email protected].
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Montana State Legislature was not in session. |
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Montana State Legislature was in session from January 2 to May 2.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Montana State Legislature was not in session. |
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Montana State Legislature was in session from January 4 to April 29.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Montana House of Representatives District 64 |
Officeholder Montana House of Representatives District 64 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Kelly Kortum for HD65. "About Kelly," accessed January 26, 2021
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 17, 2022
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Montana House of Representatives District 64 2025-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by Christopher Pope (D) |
Montana House of Representatives District 65 2021-2025 |
Succeeded by - |
