Amanda Curtis is a former U.S. Senate candidate, a former Montana legislator and a former teacher at Butte Central and Butte High.

She is currently the president of the Montana Federation of Public Employees, which is the state’s largest labor union.

Amanda is also a Butte girl. She might have been raised in Billings, graduating from Billings Skyview in 1997, but she lives in the Mining City now. She says she and her husband Kevin will never leave.

Even though her new job is in Helena, she still lives in Butte.

Amanda graduated from Montana Tech with a bachelor of science in biology. She then earned her secondar teaching certificate in biology and mathematics from the University of Montana Western.

She served two terms in Montana’s House of Representative from 2013 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019. During that time, she became popular for her video blog documenting the sometimes-crazy happenings of the Montana Legislature.

In 2014, Amanda was picked to replace John Walsh as the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. She was not expected to win the race. Still, she mopped the floor with Daines in the debate, and she made the race interesting until the very end.

Listen to this fun conversation, which was recorded earlier Friday at Headframe Spirits in Butte. Listen as she talks about growing up poor and the chip that put on her shoulder. Listen to hear her love of Butte and her strong belief in unionism. 

Listen to see if she has another run for office in the future.

Note: Once again, Spotify seems to be having issues playing this podcast. It is working on Apple Podcasts.