Lesley Robinson patiently awaits Election Day

Though she isn't sure how nervous she will be on Election Day, Malta's Lesley Robinson is as cool as a cucumber waiting to find out what the future has in store for her when November 8 comes and goes.

Robinson, Phillips County Commissioner since 2002, is currently running for Lt. Governor of Montana with Greg Gianforte as the two Republican hopefuls look to de-seat current Montana Governor Steve Bullock. She has been on the campaign trail since Gianforte announced her as his running mate in early March and now, eight months later, she will finally find out if all the work she has put in will pay off.

"The weirdest part is that I'm not nervous," Robinson said, "at least not yet. It's going to be life changing no matter what happens and I kind of had to come to terms with that before I decided to do this and I suppose that has helped me not be nervous."

Should the Gianforte/Robinson ticket win the Montana Governorship, Robinson said her duties will include being a liaison for agriculture, for rural Montana and local government, adding that there will be plenty else to do, but those will be her main focuses.

"That is the plan, that is why I am running and that is what I am sticking with," she said.

Should the Gianforte/Robinson ticket not win in next Tuesday's election, Robinson said she is not sure what her future plans might include.

"I am so focused on running right now that I haven't really thought about it and I will deal with it if that happens," Robinson said. "I don't have a plan ... it's open. You never know what life is going to throw at you."

Since it was announced on March 7 that Robinson would be running for Lt. Governor, she has crisscrossed the State of Montana and she isn't really sure how many towns and cities she has visited or how many hours the travel and campaigning have resulted in except to say "a lot." In the month of September alone, Robinson traveled at least 3,300 campaign-miles (which doesn't include a trip to Washington D.C. for the Montana Association of Counties Convention). She said it has been a pleasure getting to know people in communities that she otherwise might not have visited and met with and said Colstrip and Thompson Falls really stick out in her mind.

"Colstrip because they are so unsure of their future and Thompson Falls because they aren't able to cut their timber," Robinson said. "Most of the places that I go, they are facing those problems because of the Federal Government and all the restrictions they are placing on these areas."

Win or lose, Robinson's days as Phillips County Commissioner will soon come to an end, adding that she has enjoyed her time in that position.

Robinson, the daughter of Malta's Barb and Jerry Hould -- was born and raised in Phillips County – graduated from Malta High School in 1984 and in her senior year of high school started working for what would become Phillips County Insurance but was then Ereaux and Associates. Lesley married Jim Robinson in 1985 and in 1988 the couple had their daughter, Kirsty. Up until Kirsty started junior high school, Robinson was mostly a stay at home mother (though she remained active in local organizations). Around 1996, Robinson started working for Pegasus Gold Corp. and its subsidiary, Zortman Mining Inc. where she traveled the State trying to defeat I-122, the Montana Mining Discharge and Water Quality Initiative, which was eventually voted down.

"And then, that December, I became a director of the Montana Stock Growers so that was kind of the pivotal year for me to get into a lot of issues and maybe the first year I testified at the State Legislature," she said.

In 2000, the Robinsons moved to Malta and Lesley started working for the US Census Bureau before holding positions at Big Sky Beef and the Phillips County News. Robinson said she never had much aspiration for politics growing up, but was always doing something in the community. She said both of her parents were always a part of local organizations and she supposes that is where she got her nose for public service. She said Barb is proud of what Lesley has accomplished and what she is trying to achieve in this election cycle and said she thinks her father, who passed away in 1986, would be happy with the path she has taken in politics.

"I think he would have been very proud," she said. "He was always very active, not necessarily politically, but he was very active in different groups and president of different livestock associations on the state level. They were both very active in the community and that is where I get it, apparently."

Should Robinson become Lt. Governor for the State of Montana, she would be the third woman to do so (following Judy Martz who served with Marc Racicot from 1997 to 2001 and Angela McLean who served with Gov. Bullock from 2014 to 2016). If Robinson should be elected, she would also be the second person from Malta to hold the office of Lt. Governor, following in Karl Ohs' footsteps as he served under Gov. Martz from 2001 to 2005.

Robinson said when Gianforte contacted her and asked if she would run with him, she and Jim had discussed the opportunity and decided that it made sense.

"This wasn't anything I was really looking for," Robinson said. "But, it felt like it was the right thing to do. I've never been afraid to take on a challenge and I have never been afraid of hard work."

She said the main reason she is running is to give a voice to rural Montana, something she feels has been lacking in the Governor's office of late.

"We have so many unique challenges in rural Montana that people do not understand unless they have lived in rural Montana," she said "That's the voice that I want to take to Helena. We have not really had a voice for a long time in the Governor's office."