Mike Cooney

Before beginning his studies, Cooney worked at KXLF-TV in Butte in 1972.[3] There, he met Max Baucus, who was campaigning for election to the Montana House of Representatives.[3] When Baucus ran for Montana's 1st congressional district against Republican incumbent Richard G. Shoup in 1974, Cooney paused his studies to work for him.[3] Cooney enjoyed himself immensely and "I decided right then and there that's what I wanted to do."[3]

After Baucus won his congressional race, Cooney returned to the University of Montana and changed his major to Political Science. When a seat in the Montana House opened up in the Silver Bow County-based 83rd District in 1976, Cooney decided to run.[3] The 21 year-old Cooney defeated two other candidates in the Democratic primary with 1,044 votes (54.52%)[5] and was unopposed in the general election.[6][3]

Cooney, sworn into office at age 22, became one of the youngest state legislators in Montana history.[7] He immediately received attention as he and another Butte-based legislator voted for Hamilton Representative John Driscoll as Speaker of the House instead of fellow Butte Representative J. D. Lynch, helping Driscoll to defeat Lynch.[3] Cooney said that he thought Lynch would be able to offer "a little more diplomacy" with the Montana Senate, which was evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.[3] In 1977, Cooney sponsored successful legislation that declared Montana would process its own nuclear waste but would not accept waste from any other state.[3] He ran for re-election in 1978, defeating a single primary opponent with 1,577 votes (62.41%)[8] and again ran unopposed in the general election.[9]

In 1979, Cooney received his Bachelor of Science from the University of Montana[10] and that December, he married DeeAnn Gribble after five years of dating.[3] Cooney then felt the need to settle down in a permanent job, so he did not run for re-election in 1980.[3] The Cooneys moved to Washington, D.C. in 1982, and Cooney worked as a member of Baucus's Washington staff.[3] Following DeeAnn's law school graduation, the Cooneys moved back to Montana; Mike worked at Senator Baucus' Helena office as his wife joined a local law firm.[3]

Cooney continued working for Baucus until 1988, when he was encouraged to run for Secretary of State of Montana.[3] He received permission from Baucus to run, though reluctantly, as Baucus did not want to lose him, so Cooney agreed to only campaign on evenings and weekends.[3] Cooney was unopposed in the Democratic primary and defeated the Republican nominee, State Senator Pete Story, by 174,917 votes (49.28%) to 163,830 (46.16%).[11] Cooney succeeded two-term Republican Jim Waltermire as Secretary of State.[12]

Cooney was elected to a second term in 1992, defeating Republican Bob Werner, a former Waltermire employee, by 249,359 votes (64.05%) to 139,977 (35.95%).[13] He did not face a Republican opponent in 1996, winning a third term against Libertarian Martha Oaas by 309,503 votes (83.96%) to 59,125 (16.04%).[14]

Cooney asserts that his greatest achievement as Secretary of State was persuading the Legislature to be funded entirely from fees paid for its services rather than through taxes.[3]

Unable to run for a fourth term as Secretary of State because of term limits, Cooney ran for Governor of Montana in the 2000 election instead.[3] In February 2000, he announced six-term State Representative Diana Wyatt of Great Falls as his running mate,[15] calling her "a woman of vision, courage and commitment".[16] Cooney campaigned on three main goals: long-term economic development, education, and protecting Montana's environmental heritage.[17] His opponents in the Democratic primary were Montana Attorney General Joe Mazurek and Montana State Auditor and Insurance and Securities Commissioner Mark O'Keefe.[17]

In the three-way Democratic primary on June 6, Cooney finished third with 15,677 votes (16.27%) to Mazurek's 34,385 (35.69%) and O'Keefe's 46,294 (48.05%).[18] O'Keefe went on to lose the general election to Republican Lieutenant Governor Judy Martz.[19]

Cooney left office in January 2001 and was named Executive Director of Montana Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies that November.[20] He held that position until 2006.[10]

Cooney returned to politics in 2002, running to represent the Helena-based 26th District of the Montana Senate. Unopposed in the Democratic primary, he defeated Republican Mary Jo Fox in the general election by 5,314 votes (68.12%) to 2,487 (31.88%).[21] He was redistricted to the 40th District in 2005[22] and was re-elected to a second term in 2006 against Republican Robert Leach by 5,869 votes (68.18%) to 2,739 (31.82%).[23]

In 2007, Cooney was selected by Senate Democrats to become President of the Senate, succeeding Jon Tester, who had been elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006.[24] He served as President of the Senate from 2007 to 2009, when the Democrats lost control of the Senate to the Republicans. In 2008, he used his position as Senate President to argue forcefully for the Legislature to update the state's anti-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected categories.[25] Cooney was term-limited in 2010 and left office the following year.[26]

Cooney in 2015

Cooney left Montana Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies in July 2006 to become the Division Administrator of the Workforce Services Division at the Montana Department of Labor and Industry,[27] a role he held until 2015. Cooney was named as the interim Director of the Montana Historical Society in November 2010.[28][29] He led the Society until September 2011, when Bruce Whittenberg took over as its permanent director.[30] In 2015, he was promoted to become the Deputy Commissioner of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, a job he performed until his selection as Lieutenant Governor.

Cooney's predecessor in the Lieutenant Governor's office was Angela McLean, who was appointed to the position in February 2014 following John Walsh's departure for the United States Senate.[31] McLean served less than a year in the position before leaving the Lieutenant Governor's office for a job at the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education.[32]

On December 30, 2015, Bullock announced the appointment of Cooney as lieutenant governor.[33] Cooney had known and worked with Bullock for over 20 years; Bullock had served as chief legal counsel for Cooney when Cooney was Secretary of State.[34] Cooney was sworn into office on January 4, 2016.[33] His salary is $22,000 a year less than he had been receiving as Deputy Commissioner of the Montana Department of Labor and Industry.[33]

Cooney was Bullock's running mate in the 2016 gubernatorial election; they defeated Republican gubernatorial nominee Greg Gianforte and his running mate, Lesley Robinson.[35][36]

On July 3, 2019, Cooney announced his second run for Governor in the 2020 election, as incumbent Democratic governor Steve Bullock was term-limited and running for U.S. Senate.[37] Cooney won the Democratic primary on June 2, defeating businesswoman Whitney Williams with 56% of the vote to Williams' 44%.[38] On November 3, 2020, he was defeated in the general election by Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte.[39][40][41]