Woods says he wants to bring different perspective to D.C.

State Rep. Tom Woods, D-Bozeman, said he is running for Montana's only seat in the U.S. House of Representatives because, as someone who has worked different jobs and struggled economically, he can bring a different perspective to Washington, D.C.

Woods said in an interview Saturday that he is tired of a government that is controlled by millionaires and billionaires.

"Government in this country is supposed to be by people and for people, and when it serves the interests of most of us, that is when it does its best job," he said.

Woods launched his campaign Oct 12. He will go up against Billings consumer-protection attorney John Heenan and Grant Kier, former executive director of the Five Valleys Land Trust in June's Democratic primary, and three term democratic state legislator Kathleen Wiliams of Bozeman, who announced today she is running for the seat.

The winner will face Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., in next year's general election.

Woods, 56, was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He first came to Montana in 1982. Before enrolling at Montana State University in Bozeman, he worked a variety of jobs including as a bartender, waiter, bus driver and bellhop

He graduated from MSU with a bachelor's degree in broadfield science and later a master's in public administration. Woods then worked at MSU as an adjunct teaching assistant and instructor in molecular biology and physics. He now works as a special education teacher in Bozeman Public Schools.

Woods has a wife, Katie, and two children.

He was elected to the first of three terms in the Montana House of Representatives in 2012. Woods said that as a lawmaker he has helped pass bills that have done a lot of good for Montanans.

He said his time as a lawmaker shows that he knows when to stand his ground and how to find common ground.

"You can't pass a bill in this state without learning how to work with people across the aisle," Woods said.

Broadband access needs to be expanded to rural communities, he said, much as was done decades ago with electricity.

"We need to provide broadband to everybody in this country and it can be done," Woods said.

New global markets have been opened up in Asia in recent years and is something that needs to continue for Montana agriculture producers to sell their goods, he said.

The rising cost of health care, Woods said, is one of the biggest issues facing the country. He said any rise in worker's wages, has been eaten up by soaring health care costs.

Though the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, expanded access to health care, Woods said, it did not address the underlying issue of the cost.

He said the U.S. needs to put in place a two-tier system where people can get basic coverage through a Medicare for all system and if an individual doesn't want that, they can buy their own insurance.

The national Democratic Party, Woods said, has talked past a lot of people who are struggling.

"We don't speak to the frustrations that people feel with the way this economy has shifted," he said. "We have left vast swaths of this country behind, and that's where I think the Democrats have fallen behind."

The tax cuts and reform proposed by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans is something Woods said he opposes.

"Whenever I hear the Republican Party talk about tax reform I think 'oh crap here is another big tax break for the rich' and that is exactly what they are doing, and I am angry about it," Woods said.

Regulations are sometimes overdone and might need to be reviewed, Woods said, but they have also helped the country. When he was growing up in Cleveland, air pollution was so bad, Woods said, he often couldn't see across the street. Things began to improve when environmental regulations were put in place he said.

Forest management should largely be left up to the U.S. Forest Service, Woods said, but there have been too many lawsuits to block proposed timber sales.

"I think we have gotten into a culture where we sue over every darn thing, and I think we need to get back to making common-sense decisions," he said.