President of the Hellgate chapter of the Missoula County Democrats, Gillian Sherrill, recently brought John Mues, a candidate running for senator, to visit Hellgate High School. Topics discussed included Mues’ diverse background, future ambitions, along with questions and answers with students 

Democrat John Mues grew up in Helena, Montana, and is a former oil company engineer, high school teacher, and a US Navy veteran. He entered the Senate race because he would like to beat republican Senator Steve Daines. He said, “I believe truly that [Daines] needs to be beaten, and I came to the conclusion that Senator Daines would be given a free pass in the general election if I did not run.” 

Among many of the topics Mues discussed was wages of teachers. His parents were divorced, and they often had a hard time putting food on the table. Aside from the split between his parents, they moved across the state from each other. His dad moved to Deer Lodge, while his mom found a job in Fort Peck at an Indian reservation. Mues said, “One thing that helped me was fantastic public school teachers.” He believes they need to be paid, “Appreciatively more,” because of the fact that they are having an immense impact on the rest of the outside world. He plans to achieve this by raising taxes. 

Other challenges that Mues said he would like to address are gun safety legislation, livable wage jobs, and equality among everyone.  “We need an economy that works for everybody, where there are solid, livable wage jobs in mass.” He also wants to make sure everyone is treated equally under the law. “Whether you are of the LGBTQ+ community or a minority, independent of gender, it doesn’t matter. We need to make sure that everybody is treated equally under the law and is afforded equal respect.” Mues said, “So, in my estimation republican Senator Daines either does nothing to help these issues or exaggerates them, which makes them worse.” 

The progressive lifelong Montana democrat takes pride in his past experiences and said he is the only candidate of either parts to have, “Served his country in a combat zone, to have been a teacher in the state of Montana, be involved in agriculture and is the only candidate to have worked directly with renewable sources of energy.” 

Mues wants to encourage young adults to find interest in politics because, ”They are the future, and we have so many big problems to tackle in our society, and frankly, in our planet.” His speech in front of Hellgate students gave them a window into the world of politics.