Representative Zooey Zephyr Contact information

Zooey Simone Zephyr, born on August 29, 1988, is an American politician and university administrator who represents Missoula in the 100th district in the Montana House of Representatives. A member of the Democratic Party, she was elected in the 2022 election, making her the first openly transgender person to be elected to the state legislature in Montana. She was sworn in as a representative on January 2, 2023.

Zephyr was born in Billings, Montana and moved with her parents to Seattle at the age of 10. She competed in wrestling during her childhood and teenage years. Zephyr graduated from the University of Washington in 2011 with a dual Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Creative Writing. She subsequently returned to her home state to pursue graduate studies at the University of Montana (UM), earning master’s degrees in creative writing and literary criticism. She joined the university’s Biology department and then the Office of the Provost, where she worked as a Program Manager overseeing the university’s curricula. Under the username Cazcom, Zephyr was a competitive Super Smash Bros. video game player, particularly in Project M tournaments.

Zephyr became involved in activism in 2020. She testified before the Montana legislature in defense of LGBT rights and met with Republican Governor Greg Gianforte, but felt her words were not heard. Having watched bills limiting the rights of transgender people pass with one-vote margins, such as legislation making it difficult for transgender people to update birth certificates, she felt she needed to “get into the room where the laws are being written”. On March 1, 2021, Zephyr decided to run for state representative in the 2022 mid-term elections. House District 100 (Missoula) has been described by Zephyr as “one of the bluest” (i.e., most Democratic) districts in Montana. The seat was previously held by Andrea Olsen, who left the seat to run for state senator. Zephyr defeated Dave Severson in the Democratic primary on June 7, 2022. Upon then defeating Republican opponent Sean Patrick McCoy that November, Zephyr became the first trans woman to be elected to the Montana legislature alongside SJ Howell, the first non-binary person to be elected. Zephyr assumed office in January 2023. On April 28, 2023, Zephyr announced she would seek re-election in 2024.