LEUCHTMAN, STEPHEN

Meet the Candidate

Running For:
State Senate
District:
43
Political Affiliation:
Democrat

Survey

Response Legend

  • SSStrongly Supports
  • SSupports
  • OOpposes
  • SOStrongly Opposes
  • *Comment
  • −Declined to respond
  • †Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question Response Comments/Notes
1. Public School Funding in Montana is at an inadequate level. SS* we need to put more resources into public schooling in Montana
2. Parents should have greater freedom to choose how and where their children are educated, including options such as education savings accounts, tax credits, vouchers, or other school-choice mechanisms. SO* vouchers, school choice and such dilute religious education and in a state like Montana make both public and parochial schools weaker.
3. Parents should be allowed to homeschool their children without additional state regulation S* I support parents' right to determine their children's educational needs
4. Curricula based on Critical Race Theory (CRT) should be prohibited in Montana public schools SO* I don't oppose things that aren't real. There is no primary or secondary school in the United States that teaches Critical Race Theory. I focus on real problems for Montana voters
5. Comprehensive sex education should be taught in public elementary schools, beginning as early as kindergarten. O* ex education is an important part of education, in high school. Age inappropriate teaching is abusive.
6. Montana’s income taxes are too high. SS
7. Montana’s property taxes are too high SS* Income and property taxes on the average Montana family are crushing those of us who grew up here and want to raise a family. I will sponsor legislation which would provide for the following: 1) no taxation by the State on the first $10,000 in income per family member unit (example a family of 7, father, mother and five minor children would pay no income or property tax on the first $70,000 of income). For a family, the first 10k per family member will be spent and circulated in the economy. It is our job as legislators to maximize people's economic well being. 2) we would maintain funding by having a surtax on luxury homes, defined as a property value of more than $5,000,000. Note homes, we don't want to punish people who have worked the land for generations and seen their property values rise. A 1% surtax per annum would replace the money lost from the income and property tax reductions for working Montanans and the elderly.
8. Montana’s corporate taxes are too high O
9. The Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to own firearms for self-defense. SS* Montana has a rich history of using firearms as tools for self defense, hunting and recreation. I pledge to never vote for anything that would restrict a Montanan from owning firearms.
10. Montanans should not be discriminated against or treated differently based on their vaccination status. S* Personal health decisions should be left to the individual. The state has no place getting between people and the medical care they choose to have or not have.
11. Climate change is a serious problem that requires increased government regulation. O* while there is little to be done to stem climate change at present, there is also little political will to enact changes which could have an effect on it.
12. Environmental regulations in Montana are currently too restrictive. SO* at the same time, environmental laws, such as they exist in Montana, were largely a result of the massive ecological and environmental damage wrought on the state by the mining barons. Cities and towns all over the state are still dealing with the fallout of ecological pillaging a century or more ago. What laws we have are designed to provide for healthy living conditions for Montana residents, weakening those already weak laws would be disgraceful and short-sighted.
13. Abortion should be illegal at all stages of pregnancy. SO
14. Abortion should be legal only in the early stages of pregnancy and restricted after a specific point, except when necessary to save the life of the mother. S
15. Abortion should remain legal at all stages of pregnancy, without restriction. O
16. Individuals and organizations should be allowed to opt out of abortion-related mandates, if those mandates violate their religious or moral convictions. S
17. Physician-assisted suicide should be legal in Montana. O* Choices on medical care should always be between a patient and their physician. The state has no business interfering in those decisions except to save human life as currently defined. In my considered opinion, as the father of six children, there is a point at which a fetus becomes a person, entitled to protection equal to the mother. Through my study of scripture and contemplation and prayer, I do not believe that is at conception, but closer to viability or quickening.As to physician assisted suicide, I think suicide is a tragedy in nearly every case. Allowing Medical Doctors to assist in suicide, even of the terminally ill is not a line I think we ought to cross.
18. Biological males who identify as transgender should be allowed to compete in women’s and girl's athletic competitions. O* As a potential State Senator, I intend to focus on real problems, like affordability and access to quality health care in our vast rural areas. We do not have a problem with transgender youths wanting to participate in sports. Less than 1/100th of 1% of Montana high school athletes identified as transgender. Since I oppose minor's being allowed to change gender prior to maturity, biological males will be boys until at least their 18th birthday.
19. Medical procedures intended to change a minor’s sex or gender should be prohibited. S* I oppose any life altering medical interventions for minors, except to save their lives, until their brains have fully developed.
20. Same-sex couples should be permitted to adopt children. SS* As to 3, 4 and 5) No Montanan should be discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation or national origin. Ever. That means adoption, housing and marriage. Imagine saying that Baptists couldn't marry because of their religious affiliation (Rhode Island did that in pre-statehood days). God made people with inherent dignity and immutable orientations, who are we to question his will in such things and discriminate against our LGBT neighbors?
21. State and local nondiscrimination laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity in the same manner as race, religion, and national origin. SS
22. Montana’s marriage laws should be revised to reflect the U.S. Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage. SS
23. Objective moral truths exist and should inform laws and public policy, rather than shifting cultural preferences. S
24. Government should be limited in scope, with most decisions best made by individuals, families, and local communities rather than centralized authorities. S
25. Homosexuals and transgender people should be allowed to adopt children: SS
26. Personal responsibility and self-governance are more effective at solving social problems than expanded government programs: O
27. Parents—not government institutions—are the primary authority responsible for the education and moral formation of their children: S* As a Christian, I believe in a power greater than man. I believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins.But as he walked as a man, he said that the Great Commandment is to love the Lord God with all our heart and love our neighbor as ourselves. He didn't make exceptions, he didn't say the neighbor that looks like us, that worship like we do, that love like we do. He said love our neighbors as ourselves.A hundred and sixty-five years ago, we fought a Civil War over the right to own other human beings and treat one segment of the population as less than human. It took more than a hundred years from them for us to consider giving black folks civil rights. The Southern Baptist Convention broke with their brethren in the North over the idea that it was a moral truth that blacks were inferior and ought to be owned.Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, started his career as a staunch defender of segregation which was a social problem that was only solved with government intervention, when that failed to get him the attention he wanted, he turned towards abortion. The SBC wrote an amicus brief on the side of religious conscience for the right for women to have abortions in 1972. So many of these questions were designed to favor a political not a moral or religious movement. Jesus wasn't a Republican, and he said nothing about homosexuality, but he said a lot about fake piety in the public square. (Matthew 6:2-4) in giving (Matthew 6:5-8) in praying in public. And in how we are to treat each other.I want all Montanans to thrive and honor their conscience in the way that best suits them. When in doubt, I stand with liberty.