"Through her family’s history, Melinda Gopher knows that one person can make a difference, no matter how difficult the odds or how great the financial disadvantages.

And that’s just what the Missoula activist said she intends to demonstrate June 8 in the four-way contest for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. House.

Having only a fraction of the campaign funds raised by two of her Democratic rivals, Dennis McDonald and Tyler Gernant, Gopher is counting on a wave of fellow American Indians, women and youths to rally behind her and “reach every corner in the state” in the coming weeks.

Blunt, outspoken and unafraid to criticize her opponents and top Democratic elected officials, Gopher is campaigning her way.

“I won’t go with the party line,” she said. “I will do what’s best for Montana. I will do my own evaluating of an issue, and I’m not beholden to anybody.”

She tells how her father, Robert Gopher, borrowed money for gas from a relative so he could drive from Hill 57, outside of Great Falls, to Helena to testify at the 1972 Constitutional Convention. He successfully advocated for inclusion of this clause, which made it into the Montana Constitution: “The state recognizes the distinct and unique cultural heritage of the American Indians and is committed in its educational goals to the preservation of their cultural integrity.”

“That’s how that became a state law because someone chose to make a difference,” Gopher said. “When I start to feel a little discouraged, I think of that example. My dad wasn’t from any organization. He wasn’t part of an organized effort. He was a citizen. That’s the whole concept of one person making a difference.”"

Get the Story:
Candidate says she won’t follow party line (The Billings Gazette 5/11)

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