# Laura Smith

Laura Smith is a Democratic member of the Montana Senate for district 40.

- Party: Democrat
- Seat: Montana Senate, district 40
- Serving since: 2023-01-02
- Current term: MT 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/51492780-1440-4625-b487-63640ee2b11d

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/51492780-1440-4625-b487-63640ee2b11d (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Smith has 6 classified statements in the MT 2025–26 session.

## What Smith says (MT 2025–26 session)

6 classified statements: 6 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State Senate Democrats average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Smith | State Senate Democrats average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.4% | 249 of 330 |
| Policy criticism | 66.7% | 10.3% | 1 of 330 |
| Policy discussion | 100.0% | 42.9% | 1 of 330 |
| Bipartisanship | 0.0% | 3.4% | 294 of 330 |
| Credit claiming | 100.0% | 16.1% | 1 of 330 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 0.8% | 228 of 330 |

Most discussed policy areas: Education 67% (State Senate Democrats 15%); Government Operations and Politics 50% (State Senate Democrats 14%); Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues 33% (State Senate Democrats 8.4%); Health 33% (State Senate Democrats 17%); Law 33% (State Senate Democrats 2.2%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.65 (standard error 0.03), from 359 donors and 298 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 50% of State Senate Democrats score lower.

## Votes (MT 2025–26 session)

2,812 roll calls. Attendance 98.7% (Montana Senate 98.9%). Party unity 96.9% (85%). 131 votes against the party majority.

## Campaign money (2024 cycle)

Itemized receipts $43.2K (State Senate Democrats median $16.2K). 84% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2025-06-25 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/LauraForMT/status/1937693125507711124
- 2025-06-25 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/LauraForMT/status/1937926728472731918
- 2025-02-16 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/LauraForMT/status/1891152645764591644
- 2025-02-14 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/LauraForMT/status/1890411079114572040
- 2025-02-08 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/LauraForMT/status/1888285628082933850
- 2025-01-25 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/LauraForMT/status/1883280400312909951

## Links

- Official site: https://leg.mt.gov/legislator-information/roster/individual/7644
- Campaign site: https://www.lauraforlegislature.com
- X: https://x.com/LauraForMT
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LauraForLegislature/

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/51492780-1440-4625-b487-63640ee2b11d