Penny Ronning for U.S. Congress

05/29/2026

I am the former City Council member who brought forward the initiative to create and implement the Citizen Police Advisory Board (CPAB).

The CPAB did not originate because of George Floyd or events elsewhere in the country, though those events absolutely influenced the timing. The Billings Police Department had already implemented 8 Can’t Wait policies years earlier. During the George Floyd demonstrations, I served on the Billings City Council and worked directly to open communication between the Billings Police Department and rally organizers. That communication mattered. The result was a peaceful and nationally recognized demonstration where many differing groups gathered safely, while BPD maintained a strong but measured presence. Communication and preparation prevented escalation and created a legal event that ran smoothly and powerfully.

But the reason I pushed for the CPAB was Billings, not Minneapolis.

I ran for City Council because when we started the Yellowstone Human Trafficking Task Force in 2016, the only law enforcement agency unable to participate was the Billings Police Department due to staffing shortages. As a CASA volunteer, I had already seen firsthand how limited resources were for missing and runaway children in a city our size. That was unacceptable to me.

Once elected, I saw the fuller picture. I saw the growing demands placed on public safety, the financial strain, the staffing shortages, and the long-term consequences of years of inadequate investment. Billings was experiencing some of the highest rates in Montana for domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, stolen vehicles, police-involved shootings, and mental health crisis calls. BPD was also dealing with disciplinary issues and lawsuits. Then the pandemic intensified violence against children and families in ways that were devastating.

Like communities across this country, Billings was experiencing trauma.

As a former first responder, I understand the value of communication, training, and public trust during high stress periods. We could remain reactive, or we could become proactive. The CPAB was designed to help create better communication between the public, City leadership, and law enforcement so we could identify problems earlier, improve transparency, strengthen trust in government, and better address public safety needs together.

Today, members of the Billings City Council are attempting to dismantle one of the very tools designed to increase public engagement and communication in government.

That is deeply concerning.

You cannot claim to care about issues like domestic violence, mental health, addiction, public safety, or community trust while simultaneously shutting down avenues for direct public participation and communication. Advisory boards exist so citizens can participate in their own government. They are one of the clearest expressions of “We the People.”

Leadership begins with the City Council understanding the purpose, function, and value of its own advisory boards, because public engagement only works when leaders understand and support the structures designed to foster it.

“Efficiency” should never become an excuse to reduce public participation or restrict the public’s voice in its own government.

Good government does not fear public participation. Good government invites it.

To all who have served on the City of Billings Advisory Boards and Commissions, thank you.

A citizen police advisory board created in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death could soon be eliminated as Billings city leaders push to streamline government committees.

05/25/2026

On this Memorial Day, I’m thinking of those who gave their lives in service to our country and the families who carry their memory forward.

In the language of flowers, begonias symbolize appreciation and “I’m thinking of you.” Today in my garden, this orange begonia stands as a quiet tribute to the courage, sacrifice, and lives that made our freedoms possible.

05/19/2026

One year ago today, I was at the White House for the signing of the TAKE IT DOWN Act into federal law. Today, the law is fully in effect nationwide.

This law matters because victims of exploitation, abuse, trafficking, sextortion, and AI generated sexual deepfakes have too often been left to fight alone while intimate images spread online for days, months, or even years.

The TAKE IT DOWN Act makes it a federal crime to knowingly publish or threaten to publish nonconsensual intimate images, including AI generated or digitally altered sexual images. It also requires online platforms to remove reported content within 48 hours.

If you or someone you know becomes a victim, here are critical steps to take immediately:

• DO NOT delete messages, screenshots, usernames, profiles, links, payment demands, or threats
• Take screenshots of everything, including dates, usernames, URLs, and conversations
• Report the content directly on the platform and specifically reference the TAKE IT DOWN Act and nonconsensual intimate imagery
• File reports with law enforcement and ask for a case number
• Report to the FBI at ic3.gov if there are threats, extortion, trafficking, organized exploitation, or interstate activity
• If a minor is involved, report immediately to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at CyberTipline.org or 1-800-THE-LOST and, if in Montana, submit a tip to the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force by calling (406) 438-2354 or emailing [email protected]
• Preserve evidence even if the content is later removed

Victims need to know this clearly: being victimized online is not your shame to carry. The shame belongs to those exploiting, distributing, profiting from, or weaponizing another human being’s image and trauma.

This law exists because survivors spoke up and advocates refused to stay silent. The fight against exploitation is far from over but today marks an important step toward protecting victims in the digital age.

05/11/2026

History is rolling back through Montana.

The historic 1914 “Suffrage Car” is coming to Missoula, Bozeman, and Billings on May 12 and 13 as part of the national Driving the Vote for Equality Tour supporting recognition of the Equal Rights Amendment as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The restored 1914 Saxon Roadster honors the historic 1916 journey of suffragists Alice Burke and Nell Richardson, who drove more than 10,500 miles across the country demanding women’s right to vote.

Traveling with the tour are national ERA leaders and advocates including former U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney, author Jeryl Schriever, and Ms. Magazine writer Kathy Bonk.

These Montana events will include mayoral proclamations supporting the ERA, public programs on the history of the suffrage movement and the continuing fight for constitutional equality, opportunities to meet advocates and candidates, voter engagement ahead of the June primary election, and calls to action supporting national recognition of the ERA.

Community members will also have opportunities to see and photograph the historic suffrage car, hear the story of the original 1916 campaign through Montana, and learn how to support the national effort to collect one million signatures for the ERA petition by Election Day 2026.

• Missoula — May 12 at 3:15 p.m. at the Florence Building
• Bozeman — May 13 beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Extreme History Project with Mayor Joey Morrison
• Billings — May 13 at 2:30 p.m. at Billings City Hall with Mayor Mike Nelson

More than 100 years after women fought for the right to vote, women still do not have full constitutional equality under the law.

Join MT NOW as history, activism, and the fight for equality drive through Montana once again.

04/23/2026

Billings area: TONIGHT!

04/18/2026

Billings friends, quick question:

Do you live within the SD2 boundary (yellow area)?

If yes, please vote for Mark Taylor for SD2 School Board. Ballots are out now.

Mark is a retired school psychologist who spent 30 years serving students and families in Billings area schools. He understands our kids, our classrooms, and the real challenges schools are facing.

Ballots have been sent. Don’t set it aside. Vote.

Learn more about Mark:
https://www.mark4schoolboard.com/

03/14/2026

Josh Hutcherson and I are going live this Wednesday on his Instagram.

We’re going to talk about my run for Congress, life on the campaign trail, and yes… movies will definitely come up.

Josh will ask me about my world, I’ll ask him about his, and we’ll grab some questions from the chat along the way.

Two very different worlds, one conversation.

Wednesday, March 18
8–10 PM Mountain Time

Bring your questions and join us live!

03/09/2026

In Christianity, it is taught that Satan can only be in one place at one time. As a Christian, I struggle not to believe that he was present last week in the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee during the markup of their new KIDS Act bill. What unfolded in that room was so profoundly wrong, so morally twisted, that it is difficult to believe those actions occurred without the guiding hand of something deeply evil.

The KIDS Act is not simply flawed legislation. It is a bill so vile and so shockingly dangerous that it reads like a blueprint for how elected officials can shield the most powerful corporations on earth while children are being harmed. At the very moment sextortion and internet crimes against children are exploding across the United States, this legislation weakens the protections that would hold technology companies accountable when their platforms are used to target and exploit kids.

It is impossible to read this legislation without remembering the lessons revealed in the Epstein files. Powerful systems protected powerful people while children paid the price. The difference today is that this protection is not hidden behind secret arrangements or quiet influence. It is being written directly into federal law.

That is how dangerous this bill is. That is how morally corrupt this moment is. If it does not shock the conscience of the public, something far deeper than politics is broken.

There is another path before the United States right now, and it has already been taken by the United States Senate.

The Kids Online Safety Act (S.1748) has seventy-five Senators from both parties co-sponsoring it. Last year it passed the Senate unanimously. In an era when Washington struggles to agree on almost anything, every Senator agreed that the digital systems used by millions of children must carry a basic responsibility to protect them from harm.

For more than eight years, the Yellowstone Human Trafficking Task Force has worked with Montana’s U.S. Senators and members of the United States Senate on this legislation. That work has been grounded in what law enforcement, prosecutors, survivor leaders, and child protection advocates see every day. Predators have discovered that social media and digital platforms give them something they have never had before in human history. They now have direct and immediate access to children wherever a child is in the presence of a smart device.

Sextortion, grooming, and internet facilitated exploitation are rising at terrifying speed. Children are being manipulated, blackmailed, and psychologically terrorized by criminals who can reach them instantly through platforms designed to maximize engagement and profit. The Senate bill recognizes this reality and establishes a simple principle. Companies that build platforms used by millions of children must exercise a duty of care to protect them.

If a system exposes children to predictable harm, the company operating that system has a responsibility to address it.

The KIDS Act emerging from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee moves in the opposite direction. Instead of strengthening that duty of care, it removes it. Instead of making it possible to hold companies accountable when children are harmed on their platforms, it raises the legal burden so high that accountability becomes nearly impossible. Instead of empowering families and states to protect children, it weakens their ability to act.

It expressly prevents states from passing legislation, including a duty of care.

In effect, the House version protects the companies while leaving children and families with fewer tools to defend themselves.

At the exact moment when the United States has an opportunity to demand responsibility from the most powerful technology companies on earth, members of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee chose to rewrite the rules in a way that shields those companies from the consequences of the harm occurring on their platforms.

When legislation weakens protections for children while protecting the profits of powerful corporations, people of faith recognize something profoundly wrong in that room.

The United States Senate has already made its position clear. Seventy-five Senators from both parties stood together and passed the Kids Online Safety Act (S.1748) unanimously because the danger to children online is real, escalating, and destroying lives in communities across this country.

What the U.S. House of Representatives does next will reveal whose interests it serves.

The KIDS Act (H.R.7757) produced by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee removes the duty of care that would require technology companies to protect children. It erects legal barriers that make it extraordinarily difficult to hold those companies accountable when children are harmed through the systems they control. It also weakens the authority of families and state governments trying to protect children from predators using those platforms to groom, manipulate, and exploit them.

At a moment when sextortion and online exploitation are rising at terrifying speed, weakening accountability for the companies operating these platforms is not misguided policy. It is a decision to place corporate power and profit ahead of the safety of children.

Every parent, educator, advocate, and citizen who believes children deserve better from adults and government should make their voice heard now.

Contact your U.S. House Representative and tell them clearly to support the U.S. Senate Kids Online Safety Act (S.1748) and vote NO on the U.S. House KIDS Act (H.R.7757).

The United States Senate chose children.

Now the U.S. House of Representatives must decide whether it will do the same or whether it will stand with the corporations whose platforms predators are using to reach our kids.

Are they moral people or are they not? The choice is between the safety of children and the greed of self-enrichment. It really is that simple.

Montana:
Rep. Ryan Zinke (202) 225-5628
Rep. Troy Downing (202) 225-3211

Other states:
Capitol switchboard: (202) 224-3121

03/07/2026

After years working inside political systems, one truth is impossible to ignore: money and power protect money and power, regardless of party label or office.

Montana’s emergence of the “Independent candidate” maneuvering for federal races is a textbook case. The same wealthy political operators who tried to reshape elections before have now been outplayed by Senator Steve Daines and Kurt Alme.

What’s remarkable isn’t the strategy. It’s the outrage. Many of these same actors had no objection when similar tactics were used against Democrats in 2022. Apparently the sandbox only becomes a problem when someone else grabs the shovel.

Disclosure: I have issues with the Democratic Party but I believe in the Democratic platform and support Democratic candidates.

02/14/2026

The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) has opened public comments on the proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom addition to the White House.

Before nationally significant places are permanently altered, the public deserves an opportunity to help shape the decision. The White House is a National Historic Landmark and National Park, owned by the American people and home to our presidents since 1800.

This review is also required under federal law. Major construction projects in Washington, D.C. must undergo review by the NCPC and the Commission of Fine Arts, comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, and receive congressional approval.

While expanded event space may be needed, additions must respect the historic scale and design of the White House. At 90,000 square feet, the proposed ballroom would exceed the size of the 55,000-square-foot Executive Residence. Additions to historic properties should be compatible in scale and subordinate to the original structure. Commissioners need to hear directly from the public. As Carol Quillen has said, the American people deserve “an opportunity to provide comment and shape the project.”

Written comments are due March 4 (Noon ET). The public may also register to speak at the virtual March 5 NCPC meeting.

Get started: https://ow.ly/LThl50YfoCJ