Ryan's Values
Climate/Environment
Ryan knows the reality of the climate crisis isn’t debatable and will do everything in his power to ensure a liveable world for future generations. Ryan watched every minute of 2023’s historic Held v. Montana trial in person. The lawsuit holds the State of Montana accountable to our Constitution’s guaranteed right of a “clean and healthful environment,” which Ryan will honor and uphold as Governor.
Democracy
Ryan believes in majority rule, free and fair elections, and the right of all eligible citizens to vote without difficulty, confusion or harassment. He believes the leaders of the modern Republican Party, including Greg Gianforte, are actively trying to undermine Democracy and to replace it with authoritarianism. American Democracy itself is on the ballot in 2024.
Freedom of Choice
Ryan is an unapologetic defender of the freedom of health care and reproductive choice, and of Montana’s constitutional right to privacy. He believes no politician has any right to make private health care decisions for women, including whether to have an abortion. If elected to a second term, Montanans can expect Greg Gianforte to strip the guaranteed right to privacy from Montana’s Constitution.
Guns
Ryan spent more than 25 years as a senior sales executive of a major firearms company. He is a responsible gun owner and collector, and he believes in the Second Amendment right for all responsible Americans to own and protect their families with firearms. Ryan’s memoir, Gunfight, details his opposition to those who use guns to threaten or intimidate. His book also details his opposition to gun industry marketing practices which encourage violence and radicalization, because those actions put innocent people in danger and jeopardize all of our rights as Americans.
Public Education
Ryan and his wife Sara are the products of public schools, as are their children. Public schools are the heart of rural communities, and Ryan believes all students should have access to public education no matter where they live. Unlike Greg Gianforte, Ryan strongly opposes using taxpayer money to fund private and religious charter schools—which threatens the viability of rural communities. Ryan also supports public school teachers, and will work closely with them to ensure fair pay, fair benefits, safe working conditions and pride in their essential work.
Public Lands
Access to Montana’s abundant public land is part of Ryan’s very livelihood. In fact, protecting the Badger Two Medicine from drilling is what ultimately drew Ryan into political activism and away from the Republican Party. An avid hunter, hiker and angler, Ryan strongly opposes any effort to limit access, to privatize or sell public lands, or to transfer management of federal public lands to states. Greg Gianforte sued Montanans to keep them off of their publicly owned land–the banks of the East Gallatin River.
Small Business
As a former business executive, Ryan knows what it takes to build a business and to prosper in Montana. As governor, he will embrace fair tax structures, better housing conditions, strong public and secondary education, reliable infrastructure and access to public lands—all of which lend to a strong business environment.
Taxes
Ryan believes corporations and the wealthy should pay their fair share in taxes. In 2023 Greg Gianforte significantly jacked up property taxes on Montana homeowners in order to give tax breaks to fellow billionaires and millionaires, and to profitable corporations. Unlike Gianforte, Ryan has also always opposed a statewide sales tax, which would disproportionately hurt working families.
Tribal Nations
Ryan understands and honors the importance of working government-to-government with sovereign Tribal Nations, with open-mindedness, and with respect for and attention to the unique needs, cultures, languages and traditions of Indigenous People in Montana. As Governor, he will ensure his administration is adequately represented by Indigenous People.