Nick Gast/Montana Kaimin: ASUM President Jen GurskyASUM President to run for Montana House
By Amy Sisk
montanakaimin.com
Published: Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Jen Gursky's friends in Cambodia keep asking her when she's coming back, but it might be a while.
Before studying political science at the University of Montana, Gursky traveled to Cambodia and Malaysia to work with victims of sex trafficking and the textile trade and children forced to sell trinkets in the streets.
She wants to return to Southeast Asia, but the Associated Students of the University of Montana president plans to bring equality and cooperation to her home state first.
So the 31-year-old, fifth-generation Montanan filed the necessary paperwork to run for the state House of Representatives as a Democrat in District 98, which encompasses the northwest portion of Missoula. She is currently unopposed, and unless someone else files to run against her before March 12, she will remain unchallenged in the November elections.
"A year ago, I would have never said I was running for office," Gursky said. "Now it's like there's something that burns inside me that says, ‘You will do this.'"
Gursky first thought about running for state legislature while lobbying in Helena on behalf of the student government during the 2011 legislative session. She said she realized that just like in Cambodia and Malaysia, Montanans struggle with issues, albeit different ones.
"I couldn't fix it internationally until we can fix it locally," she said. "I had to fix home first."
When a bonding bill to fund a new College of Technology failed during the last legislative session, her outlook on politics changed. The bill would have benefitted the whole state and drew wide-ranging support, she said.
"In the end, it was about Montanans not being able to work together for the collective good of Montana," Gursky said. "If anything, what you do with anger and frustration is use it as a motivator for change, and I think that's one of the reasons I decided to get in the race."
She'll always be a champion of education, she said, and she wants to help create entry-level jobs with good wages as well as foster cooperation between environmentalists and natural resource developers.
But she doesn't have a set agenda. Right now, she says her focus is on her obligation to students.
"I really didn't know to the extent I'd be involved on sexual assault issues on campus," Gursky said. "I don't think I've been able to give as much attention as I'd like to on my legislative race, but that's because I'm in the here and now, and as a representative, and as president of students, that's what I need to be focused on first."
Whenever she can, Gursky etches out time to work on her campaign. Right now, it's a one-woman show.
She's met with several politicians to discuss her plans and is currently working on a website.
"I'm a poli-sci major, so do I know how to do that?" she asked. "No, but I bought a domain name. I'll just give it a whirl."
Friends have volunteered to help her, and she plans to get going on fundraising in the summer.
Her strategy? Knock on doors. Meet her neighbors.
"I love meeting people," she said. "I think what every politician should do is just be a normal person — have cups of coffee over a dining room table and chat about who people are."
That's the same advice Rep. Sue Malek (D-Missoula), who currently holds the seat Gursky is running for, gave her last week.
"It really doesn't take as much money as it does walking — and walking and walking and walking," Malek said.
Malek will not seek another term in the state House of Representatives; rather, she's filed to run for state Senate.
She said House District 98 is the second-fastest growing district in Montana with many young families, retirees and people affected by the closing of Frenchtown's Smurfit-Stone mill in 2009.
Gursky must connect with a diverse population, and she's eager to get started. She said she knows she might not be able to gain the vote of an elderly conservative, but she wants to learn their views and bring their opinions to Helena.
When Rep. Bryce Bennett (D-Missoula) ran for House District 92 in 2010, he said he got a lot of questions about his age and experience during the campaign. He was only 25 at the time and spent a lot of time knocking on doors.
"I was really worried that (other legislators) wouldn't take me seriously, but they absolutely did," he said. "I never had any pushback from any legislator on either side of the aisle, from them saying you're too young, you don't have the experience."
Bennett said he's confident Gursky will be one of the Montana's future leaders.
"We're all hoping she gets elected because I think her voice is very, very strongly needed in the legislature."
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