Austin Miles Knudsen (born 1980/1981) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Attorney General of Montana. He formerly served as the Speaker of the Montana House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. During his time in the Montana House from 2010 to 2018, he represented House District 36, which includes the Culbertson area.

Early life and education

Knudsen was raised in

Culbertson, Montana Culbertson is a town in Roosevelt County, Montana, United States. The population was 753 at the 2020 census. History Culbertson was created in June 1887 following the arrival of the Great Northern Railway, then known as the St. Paul, Minneapol ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science in sociology and Bachelor of Arts in political science from Montana State University. He then earned a Juris Doctor from 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 '' ...

at 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 fa ...

Career

Knudsen was elected to the Montana House of Representatives in 2010 and took office in 2011. From 2015 to 2019, Knudsen served as the Speaker of the Montana House. In a 2016 op-ed in ''

The Montana Standard ''The Montana Standard'' is a Lee Enterprises daily newspaper and website in Butte, Montana. In 1971, under the leadership of Betty Danfield, the paper's women's section The women's page (sometimes called home page or women's section) of a new ...

'', Knudsen expressed opposition to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

's policy regarding allowing Syrian refugees to enter the United States. In an op-ed, Knudsen cited his grandfather's immigration from

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and claimed that Syrian refugees were not required to assimilate to American culture, and that "Much of this Muslim culture is foreign and strange to us." Knudsen was unable to seek re-election to the House in 2018 due to term limits; he successfully sought election as Roosevelt County Attorney instead.

Legislation

In 2017, Knudsen authored a number of pieces of legislation. He introduced bills to: * Provide loans to owners of coal-fired generating units * Revise laws related to

boycotts of Israel Boycotts of Israel are the refusal and incitement to refusal to have commercial or social dealings with Israel in order to inflict economic hardship upon the state. The objective of boycotts of Israel is to influence Israel's practices and pol ...

* Revise oil and gas lease provisions * Clarify that property owners are not liable for firefighters' actions

Attorney General of Montana

In May 2019, Knudsen announced his candidacy for Attorney General of Montana in the 2020 election. Knudsen defeated Jon Bennion, the state deputy Attorney General, in the Republican primary. He defeated

Raph Graybill Raphael "Raph" Jeffrey Carlisle Graybill (born February 20, 1989) is an American attorney who has served as chief legal counsel to Steve Bullock, the Governor of Montana, since 2017. Graybill was a candidate for attorney general of Montana in the ...

in the November general election.

Electoral history

Personal life

Knudsen is married (wife, Christie) with three children. He is of

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

descent.

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Knudsen, Austin 1980s births American people of Danish descent Living people Montana Attorneys General People from Roosevelt County, Montana Place of birth missing (living people) Speakers of the Montana House of Representatives Republican Party members of the Montana House of Representatives 21st-century American politicians University of Montana alumni