Denise Juneau was born in Oakland, California, but spent most of her childhood on the Blackfeet Reservation. Her parents were politically active from early on, doing a lot of work to register Native voters, and her mother Carol eventually became a state legislator, serving twenty years in the house and another four years in the Montana Senate. Denise was an early advocate for education, and after working for the Montana Department of Public Instruction for many years, she decided to run for the office of Superintendent, an office she held for two terms. She was the first Native American woman in the history of America to be elected to a statewide public office, and she was also the first openly gay candidate for public office in Montana, and the fact that this was barely mentioned during the race serves as an example how Montanans have generally shown very little judgement about these things.
Right after her term, Denise ran for Congress against Ryan Zinke, but was unsuccessful and ended up taking a job as Superintendent of Schools in Seattle for three years. She and her partner Dana moved back to Montana after that contract, and after spending several years in Bozeman, they recently moved back to their favorite Montana town, Missoula, where they are both doing private consulting.
Episode Thirty-Five - Denise Juneau