Kristen Juras (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Gustafson; born October 16, 1955) is an American businesswoman, attorney, law professor, and politician serving as the 37th

lieutenant governor of Montana The lieutenant governor of Montana is an elected official in the State of Montana that ranks just below the governor of Montana. List of lieutenant governors ;Parties Living former lieutenant governors , there are six former lieutenant gove ...

. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, Juras was first elected in November 2020 and assumed office on January 4, 2021.

Early life and education

Born in

Conrad, Montana Conrad is a city in and the county seat of Pondera County, Montana, United States. The population was 2,318 at the 2020 census. Each June, the Whoop Up Days, a town wide celebration that includes a parade and rodeo, takes place in Conrad. The ...

, Juras graduated from Conrad High School in 1973. She earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

in 1977 and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

from the

University of Georgia School of Law The University of Georgia School of Law (Georgia Law) is the law school of the University of Georgia, a Public university, public research university in Athens, Georgia. It was founded in 1859, making it among the oldest American university law sc ...

in 1982.

Career

Juras entered private practice in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

before returning to

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

in 1988. She works as an adjunct law professor at the

Alexander Blewett III School of Law The Alexander Blewett III School of Law is a law school at the University of Montana in Missoula. It was established in 1911 and remains Montana's only law school. , the school accepted 83 applicants. The school tied for 103rd in the 2023 '' ...

. Juras ran for the

Montana Supreme Court The Montana Supreme Court is the supreme court, highest court of the state court system in the U.S. state of Montana. It is established and its powers defined by Article VII of the 1972 Montana Constitution. It is primarily an appellate court wh ...

seat vacated by Patricia O'Brien Cotter in 2016. She advanced to the general election, losing to Dirk Sandefur. In March 2020, then-Congressman

Greg Gianforte Gregory Richard Gianforte (born April 17, 1961) is an American businessman, politician, software engineer, and writer serving as the 25th governor of Montana since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Gianforte served as the U.S. representa ...

, selected Juras as his running mate in the

2020 Montana gubernatorial election The 2020 Montana gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 2020, to elect the next governor of Montana, concurrently with the U.S. presidential election, as well as elections to the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives and vario ...

. They won their party's nomination in the Republican primary, and faced incumbent Lieutenant Governor

Mike Cooney Michael R. Cooney (born September 3, 1954) is an American politician who served as the 36th lieutenant governor of Montana from 2016 to 2021. He previously served in the Montana House of Representatives (1977–1981), as the secretary of state of ...

and Montana Representative

Casey Schreiner Casey Schreiner (born July 10, 1982) is an American politician and former educator who served as the Minority Leader of the Montana House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021, and where he represented the 26th district from 2013 to 2021. Before s ...

in the November general election. Gianforte and Juras won the election, and were sworn into office on January 4, 2021. In June 2022, Juras served as acting governor while Gianforte was out of the country, and declared a state of emergency regarding

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...

near

Red Lodge, Montana Red Lodge is a city and county seat of Carbon County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,257. History On September 17, 1851, the United States government signed a treaty with the Crow Nation, cedin ...

Personal life

Juras and her husband John have three sons. Her brother is country musician Wylie Gustafson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Juras, Kristen Lieutenant Governors of Montana Living people Montana Republicans People from Conrad, Montana University of Georgia School of Law alumni University of Montana alumni Women in Montana politics 1955 births 21st-century American women