Jesse Slaughter
Republican · MT · Cascade County Sheriff/Coroner
Jesse Slaughter has been Cascade County sheriff since 2019, after police work that included Great Falls Police detective duty on an internet child-crimes task force. His priorities are stable jail funding, detention officer hiring, and long-term school safety funding.
Where Jesse Slaughter stands, based on their records
Supports
Public Safety and Crime Control (4 records)
Opposes
Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties (1 record)
Track record
Track record — Public Safety and Crime Control
Public Safety and Crime Control · 4 support
Publicly backed House Bill 605, a bill proposing to allow strip searches of misdemeanor inmates held over 12 hours, citing drugs smuggled into jails and overdose deaths.
February 25, 2025Supports Public Safety and Crime Control
Source: kulr8.com
His office arrested Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci on two felony witness-tampering charges, and he explained the charges at a press conference.
October 13, 2023Supports Public Safety and Crime Control
Source: dailymontanan.com
Asked the county commission, with the county attorney, to put a permanent 14-mill public safety tax levy (about $2.46 million a year) on the ballot. The money was for deputy pay, school safety and a pretrial supervision program.
August 19, 2022Supports Public Safety and Crime Control
Source: cascadecountymt.gov
Asked the Montana Department of Corrections to move its state inmates out of the Great Falls Regional Prison by June 30, 2021, to ease jail crowding. The department agreed.
April 26, 2021Supports Public Safety and Crime Control
Source: news.mt.gov
Track record — Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties
Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties · 1 oppose
Publicly backed House Bill 605, a bill proposing to allow strip searches of misdemeanor inmates held over 12 hours, citing drugs smuggled into jails and overdose deaths.
February 25, 2025Opposes Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties
Source: kulr8.com
Track record — General
General · 10 records
Ordered an emergency cut in the jail population because of staff shortages. Federal immigration detainees had to be moved out by Sept. 21, and city court inmates were capped at 15.
September 17, 2026
Source: theelectricgf.com
Told Montana Free Press that local officers have little role in immigration law and his office works with federal immigration agents only on criminal matters.
February 18, 2026
Source: montanafreepress.org
Presented a new contract with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to hold immigration detainees in the county jail at $115 per person per day. Commissioners approved it 2-0.
October 14, 2025
Source: montanafreepress.org
Testified first in support of House Bill 604, a bill proposing that federal agents get a sheriff's written permission before arrests or searches in a county. The House killed the bill 32-68.
February 24, 2023
Source: bozemandailychronicle.com
Said he should not have singled out Rev. Dawn Skerritt, after calling her 'completely irresponsible' in an October radio interview about unhoused people at her Great Falls church.
December 16, 2022
Source: dailymontanan.com
Shut down an undercover gun-smuggling watch at a Great Falls gun show run by the ATF and a Canadian police officer, saying his office had not been told about it.
October 17, 2022
Source: montanarightnow.com
Received the Montana Shooting Sports Association's endorsement for Cascade County sheriff in the 2022 election.
June 3, 2022
Source: mtssa.org
Left the Democratic Party and switched to the Republican Party for his re-election campaign, citing Democratic talk of defunding police and gun control proposals.
June 23, 2021
Source: foxnews.com
Testified at a Montana Senate Judiciary hearing for Senate Bill 67, a bill proposing to remove penalties on officers who do not enforce local health orders. He called the existing law unnecessary.
January 20, 2021
Source: fairfieldsuntimes.com
Was sworn in as Cascade County sheriff by District Judge John Parker after 18 years with the Great Falls Police Department.
January 1, 2019
Source: krtv.com
Past race Jesse Slaughter ran in:
- Sheriff/Coroner · November 3, 2026 · Cascade County, Montana · incumbent