Meet Lyn

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Representative Lyn Hellegaard is a community leader that homeowners in the Garden City TRUST.

Lyn was raised in Missoula, and after graduating from Sentinel High School she soon began a career as a local banker. With her husband Steve, the Hellegaards raised two children and started a small business- yet they also found it important to stay active in the community by volunteering for a variety of local civic organizations.

As she watched her neighbors struggle under high taxes caused by government overspending, Lyn Hellegaard developed an interest in politics. Her background in banking made her an effective budget hawk, and her neighbors agreed, electing her to the Missoula City Council in 2007.

Once in office, she set to work on her agenda of addressing the onerous tax burden on homeowners. She also fought to protect homeowners from enduring arbitrary zoning changes likely to change the character of the neighborhood.

The left was most upset by her defense of traditional marriage, and they recruited a well known gay rights organizer to unseat her. Undeterred, Lyn stayed active in the community and in Republican Party politics.

After her term as city councilwoman, Representative Hellegaard continued to use her skills in building effective government to better the lives of veterans, the disabled, and the elderly. She became one of Montana’s foremost experts in transportation issues, and is the current chair of the Ravalli County Veteran’s Service Center. In fact, she was instrumental in securing funding to facilitate putting veteran’s service centers in every county in Montana. 

Her community once again rallied behind her when she ran for legislature, electing her to the Montana House of Representatives in 2022. Once there, she was known as a rock star, and was the primary sponsor of fifteen different bills, getting six passed which is something that most don’t accomplish.

She sponsored numerous bills strengthening our election system, including House Bill 892 which created stronger penalties against double-voting and House Bill 598 which prohibits Ranked Choice Voting.

We need people who are willing to push back against government spending. Eliminating the budget tricks, providing transparency to the taxpayers, and developing real long-term solutions. It’s what she did while representing Ward 4 on City Council and it’s what she did as the HD97 representative in the 2023 legislature. And it’s exactly how she’ll continue to serve you.