Steve Bullock
Bio | Steve Bullock is an American politician and is currently serving as the Governor of Montana. He is a former attorney and professor. |
Status and Position | Former Governor of Montana |
Political Party and Jurisdiction | Democrat, Montana |
Elections | Election Jurisdiction | Started Campaign | Campaign Status | Poll Rankings (of the vote) |
| 2020 Senate Election Montana 1 | Montana 1 | Yes | Running | 48.0% |
Campaign Financing | Bullock is an advocate for campaign finance reform, particularly for measures to reduce the influence of money in politics. He supports overturning Citizens United and would ban Super PACs. In this election cycle, Bullock is not accepting campaign contributions from PACs. |
Voting Rights | Bullock has expressed vague support for the need for increased protections for voting rights, but has not released any details of which policies he would support to do so. |
Opinions on Issues
Issues | Stance | Summary |
| Universal Healthcare | Against | Does not believe private insurance should be taken away from people. Bullock believes in the need for affordable healthcare, but opposes Medicare-for-All proposals. Instead, he would choose to expand the Affordable Care Act and allow citizens to opt in to Medicare coverage. He would also place a cap on out-of-pocket healthcare costs. Bullock has also outlined a plan to allocate more resources to communities with the most addiction and overdose rates to combat the opioid epidemic. |
| Socialized Healthcare | For | Supports expanding the ACA. |
| Private Healthcare | For | Said private insurance should be taken away. |
| LGBT Rights | For | Believes marriage equality is an essential right. Bullock is supportive of LGBT rights. As Governor of Montana, he used executive action to implement workplace protections for LGBT people and was an early supporter of marriage equality. He has promised that if elected, he would prioritize passing the Equality Act and would nominate pro-LGBT judges to federal judicial positions. |
| Taxes | For | Has spoken out against GOP tax cuts. Bullock is generally supportive of decreased taxation. He has been supportive of measures to cut taxes for the middle class, although he was critical of the 2017 GOP tax cuts for the relief they provided for corporations and wealthier Americans. He has not proposed any of his own measures that would radically increase taxation, although he has said he would bring the corporate tax rate back up to 28%. |
| Flat Tax Rate | Against | Supports progressive tax rates. Bullock is generally supportive of decreased taxation. He has been supportive of measures to cut taxes for the middle class, although he was critical of the 2017 GOP tax cuts for the relief they provided for corporations and wealthier Americans. He has not proposed any of his own measures that would radically increase taxation, although he has said he would bring the corporate tax rate back up to 28%. |
| Abortion | For | Though has said women make decisions about their bodies, as governor of Montana he voted for many bills restricting abortion rights. Bullock is supportive of reproductive rights, although he has not explicitly outlined which measures he would take to protect them if elected president. He has spoken out against the Trump Administration’s attacks on reproductive rights, and has defended Planned Parenthood’s status as a Title X clinic. |
| Gun Control | For | Supports universal background checks and limitations on magazine size. Bullock is supportive of more moderate gun control proposals such as universal background checks, however, he has been hesitant to support gun registration and licensing programs. |
| Assisted Suicide | Unknown | Has not made a public statement. Bullock is supportive of more moderate gun control proposals such as universal background checks, however, he has been hesitant to support gun registration and licensing programs. |
| Government Interference | For | Supports measures such as gun control and environmental regulations. |
| Planned Parenthood | For | Believes Planned Parenthood provides essential healthcare services for women. |
| Welfare | For | Supported Earned Income Tax Credit as governor. As Governor of Montana, Bullock was supportive of measures to expand welfare programs such as Medicaid and Earned Income Tax Credit. |
| Welfare | For | Supported increasing funding for labs that conducted stem cell research. |
| Death Penalty | Nuance | Would allow it in limited circumstances. Unlike many other Democratic candidates, Bullock has not made criminal justice reform a focus of his campaign. He has been criticized for maintaining contracts with private prison companies as Governor of Montana. |
| Mandatory Prison Sentence | Unknown | Has advocated for forms of criminal justice reform, but has not been specific on his position on mandatory minimums. |
| Military Spending | Unknown | Has not specifically outlined what military spending would look like under his Administration, but has been critical of the Trump Administration's defense budget. |
| War on Terrorism | Against | Supports withdrawing troops from the Middle East. |
| Foreign Policy International Interaction | For | Would recommit to NATO and rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement. Bullock has been extremely critical of Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy approach. If elected he would recommit to global allies and institutions such as NATO. He opposed the Trump Administration’s decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and has expressed intention to rejoin if elected. |
| United Nations power | For | Supports UN initiatives to stop climate change. |
| Nationalism | Against | Has criticized Trump's encouragement of nationalism. |
| Free Markets | For | Bullock supports free markets Has accused groups of hindering the free market. |
| Brexit | Unknown | Has not been vocal on the issue. |
| Affirmative Action | Unknown | Has not clearly stated his position on the topic. |
| Government Spending | For | Supports increasing government spending on social programs, but not on defense. |
| Charter Schools | Against | Believes that charter schools take resources that should be going to public education. |
| Common Core | Unknown | Has not made his position clear. Bullock believes that more resources should be allocated towards reducing cost barriers to education. He supports plans to expand eligibility for Pell Grants, and believes community college should be tuition-free. He has not proposed any plans for universal four-year college, but would implement tuition caps for colleges and universities that accept student loans. He also believes more investments should be made in Historically Black Colleges and Universities and would double federal resources to public K-12 schools. Bullock also opposes school vouchers for their propensity to lead to what he has coined the ‘privatization’ of public schools. |
| Clean Energy | Nuance | Opposes the Green New Deal, but believes advancements need to be made in energy efficiency. Bullock believes it’s important to take action to mitigate the effects of climate change. If elected, he would rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, aim to reduce US military emissions, and create incentives to expand the use of renewable energy. Bullock has said that if elected, he would restore environmental protections that were dismantled by the Trump Administration. He has specifically advocated to raise fuel efficiency standards. |
| Religious Freedom | For | Strong advocate for separation of church and state, does not believe that religious freedom includes the right to discriminate. Bullock is a strong believer in the concept of separation of church and state, and as Governor of Montana, he vetoed a bill that would have created exemptions for churches and religious institutions from campaign financing requirements. He has been supportive of legislation that would prevent the discrimination of LGBT individuals for religious reasons. |
| Separation of Church and State | For | Believes there should be separation between church and state. |
| Slavery Reparations | Against | Does not believe a single payment can rectify the harms of slavery; would look to other avenues to achieve racial justice. |
| Border Control | Against | Has stated that he does not believe immigration poses an immediate threat. Supports a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. As governor of Montana, committed to accept Syrian refugees into the state. Bullock believes that it is important to strengthen border security, but believes that technological solutions would be more effective than a border wall. If elected, Bullock would immediately end the practice of family separation and instruct ICE to refocus its efforts on deporting those that pose a legitimate threat to public safety, rather than non-dangerous immigrant families. He would also increase aid to Latin America to mitigate the crises are leading to migration in the first place. He has not called for the government to provide any direct pathways to citizenship, but has said that he would make it easier for undocumented immigrants to receive legal status in the United States. |
| Passenger Profiling | Nuance | Is an advocate for racial equality, but has not been outspoken on this particular issue. |
| DACA | For | Would grant citizenship to DREAMers. |
| Sanctuary Cities | For | Vetoed an anti-sanctuary city bill as Governor of Montana. |
| Legalizing Marijuana | For | Bullock believes that the legalization of marijuana is an issue that should be left to the states. |