In April 2023, Montana’s House Republicans barred Zooey Zephyr, the state’s first openly transgender lawmaker, from the House floor. She spent the rest of that session working from a bench in the hallway.

This week, her Democratic colleagues handed two of their top jobs to trans lawmakers.

What happened

On Wednesday, November 11, a week after the midterms, Montana’s legislative caucuses met at the State Capitol in Helena to choose leaders for the 2027 session, which opens January 4, KBZK reported.

  • Rep. SJ Howell (D-Missoula), who is transgender and nonbinary, was chosen as House minority leader. The race was uncontested.
  • Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D-Missoula) was voted one of three minority whips, the Associated Press reported.

According to Erin in the Morning and PinkNews, Howell is the first transgender person chosen to lead a party caucus in any state legislative chamber in the US. PinkNews adds that Zephyr is the first trans woman to hold a party whip role in a state legislative chamber.

Zephyr announced the news on Bluesky: “We have an incredible leadership team, and are ready to get to work for Montana!”

Who SJ Howell is

Howell, who uses they/them pronouns, was a lobbyist and activist on women’s and LGBTQ+ issues before being elected in 2022 as Montana’s first nonbinary legislator, the AP reported. Howell and Zephyr were the first two openly trans people elected to the Montana Legislature.

Erin in the Morning notes that Howell was a minority whip last session, is vice chair of the House Human Services Committee, and has carried bills on Medicaid and child welfare. Howell led the push to renew Montana’s Medicaid expansion and has helped defeat many of the bills targeting trans people in the state, arguing that the “Big Sky state is big enough for everyone.”

And Howell’s first message as leader wasn’t about identity at all. “We’re going to address affordability first, and affordability second, and likely third, and maybe fourth,” Howell told reporters, per KBZK.

Why Zephyr’s comeback lands

If you were online in spring 2023, you probably remember this. During a debate on a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, Zephyr told colleagues who backed the ban that they would have “blood” on their hands. When she refused to apologise, the Republican majority barred her from the House floor, the AP recalls.

She kept voting and representing her constituents from outside the chamber. Montana voters re-elected her in 2024, and now her own caucus has put her in leadership.

Keep the scale in mind

This is a big symbolic moment, but it isn’t a change of power. Republicans still dominate the Montana Legislature and hold all six statewide offices, according to the AP. KBZK reports that Democrats gained two seats in the House and two in the Senate this year.

On the Republican side, the House chose Rep. Katie Zolnikov (R-Billings) as speaker. KBZK says she is Montana’s first female House speaker. Rep. Tom Millett (R-Marion) is majority leader and Rep. Mike Vinton (R-Billings) speaker pro tem. In the Senate, Sen. Laura Smith (D-Helena) will lead the Democrats and Sen. Matt Regier (R-Kalispell) returns as Senate president.

So Howell will lead a minority caucus. In practice that means negotiating, building coalitions and stopping bad bills more than passing big ones. That’s the job Howell has already been doing on trans bills for two sessions.

The bigger picture

This lands in a week of record-setting news for queer and trans representation in the US. Last week’s midterms brought what many called a “Rainbow Wave”, which we covered in our midterms round-up. It also brought anti-trans ballot measures passing in four states.

Montana’s message is simpler. The lawmaker who was shut out of the chamber three years ago is now in the room where her caucus decides its strategy. The person standing next to her is the first trans caucus leader in the country.