Cascade Courier Visited by Busse Campaign

Raph Graybill says he stands for freedom, wants to reduce property taxes, increase public school funding, and preserve access to public lands.

A Democrat, Graybill is running as Lieutenant Governor with Ryan Busse at the head of the ticket. A Great Falls native and Yale Law School graduate, he explained some of their policy positions during a recent visit to the Cascade Courier.

They face an uphill climb against incumbent Gov. Greg Gianforte and Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras in the Nov. 5 election, with polls showing Gianforte with a double digit lead.

As he travels across the state, Graybill said he has met people who say they will vote for Trump but will also cross party lines to vote for Busse.

"We are not the Democrats you have been warned about," Graybill said.

"We want to get your Montana back," he said. "Montana is the kind of place that changes you; we don't want people here who want to change it."

One of Graybill's main points was lower property taxes. He said the recent $2.6 billion Montana government surplus should have been used to cap property taxes.

"No one should pay more (taxes) than they paid in 2022," he said. Rather than give people a tax rebate, he said it would have been better not to raise taxes in the first place.

He doesn't like the idea of large corporate tax breaks when the average homeowner is seeing tax increases because of escalating home values.

Graybill said the tax system is a vestige of a dependence on extractive industries from years ago that needs to be modernized. He is against a sales tax, although he supports local option taxes, such as in Whitefish.

When it comes to abortion, Graybill said that involves "really intense, difficult personal decisions."

"We firmly believe the government has no business telling women what they can do with their own bodies," Graybill said.

"Government has no business being a part of that discussion."

Although they are frustrated with national politics, Graybill said he and Busse support Kamala Harris for president and Jon Tester for US Senate.

Graybill said that he and Busse are against allowing biological males to compete on female sports teams. And that they support a strong border and are against gun control.

He said fentanyl "is a very deadly drug in our communities" and is a huge problem. He wants better funding for police officers and firemen. He said Havre has vacancies in their police department because they can't pay their officers enough to fill the positions.

In West Yellowstone, firemen are required to live within 90 minutes of the fire station, but there's not a home under $750,000 in that area, he said.

Graybill was the Democratic nominee for Montana attorney general in 2020. He also served as chief legal counsel during Gov. Steve Bullock's second term.

Graybill is a member of the Graybill Law Firm and lives in Helena. He and his wife Marisa have three children. He is a fifth-generation Montanan.

His grandfather, Leo Graybill, served as president of the Montana Constitutional Convention in 1972 and also graduated from Yale Law School.