Democrats Dudik, Graybill square off in attorney general primary: Kimberly Dudik

The race to take Tim Fox's place as attorney general has state Rep. Kimberly Dudik of Missoula and the governor's legal counsel, Raph Graybill, facing off in the Democratic primary.

Fox cannot run for re-election due to term limits.

"I am running for attorney general because Montanans need a proven advocate in that office who is going to put people over politics and really fight for our rights and move our state forward," Dudik said. "I think I'm the best candidate based on the length and depth of my experience, and the proven ability I have to actually accomplish good things for our state." 

She said her more-than 18 years of work as an attorney includes civil work representing crime victims and making sure workers are treated fairly, as a prosecutor at the county level, and at the state level as an assistant attorney general.

She added that she brings the perspective of having been a substitute judge, ensuring that justice is enforced fairly and seeing the legal system from many viewpoints.

She also touted her eight years as a state legislator, saying she has brought citizens from across the state together to deal with issues including human trafficking, untested rape kits, dealing with mental heath issues and chemical dependency issues and "especially protecting our children.

"I think that's kind of leadership we need in the attorney general's office," she said. "I'm a proven advocate and able to get things done for our state."

  She said her medical and public health experience would help her deal with impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. She was a registered nurse who practiced specializing in neonatal intensive care and specialized in public health.

"I understand our health care delivery system from being on the front lines, but then also specializing in policy and serving on the hospital board looking at administratively how we are going to move forward from this, and so I bring all of that to the attorney general's office," she added.

Dudik said some issues facing the state include keeping public lands in public hands, making sure health care is affordable and ensuring rights aren't violated by things happening nationally.

Dudik said the role of the attorney general is set by the state Constitution. Those roles are as the chief legal advocate of the state, the chief law enforcement official, and as the only office that can bring lawsuits on behalf of citizens to enforce rights to clean and healthy environment or to enforce the right to a free, quality public education and to enforce women's rights to reproductive health care.

The attorney general also plays a role of advising state agencies, Dudik said.

"The attorney general needs to be looking out for the people of our state, ensuring that corporations aren't taking advantage of citizens and acting as an independent watchdog, ensuring that bad actors are held accountable and that the people of our state have their rights protected at all avenues at every time," she said.

She said the priorities of her campaign are focusing on safeguarding rights, protecting consumers and improving public safety, adding she has a vision on how to make the state safer.

"I have that vision," Dudik said. "I have proven time and time again, and through policy making, I want to continue that. We really need to deal with the drug problem in our state, with methamphetamine and the rising heroin problem, and we need to do that to make our community safer. The attorney general needs to have an active role in that."

She said the attorney general also has a role on the land board to ensure the public lands stays public, the constitutional right to clean and healthy environment is always enforced and that the public lands are never sold off.

She said the attorney general needs to play a key role in bringing any sort of lawsuit against bad actors who are trying to profit off people's health, off their sickness and look at pharmaceuticals.

She said she knows from her professional experience that the state needs to do more to assist Native American communities, which are frequently struggling.

"As the attorney general, I would establish an official office of Native American Affairs, building off the work already being done in that office, but doing even more," she said, "having more representation from all the tribal communities as well as the tribal councils and working at all levels of law enforcement across jurisdiction to really move our state forward, because there are some issues that have been around for years that we really need to address."

She has already worked on some of that in the Legislature, Dudik added.

"I was part of pushing forward the reforms in the 2019 legislative session to finally change our state policy to more fully address missing and murdered indigenous people, and I was happy to see that we were finally able to force change," Dudik said. "That change wouldn't have happened especially without the Native American women who are elected officials in the Legislature, and I think we need statewide leadership on this."

More needs to be done, she added.

"I don't think it should've gotten to this point that in some areas Native American women are 10 times more likely to be murdered than non-Native, it shouldn't have gotten to this point. I'm glad that we're doing things now, but a lot more needs to be done," she added.

She said it is part of the attorney general's role is defending or prosecuting lawsuits that go before the state and the U.S.Supreme Court, and bringing cases to court as needed.

"The attorney general needs to vigorously enforce our laws, enforce our constitutional rights and take it through the entire process and not politicize it, but truly put people over politics, and do what's right for the citizens of our state," she said.

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Born Nov. 4, 1974, Frenchtown

Graduated Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Montana State University 

Master of Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Juris Doctorate from the University of Montana School of Law

Registered nurse; hospital director; private-practice attorney and business owner; deputy Gallatin County attorney; assistant Montana attorney general, substitute judge, state legislator in the House of Representatives.

Married, four children.