Dave Fern
2017 - Present
2025
7
Dave Fern (Democratic Party) is a member of the Montana House of Representatives, representing District 5. He assumed office in 2017. His current term ends on January 6, 2025.
Fern (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Montana State Senate to represent District 2. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Committee assignments
2023-2024
Fern was assigned to the following committees:
- Agriculture Committee, Vice Chair
- House Taxation Committee
- Transportation Committee, Vice Chair
2021-2022
Fern was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Fern was assigned to the following committees:
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Montana committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Local Government |
| • Taxation |
| • Transportation |
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 State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Montana State Senate District 2
Dave Fern defeated Doug Adams in the general election for Montana State Senate District 2 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Dave Fern (D) | 52.5 | 6,629 | |
| Doug Adams (R) | 47.5 | 5,998 | ||
| Total votes: 12,627 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Montana State Senate District 2
Dave Fern advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana State Senate District 2 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Dave Fern | 100.0 | 2,344 | |
| Total votes: 2,344 | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana State Senate District 2
Doug Adams advanced from the Republican primary for Montana State Senate District 2 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Doug Adams | 100.0 | 2,318 | |
| Total votes: 2,318 | ||||
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Fern in this election.
2022
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 5
Incumbent Dave Fern defeated Lyn Bennett in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 5 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Dave Fern (D) | 61.4 | 3,673 | |
 | Lyn Bennett (R) | 38.6 | 2,311 | |
| Total votes: 5,984 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 5
Incumbent Dave Fern advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 5 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Dave Fern | 100.0 | 1,166 | |
| Total votes: 1,166 | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 5
Lyn Bennett defeated Brian Owens in the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 5 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Lyn Bennett | 56.3 | 820 |
| Brian Owens | 43.7 | 636 | |
| Total votes: 1,456 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
2020
See also: Montana House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 5
Incumbent Dave Fern defeated Catherine Owens in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 5 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Dave Fern (D) | 60.1 | 4,482 | |
| Catherine Owens (R) | 39.9 | 2,978 | |
| Total votes: 7,460 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 5
Incumbent Dave Fern advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 5 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Dave Fern | 100.0 | 1,977 | |
| Total votes: 1,977 | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 5
Catherine Owens defeated Shawn Leslie Guymon in the Republican primary for Montana House of Representatives District 5 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Catherine Owens | 67.6 | 1,018 |
| Shawn Leslie Guymon | 32.4 | 487 | ||
| Total votes: 1,505 | ||||
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2018
General election
General election for Montana House of Representatives District 5
Incumbent Dave Fern defeated Cindy Dyson in the general election for Montana House of Representatives District 5 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Dave Fern (D) | 69.1 | 3,882 | |
| Cindy Dyson (L) | 30.9 | 1,734 | |
| Total votes: 5,616 | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 5
Incumbent Dave Fern advanced from the Democratic primary for Montana House of Representatives District 5 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Dave Fern | 100.0 | 1,478 | |
| Total votes: 1,478 | ||||
| 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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2016
Elections for the Montana House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on June 7, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was March 14, 2016. Incumbent Keith Regier (R) did not seek re-election because of term-limits.
Dave Fern defeated Chet Billi in the Montana House of Representatives District 5 general election.[1][2]
| Montana House of Representatives, District 5 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Dave Fern |
56.74% | 3,257 | |
| Republican | Chet Billi | 43.26% | 2,483 | |
| Total Votes | 5,740 | |||
| Source: Montana Secretary of State | ||||
Dave Fern ran unopposed in the Montana House of Representatives District 5 Democratic primary.[3][4]
| Montana House of Representatives, District 5 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Dave Fern (unopposed) | |
Chet Billi ran unopposed in the Montana House of Representatives District 5 Republican primary.[5][6]
| Montana House of Representatives, District 5 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Chet Billi (unopposed) | |
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Dave Fern did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Dave Fern did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Dave Fern did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
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 editor@ballotpedia.org.
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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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Montana State Legislature was not in session. |
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Montana State Legislature was in session from January 7 through April 25.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Montana State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Montana State Legislature was in session from January 2 through April 28.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Montana State Senate District 2 |
Officeholder Montana House of Representatives District 5 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 Candidate Filing List: Legislative," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 Legislative General Election Canvass," accessed December 21, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 Candidate Filing List: Legislative," accessed March 24, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 primary election - June 7, 2016," accessed June 7, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 Candidate Filing List: Legislative," accessed March 24, 2016
- ↑ Montana Secretary of State, "2016 primary election - June 7, 2016," accessed June 7, 2016
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Montana State Senate District 2 2025 |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Montana House of Representatives District 5 2017-Present |
Succeeded by - |
