Montana's Mayor
The women and men who served this country in the military and fought for our freedoms should never spend one second sleeping on the streets. Because Montana is among the top three states in this country with the most veterans per capita, we need to ensure that the men and women who stood ready to serve, don’t have to stand in a line to get care. We have to keep the promises we made to these brave men and women.
We can pledge to address and tackle the many faces of economic insecurity that take away a young man or woman’s chance to seek a higher education or to build a life and family for themselves. With income inequality rising in our state at levels that concern every Montanan, it is critical that we take the necessary action to maintain a strong middle class.
We can and will work harder to implement basic labor standards for employees. We can make sure enormous corporations are not gaming our system to benefit shareholders and CEOs rather than the workers that are trying to make ends meet. We will protect a worker’s right to collectively bargain for better wages and employment, as well as fight to end misclassifying employees as independent contractors.
I want you to join with me as one collective voice to make it heard loud and clear that no longer is it acceptable for a young mother to have to make the choice between paying the bills and getting to see a doctor. Healthcare is a right for all not a luxury for a few. People should never have to declare bankruptcy because they get sick.
Together we can make sure that the bedrock of Montana’s economy, our farmers and our ranchers, aren’t facing economic hardship because of harsher weather conditions or unpredictable markets. We can do this by investing in new partnerships with scientists, innovators and agricultural tech companies, and fight to keep markets for our products open to confront the growing problems that family farms face.
We face an imminent environmental crisis, unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Montana, I’m asking you to believe in the boldness and the urgency that it will take to fight climate change. I’m asking you to believe in science and to be a part of the extraordinary efforts it will take to save our planet from climate catastrophe. I’m asking you to help protect the jobs sustained by our climate in agriculture and our State’s natural beauty in outdoor recreation. We can make it so that our public lands and our open spaces here in Montana have never been and never will be for sale.
Montana electrified the nation in the 20th century with our resources. Every community in Montana can electrify the 21st century with new energy resources and revitalize every community with the high paying jobs that come along with being a leader in renewable resources.
Together, we must address the influence special interests in Washington DC have on our laws and economic system, because their interests are not the same as Montanans’ interests. We need to go further than overturning the disastrous Citizens United decision that allowed unlimited and unaccountable Dark Money to flow into our elections. We need to make it so that the person that can write the biggest check does not have the biggest say in our laws or economic system. We have to push for lobbying and election reform to save our democracy.
Together we can work vigorously to ensure that the public’s safety will always be our top priority. I won’t take "no" for an answer when it comes to making sure that our service members, firefighters and law enforcement officers who bear the burden of risking their lives for us, are sufficiently funded, staffed, and given every resource available to help make their jobs easier and our city, state, and nation more safe.
My family and I have had some difficult journeys in our lives and one thing I have learned is that when I reach out to Montanans they always answer the call.
Please join us on another difficult journey because we can’t do this alone.
When they fled Maddie called her host family in Helena Montana that hosted her as a high school exchange student and they fought tirelessly to bring her back, eventually securing her a place in Carroll College’s nursing program. Wilmot had to go through the refugee process that took nearly three years. Two weeks before Maddie left for Helena, the couple found out she was pregnant with their first child and made the excruciating decision to split up their, now, fledgling family. The first time Wilmot met his daughter she was nearly 2 years old, at Helena Regional Airport. Wilmot has made it his life’s mission to serve the people that worked so hard to give him and his family a chance.
He has served Montana and the nation in the National Guard, US Army Reserves and the US Navy Reserves for over 20 years. During his career, he has worked as a teacher, at various organizations that helped troubled or at-risk youth, the VA at Fort Harrison, the Department of Homeland Security, and as a Child Protection Specialist at the State of Montana.
He is an adjunct professor at Helena College and is involved in various church organizations including his local church and church choir. In 2017, he was elected Montana’s first black Mayor. His approach to politics is different than most people that serve. He brings people of all stripes together to solve problems and hear their concerns. It is only through this approach that we can all solve the problems we face.
Mayor Collins lives his life by three rules and encourages others to as well.
It is only through this approach we can change the way our politics work. We can no longer put the hard questions off for later. Many of the hard questions of our time must be answered through community engagement and building relationships even with people that may disagree with us. The ability of the people to determine their self-governance is being taken away from them and we must correct that.
Accomplishments through this approach: