Montana lawmaker: 2025 session yielded defensive wins, split GOP and property-tax relief for Missoula homeowners

Representative Zoe Zephyr of Missoula said the 2025 Montana legislative session produced “sustainable” victories for Democrats by exposing fractures within the Republican majority and using those divisions to kill bills she and other Democrats opposed. "One of the best things to happen in this last session is we found the fracture lines within the Republican Party," Zephyr said.

The fractures, Zephyr said, helped Democrats block several measures she described as being pushed by what she called "MAGA Trumpers," including proposed bills to expand local police roles into immigration enforcement and a business partnership that she said would have provided $500,000 a year in state funds for a partnership with Israel. "We were able to find the fracture lines within the Republican party and kill that," Zephyr said of that measure.

Why it matters: Zephyr said the same approach helped reduce the tax burden on homeowners in Missoula. She said tax policy adjustments enacted during the session should lower average property taxes on primary residences in Missoula by about 20 percent, though she called the figure a ballpark estimate. "Taxes are kinda like a balloon. If you squeeze one side of it, it balloons out on another side," Zephyr said, adding that the relief came, in part, from changing the tax treatment of large corporate box stores.

Zephyr also described the 2025 session as a defensive success on transgender rights measures. "We killed about half of the anti trans policies," she said, and noted that some Republican legislators joined Democrats in opposing parts of that package. That cross‑party opposition, she said, made those bills defeatable in a state with a Republican majority.

The legislator said Democratic strategy intentionally engaged hot‑button issues to force fissures within the GOP caucus and to build working relationships with moderate Republicans that could be leveraged on other policy areas such as taxes. Looking forward to the 2027 session, Zephyr said she intends to push for additional transparency about which provisions of the Montana Code are blocked by court rulings and to pursue further tax and housing policy changes.

Zephyr framed these developments as tactical: press hot issues publicly to reveal which Republican members will resist the most extreme proposals, then use those relationships to win concessions on other priorities.

Representative Zoe Zephyr spoke to the Western Montana DSA speaker series; Bridal Work, the chapter cochair, introduced the event and the speaker.