This story was updated at 10:42 p.m. with additional developments. 

In yet another twist in Montana’s western U.S. House District contest, Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen announced Tuesday that she will be running to replace U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke.

Jacobsen made her announcement on Facebook with a campaign video portraying her as both a political outsider and a favorite of President Donald Trump, who endorsed Jacobsen’s 2024 reelection campaign. In the ad, Jacobsen chops wood, rides a horse and drives an all-terrain vehicle in a forested area, before ending with a video of Trump repeatedly endorsing her for secretary of state. The Trump footage is from an August 2024 rally in Bozeman to promote U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy’s 2024 election. 

“Montana deserves a fighter who delivers America First leadership, lower costs, secure borders, and unleashed energy. No career politicians. Just results,” Jacobsen wrote on Facebook. “Are you with me?”

Jacobsen’s announcement follows Zinke’s statement Monday that he won’t seek a third term in Montana’s western U.S. House District, citing health problems. The development tees up a three-way primary with conservative statewide radio talk show host Aaron Flint and former Kalispell legislator Dr. Al Olszewski, who both joined the race Monday shortly after Zinke bowed out. 

In 2024, during her race for secretary of state, Jacobsen led all Republican statewide candidates in raw votes, including Donald Trump. She did the same as a first-time candidate in 2020. Term limits prevent Jacobsen from running for reelection.

Hours after Jacobsen’s video was posted touting her 2024 Trump endorsement, Flint’s campaign produced a letter from President Trump endorsing Flint’s congressional campaign. On Monday, Flint also touted his high-profile Republican endorsements, claiming support from Zinke, Gov. Greg Gianforte, Sen. Tim Sheehy, Eastern Montana Congressman Troy Downing and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen.

Flint’s campaign manager, Heather Swift, posted a photo of Jacobsen fishing Monday off the coast of New Zealand, before the secretary of state announced her candidacy. Jacobsen had shared the same on Facebook. Swift, who is Zinke’s chief of staff, commented that Jacobsen’s fishing trip occurred when hundreds of candidates were registering their campaigns with Jacobsen’s office, which handles elections and business registrations.

“This week is the filing deadline for candidates across Montana. Christi Jacobsen is the MT SOS. One would expect the SOS to be in the freaking office for it. It didn’t exactly sneak up on her,” Swift said on X.

“But no! After spending taxpayer money on election mailers …she disappeared on a luxe vacation in New Zealand. Now she is trying to launch a campaign for MT-01, a district where she doesn’t live. Poor excuse for a doomed pre-governor run.”

The mailers Swift mentioned sparked controversy among Republican and Democratic state legislators in January over political messaging and cost. As previously reported by Montana Free Press, Jacobsen issued 467,000 postcards to Montana households with pictures of herself and Trump, promoting their attempts to identify non-citizen voters. The mailers cost $196,829 to produce and mail, according to the Montana Department of Administration.

The secretary of state’s staff had declined to disclose how much was spent.

Flint indicated months ago that he had moved from Billings to the Kalispell area in 2025 between school years. Kalispell is within the western congressional district. 

One Democratic observer, 50-year Montana campaign veteran Joe Lamson, told MTFP  Monday that while Flint and Olszewski offered his party a less difficult opponent than Zinke, he cautioned that a successful statewide candidate like Jacobsen, would present less of an opening for Democrats. 

“Neither of them, they have not run statewide races, and that’s important,” Lamson said. “I would think either Jacobsen or Knudsen are experienced and would be interested.”

Four Democrats — Ryan Busse, Russ Cleveland, Sam Forstag and Matt Rains — have announced their intentions to run in the primary in the western district.

The post Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen joins contest for Zinke’s western U.S. House District seat appeared first on Montana Free Press.

This story was updated on Monday at 4:57 p.m. with additional developments. 

U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke said he won’t seek reelection in Montana’s western U.S. House District on Monday, citing health problems. Shortly after his announcement, conservative talk radio firebrand Aaron Flint and former Kalispell legislator Dr. Al Olszewski announced plans to run in the Republican primary in June.

The development could improve the slim chance of a Democratic contender winning the race, according to one Democratic analyst.

“Neither Olzewski, nor Flint has general election experience for federal office,” said Joe Lamson, a veteran Democratic campaign manager who served on the 2020 districting commission that created the western congressional district. That detail could make a difference in the race — if no other Republican candidate is to step forward, he added. Candidates have until Wednesday, March 4 to file with the state.

Zinke, 64, has been elected as a Republican to represent Montana in the U.S. House four times since 2014. He said in his announcement that injuries sustained during his Navy SEAL career had caught up with him and that he needed surgery and time to recover.

“I have made the decision to leave office at the end of my fourth term and not seek re-election,” Zinke said in a letter to constituents, which he posted online.

The congressman had been expected to seek re-election in Montana’s western U.S. House District, which the Whitefish native has represented since 2023. Zinke was elected Montana’s at-large representative in 2014 and 2016, before the state was divided into two congressional districts following the 2020 census.

“I do not take this decision lightly and have informed President Trump, the Governor, and senior leadership of this difficult but necessary decision,” Zinke also wrote.

He stated that he is not chronically ill, but had nagging injuries from his military career.

Zinke gave no hints during a Friday visit to Butte that he would announce his retirement three days later. The congressman joined Interior Secretary Doug Burgum for a tour of the Montana Tech campus. He wore his trademark black cowboy hat and appeared relaxed and comfortable as the entourage went up and down stairs through the mining department’s labs and testing rooms. In an hour-long roundtable presentation, Zinke took questions from several reporters.

Zinke was appointed President Donald Trump’s first Interior secretary in 2017, but resigned from the position in 2019 during several investigations and political pressure.

Shortly after Zinke announced his retirement, talk radio personality Aaron Flint posted a dramatic campaign video on X, highlighting his role as a radio personality, family man and veteran, while invoking Donald Trump. He also issued a press release stating that he had been endorsed by Zinke, Gov. Greg Gianforte, Senator Tim Sheehy and other Republican officials. The listed contact for Flint’s campaign was Zinke’s chief of staff, Heather Swift. 

Flint, who hosts a three-hour, conservative statewide morning radio show from Billings, staffed Zinke’s office as an employee of the U.S. House Clerk for more than three months in 2017 after the representative resigned his at-large Montana district to become Interior secretary. Flint held the position until Gianforte was elected to replace Zinke in the 2017 special election.

Former congressional candidate Dr. Al Olszewski told Montana Free Press that he was filing to run as a Republican in the western district. Olszewski, a former Kalispell state senator, said he had been watching candidate filings to see if Zinke would run. He said that he suspected Zinke wouldn’t.

Zinke defeated Olszewski in the 2022 primary. The race was so close that it took a few days to confirm the outcome.

Four Democrats — Ryan Busse, Russ Cleveland, Sam Forstag and Matt Rains — have announced their intentions to run in the primary in the Western District. Zinke won the seat by 4 percentage points against Democrat Monica Tranel in 2022, and then 7.6 points in 2024 as an incumbent against Tranel again.

Lamson, who worked on many Montana Democratic campaigns including that of former U.S. Rep. Pat Williams, said that a successful statewide candidate like Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen or Attorney General Austin Knudsen running in the west would present a more difficult opponent for those Democratic hopefuls.

Forstag issued a press release declaring the district an “open race” without Zinke. 

“Ryan Zinke quit because he saw what was coming: all of us. People across western Montana who are hungry for real representation and a new generation of leadership,” Forstag said.

He and other Democratic candidates have previously told MTFP that they expected dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump, who won more than 58% of the Montana vote in 2024, to make the Western District competitive as they sought to challenge Zinke.

Gianforte thanked Zinke for his service in a press release following the announcement. “He’s been an outspoken advocate for Montanans and our values from protecting public lands to restoring accountability in the federal government,” Gianforte said.

U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy called fellow Republican Zinke a mentor. Sheehy, like Zinke, is a former Navy SEAL commander. “Montana owes him a deep debt of gratitude, and he will be deeply missed in the halls of Congress,” Sheehy said in a press release.

Rob Chaney contributed reporting.

The post Western Montana U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke said he won’t seek reelection citing health problems  appeared first on Montana Free Press.

The first year of President Donald Trump’s second term is giving Helena coffee roaster Steven Ladefoged the wrong kind of jitters.

Trump rolled out tariffs of 10% to 15% on green (i.e., unroasted) coffee bean imports in April 2025, which then escalated to 50%. The fever didn’t break until mid-November, when the White House exempted green coffee from import tariffs entirely. But because roasters often buy months’ worth of green beans at a time, some still have tariff beans in the roaster. 

“When Trump was originally kind of negotiating those deals, it was kind of weekly, depending on deals that were made with different countries … There was a lot of, like, imported food goods, coffee being included, excluded, from those tariffs as well. And so that kind of dramatically changed prices …” Ladefoged said.

Federal lawmakers in the House and Senate tried filing bills to exempt coffee from the Trump tariffs. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nevada, and Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, introduced a bean-exempting bill 18 days before Trump exempted unroasted beans on Nov 14. Reps. Ro Khanna, D-California, and Don Bacon, R-Nebraska, had done the same in the House on Sept. 19. The bill attracted 11 cosponsors in the House, but Bacon was the only Republican to sign on.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Feb. 20 that the president did not have legal authority to levy the tariffs that affected U.S. trade from April 2025 until the court’s ruling. By that time, green coffee was three months into its exemption, but instant coffee from Brazil was still being charged a 50% tariff on the customs value. 

After the High Court’s decision, Trump rolled out a new batch of tariffs that, because of the court’s ruling, will have to be reviewed by Congress after 150 days. The new tariffs kicked in at midnight on Feb. 24.

Asked how Congress might use its court-recognized tariff authority 150 days from now, members of Montana’s all-Republican federal delegation didn’t speak to the issue directly. 

“The President’s tariffs have broadened market access for American producers, brought in billions in revenue, and precipitated historic trade deals,” Rep. Troy Downing said in a text message. “My focus has been and will remain centered on the needs of the central and eastern Montanans greatest affected by tariffs like our producers and job creators as Congress evaluates its role in trade policy.”

“Everyone drinks coffee, and it can’t be grown in the U.S.,” said Katie Bennett, of Café Imports, a Minneapolis-based green bean wholesaler used by coffee roasters across the country, including Ladefoged.

Trump’s bean tariffs depended on the country where they were grown. Brazil hit 50% for a while. Vietnam was briefly at 46%. Coffee from India had a 26% tariff, while Indonesia had 32%. The fluctuating and various rates caused uncertainty in the business, Bennett said.

“We put the tariff cost into the price per pound immediately,” Bennett said. “When they were removed, we removed those costs from our coffee. So ultimately the roaster was paying that additional cost, and it was up to them whether they passed that along to their consumers.” 

The tariffs also hit while poor growing conditions were already affecting the availability of beans. 

“We were reaching sort of unprecedented highs last February. Adjusted for inflation, I don’t think it’s the highest they’ve ever been, but without adjusting for inflation, it was the highest that we’ve seen since maybe the ’80s,” Bennett said. 

Shortages in Brazil, a major coffee grower that experienced extreme drought conditions before 2025, were a root cause of rising prices before tariffs, Ladefoged said. 

Green coffee bean prices had risen about $1.50 a pound on the commodities market, Bennett said. Any price increase higher than that cuts into the profit margins of roasters. In February 2025 the commodities price for unroasted beans had climbed to $4.26.

Green coffee prices spiked, then, weeks later, retail coffee prices did too. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month that January 2026 set a record for ground roast coffee at $9.37 a pound, up 33% from January 2025. 

Tariffs have also produced wins for Montana, said Western District  U.S. House Rep. Ryan Zinke. Tariffs on palladium imports have helped the Sibanye-Stillwater mine near Columbus. 

“President Trump is using targeted tariffs exactly as intended to protect American workers and strengthen American industry,” Zinke said in a text message. “Nowhere is that more clear than in Montana, where the President’s 132% tariff on Russian palladium is ending a hostile foreign power’s market manipulation.”

In February, the New York Federal Reserve estimated that American businesses and consumers paid 94% of the costs of Trump’s tariffs. 

Trump’s tariffs were improving the economy, said Gabby Wiggins, a spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Steve Daines.

“Senator Daines commends President Trump for working to address trade imbalances for Montana farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers and will continue to work closely with President Trump and [U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer] to level the playing field.”

Not all Montana farmers considered the tariffs beneficial. Montana Farmers Union President Walt Schweitzer praised the Supreme Court for ruling against Trump’s tariffs, which he said were harming the foreign trade relationships farmers depend on. 

“This is a win for Montana family farms and ranches and American families, but we’ve got a long ways to go,” Schweitzer told MTFP after the Supreme Court ruled.

The post How Trump tariffs jolted Montana coffee roasters appeared first on Montana Free Press.

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February 26, 2026

The first year of President Donald Trump’s second term is giving Helena coffee roaster Steven Ladefoged the wrong kind of jitters.

Trump rolled out tariffs of 10% to 15% on green (i.e., unroasted) coffee bean imports in April 2025, which then escalated to 50%. The fever didn’t break until mid-November, when the White House exempted green coffee from import tariffs entirely. But because roasters often buy months’ worth of green beans at a time, some still have tariff beans in the roaster. 

“When Trump was originally kind of negotiating those deals, it was kind of weekly, depending on deals that were made with different countries … There was a lot of, like, imported food goods, coffee being included, excluded, from those tariffs as well. And so that kind of dramatically changed prices…” Ladefoged said.

The U.S Supreme Court ruled Feb. 20 that the president did not have authority to levy the tariffs that affected U.S. trade from April 2025 until the court’s ruling. By that time, green coffee was three months into its exemption, but instant coffee from Brazil was still being charged a 50% tariff on the customs value. 

After the High Court’s decision, Trump rolled out a new batch of tariffs that, because of the court’s ruling, will have to be reviewed by Congress after 150 days. The new tariffs kicked in at midnight Tuesday. 

Asked how Congress might use its court-recognized tariff authority 150 days from now, Montana’s all-Republican federal delegation didn’t speak to the issue directly. 

“The President’s tariffs have broadened market access for American producers, brought in billions in revenue, and precipitated historic trade deals,” Rep. Troy Downing said in a text message. “My focus has been and will remain centered on the needs of the central and eastern Montanans greatest affected by tariffs like our producers and job creators as Congress evaluates its role in trade policy.”

“Everyone drinks coffee, and it can’t be grown in the U.S.,” said Katie Bennett, of Café Imports, a Minneapolis-based green bean wholesaler used by coffee roasters across the country, including Ladefoged.

Trump’s bean tariffs depended on the country where they were grown. Brazil hit 50% for a while. Vietnam was briefly at 46%. Coffee from India had a 26% tariff, while Indonesia had 32%. The fluctuating and various rates caused uncertainty in the business, Bennett said.

The tariffs also hit while poor growing conditions were already affecting the availability of beans. The tariff cost was passed directly to roasters.

“We were reaching sort of unprecedented highs last February. Adjusted for inflation, I don’t think it’s the highest they’ve ever been, but without adjusting for inflation, it was the highest that we’ve seen since maybe the ’80s,” Bennett said. 

Shortages in Brazil, a major coffee grower that experienced extreme drought conditions before 2025, were a root cause of rising prices before tariffs, Ladefoged said. 

Green coffee beans typically sell for about $1.50 a pound, Bennett said. Any price higher than that cuts into the profit margins of roasters.

Green coffee prices spiked, then, weeks later, retail coffee prices did too. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month that January 2026 set a record for ground roast coffee at $9.37 a pound, up 33% from January 2025. 

Tariffs have also produced wins for Montana, said Montana’s Western U.S. House Rep. Ryan Zinke. Tariffs on palladium imports have helped the Sibanye-Stillwater mine near Columbus. 

“President Trump is using targeted tariffs exactly as intended to protect American workers and strengthen American industry,” Zinke said in a text message. “Nowhere is that more clear than in Montana, where the President’s 132% tariff on Russian palladium is ending a hostile foreign power’s market manipulation.”

In February, the New York Federal Reserve estimated that American businesses and consumers paid 94% of the costs of Trump’s tariffs. 

Trump’s tariffs were improving the economy, said Gabby Wiggins, a spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Steve Daines.

“Senator Daines commends President Trump for working to address trade imbalances for Montana farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers and will continue to work closely with President Trump and [U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer] to level the playing field.”

Not all Montana farmers considered the tariffs beneficial. Montana Farmers Union President Walt Schweitzer praised the Supreme Court for ruling against Trump’s tariffs, which he said were harming the foreign trade relationships farmers depend on. 

“This is a win for Montana family farms and ranches and American families, but we’ve got a long ways to go,” Schweitzer told MTFP after the Supreme Court ruled.

—Tom Lutey

Windy Boy joins eastern U.S. House race

Jonathan Windy Boy, the longtime Democratic legislator from Box Elder, is running for Congress in Montana’s Eastern U.S. House District.

The veteran lawmaker, currently serving in the state Senate, announced his candidacy on Tuesday. He will face fellow Democrats and declared candidates Sam Lux, of Great Falls, and Brian James Miller, of Helena, in the June 2 primary. Potential candidates have until March 4 to declare their candidacy. 

The winner of the Democratic primary will advance to face incumbent Republican Rep. Troy Downing, who is seeking a second term. The district has delivered double-digit margins of victory for Republicans in recent years.

The race is Windy Boy’s first attempt at federal office. 

“If we stay on the same course, Montana families will continue to feel the consequences,” Windy Boy said in a campaign announcement issued Tuesday. “We need leadership that understands Montana values and delivers real results.”

Windy Boy told Montana Free Press earlier this year that he is coming off one of his best performances in the Legislature, having passed 8 of 12 bills he introduced, including the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act.

There are five tribal reservations in the Eastern U.S. House District. Windy Boy, a Chippewa Cree tribal member, has represented at least two of those reservations during his 12 terms as a state representative and state senator in the Montana Legislature. 

The congressional race also currently includes an independent candidate who is gathering signatures to qualify for the general election ballot. Michael Eisenhauer made his signature drive official this week.

—Tom Lutey

Is a flat tax Gianforte’s last act? 

Greg Gianforte says that in 2027, his last legislative session as Montana’s governor, he will focus on lowering the state income tax rate to a flat 4.7% across all income brackets.

The second-term Republican introduced that agenda during a policy dinner hosted by the Coeur d-Alene-based Mountain States Policy Center in Helena on Tuesday. 

“It is a decision maker for people choosing where they’re going to pursue the American dream. And it’s critically important that we get to it,” Gianforte said. “This is like the last step. Even with all the reductions we’ve done in income tax, Montana still has the highest income tax rate in the Rocky Mountain region.”

Since his first legislative session as governor in 2021, Gianforte has pushed to reduce individual income taxes by lowering rates and redefining brackets. Four tax-reduction bills passed during his tenure are projected to decrease state tax revenue by $509 million annually by 2028, according to a Feb. 25 analysis by the state’s Legislative Fiscal Division.

For example: 2025’s House Bill 337 reduced the state’s top income tax rate from 5.9% to 5.4%. The cut produced a projected $1,004 tax savings for an individual earning $200,000 per year. The top rate was 6.9% when Gianforte took office in 2021.

At the policy dinner in Helena this week, Mountain States Policy Center CEO Chris Cargill suggested that Montana isn’t keeping up economically with neighboring states that have lower income tax rates.

“We are in a competition right now, like it or not, with some of those other states. If we expand the map out, Utah is down to 4.5. Colorado is in the fours. Arizona is at 2.5,” Cargill said during Tuesday’s dinner.

Wyoming, which has no income tax, and Idaho, with a flat 5.3% income tax  were also offered for comparison. All the states mentioned also have sales taxes, which Montana doesn’t.

As previously reported in Capitolized, Mountain States Policy Center receives support from Yes Every Kid, Inc, part of the Stand Together Network affiliated with Charles Koch, a billionaire champion of libertarian ideals. Another think tank funder is NetChoice, which serves as a bridge of influence between tech companies and the American Legislative Exchange Council, the conservative bill mill known as ALEC. Four other contributors are the donor-advised funds National Christian Charitable Foundation, Fidelity Charitable, American Online Giving Foundation, and Donor Advised Charitable Giving.

—Tom Lutey and Zeke Lloyd

The post Coffee tariff jitters appeared first on Montana Free Press.

A discussion about whether Montana’s Constitution should be changed drew protests Tuesday night outside a hotel in Montana’s capital.

Dozens of opponents of changing the Constitution blew whistles and banged on pots along North California Street outside the Delta Hotel. Inside, Montana’s governor and other conservatives listened to a presentation by the Coeur d’Alene-based Mountain States Policy Center about the Constitution’s alleged need of a rewrite.

The existing state Constitution, enacted in 1972 and widely considered progressive in content, gives voters the chance to approve a new constitutional convention every 20 years — an opportunity Montana voters have twice rejected, in 1990 and 2010.  The next vote on Montana’s blueprint for state government is in 2030. The prospect of a new constitutional convention, at which delegates could propose revisions and rewrites, comes as Montana’s Republican legislators grow increasingly frustrated with state courts rejecting conservative laws on constitutional grounds.

“All of this has aggravated division rather than yield,” speaker Rob Natelson told his audience of roughly 100. “Of course, by and large, many in the media and some of Montana’s old guard have protected the court and the court’s distorted view of the Constitution. But numerous problems persist, and they simply cannot be papered over that way.”

Natelson, a former University of Montana law professor and Montana gubernatorial candidate, spoke as the policy center’s senior fellow in constitutional jurisprudence. Natelson is a contributor on constitutional matters for several conservative think tanks. Before the event, he strolled along the protest line on North California Street. Few seemed to realize the jaunty man in khakis and a sport coat was the trigger of their objections. 

“There’s a meeting in there, regarding changing the Montana Constitution to suit those who want to destroy our state, in my opinion,” said protester Joanne Gores, gesturing toward the hotel’s front door. 

Bundled up against the February chill, Gores wore a giant yellow bird head crafted from cardboard. The cacophony of drums and whistles around her made her difficult to hear.

“I grew up in Montana. I remember when the Clark Fork ran orange. I remember when a lot of the kids in Anaconda had arsenic in their blood … I’ve seen it, and we don’t want to go back,” Gores said.

Specifically, Gores expressed concern about the future of Montanans’ right to a “clean and healthful environment,” a signature provision of the state Constitution. The state Supreme Court in 2024 ruled that the right includes the right to a “stable climate system,” meaning the state has to consider greenhouse gas emissions when reviewing industrial projects for permitting. Gov. Gianforte has said that decision will lead to “open season on Montana’s all-of-the-above approach” to power plants, coal mining and energy development.

Inside the Delta, where more than 140 people had made reservations for the free-admission night of conservative agenda discussion and crusted chicken parmesan, Natelson called for constitutional revision.

The state Constitution isn’t the sacred document some have suggested, Natelson said. Drafted in the first three months of 1972 and put on the ballot that June, the Constitution barely passed muster with voters. The Montana Farm Bureau organized and supported a lawsuit against the document’s ratification, alleging procedural problems and claiming the margin of support for ratification wasn’t adequate.

The state Supreme Court ruled against the Farm Bureau-backed challenge in a 3-2 split decision. 

Voters support for leaving the Constitution as it is was 82% in 1990, and dipped to just over 58% in 2010, according to state election data.

The sections of the Constitution that have disqualified several state laws passed with Republican support since 2021 mostly concern voting rights, environmental protections, and privacy rights regarding medical decisions, specifically reproductive health and gender transition. The state Constitution also grants the state university system the right to govern itself, including the regulation of guns on campus, which legislators have attempted to override.

The post Conservative think tank promotes revising Montana’s Constitution, as protesters object appeared first on Montana Free Press.

One week into the filing period for the 2026 elections, one thing is clear: The year’s biggest primary race, to be decided in June, will be the Democratic contest for Montana’s Western U.S. House District.

Four candidates are already vying for the Democratic nomination to face incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke. Montanans have sent Zinke to Congress four times since 2014, twice to represent the state’s single at-large district, and twice to represent MT-01, the regional district comprising 18 counties mostly on the western side of the Rockies.

The Western District, formed in 2022 after population growth restored Montana’s second district, is anchored by three political powerhouses. Gallatin and Missoula counties, including Bozeman and Missoula, are the state’s bluest regions, while Flathead County, including Kalispell, ranks second in the state for its concentration of Republican voters.

The candidates running in the Democratic primary say 2026 could be their year if voter dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump catches up with members of Congress. Zinke is a Trump loyalist who served as Interior Secretary for part of the president’s first term. Zinke defeated Democrat Monica Tranel to win the district in 2022 and 2024, the second time by a seven-point margin.

“I feel like this could be the marquee race in the state,” candidate Ryan Busse said Friday. “It’s a chance for us to plant a blue flag, make the state purple again.”

Busse was the Democratic Party’s 2024 challenger to incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, who was easily reelected. The money spent boosting Busse’s name recognition in the 2024 race gave him a branding boost in a primary field of Democrats that have never run a statewide race before.

Ad spending in the race has been minimal so far, with in-person voting set to begin May 4, but there’s already been some splashy early publicity. Democrat Sam Forstag announced his campaign in January with a professionally produced Instagram video highlighting his career as a smokejumper and union organizer. Forstag rolled out an endorsement by Vermont senator and progressive stalwart Bernie Sanders simultaneously with the video. 

Forstag said Friday that affordability, particularly regarding health care and housing, is his top issue. All four Democratic primary candidates emphasized affordability in interviews with Montana Free Press. 

“It’s not just that people can’t afford to live in Bozeman or Missoula or Whitefish anymore. A lot of people got pushed out to Belgrade, now you can’t afford to live there. They got pushed out of Manhattan and they can’t afford to live there,” Forstag said. “It’s actually bad enough that I think people are ready for a real big bold change. We really need it right now.”

Russ Cleveland was the first Democrat to campaign in the Western District this election cycle, starting in April 2025, assessing that medical costs weren’t going down under President Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress. Cleveland lost a daughter to leukemia when she was 13 years old. 

Cleveland, who grew up near conservative Stevensville, said rural communities in the Western District are where his race could be won. To date, his campaign has focused on person-to-person engagements, particularly with veterans. Cleveland served in the U.S. Navy from 2009 through 2013. His parents, he said, are Republicans from Townsend. 

“This is a conservative state with progressive values,” Cleveland said, noting that while Republicans swept statewide races in 2024, voters also codified a constitutional right to abortion. 

Matt Rains, a rancher from Simms, is also a veteran. The West Point graduate and Blackhawk helicopter pilot adds Trump administration tariffs to the affordability issues facing Montanans. He said agricultural trade has suffered under Trump.

Affordable housing, he said, is also crucial. 

“Right now … a 20- to 30-year-old is really almost giving two-thirds of their wages, salary, just for a place to live, and that’s unsustainable,” Rains said. “We have to find solutions there.”

In Montana’s Eastern U.S. House District, incumbent Republican Rep. Troy Downing doesn’t to date have a primary opponent. He is the only candidate for the district currently registered with the secretary of state. Two Democrats — Sam Lux and Brian James Miller — have organized campaign committees but haven’t yet registered to be on the ballot. Independent Michael Eisenhauer, of Great Falls, has registered a campaign committee with the FEC, but hasn’t registered with the secretary of state to begin gathering signatures to qualify for the general election.

There will be a U.S. Senate primary for Democrats featuring Reilly Neill, of Livingston, and Alani Bankhead, of Helena, who have registered campaign committees but not yet filed with Montana’s secretary of state. Democrat Michael Hummert, of Helena, has registered his candidacy with the state. Kate McLaughlin, of Kalispell, is another Democrat with a registered campaign committee who hasn’t registered with the secretary of state, along with Michael Blackwolf, and Charles Walkingchild Sr. The winner will face the Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Steve Daines in November. Daines is seeking his third six-year term in the Senate and has more than $4.9 million in cash on hand as election season begins. His would-be challengers have less than $35,000 cash on hand combined.

Former University of Montana President Seth Bodnar, who resigned his post to run as an independent for the U.S. Senate, has not to date registered with the state or formed a federal campaign committee. A spokesman for Bodnar confirmed his intention to run in an interview with Montana Free Press on Jan 12, 2026. 

Down ballot, two seats on Montana’s Public Service Commission, which regulates monopoly utilities, are up for election. Both have drawn Republican primary contests. In northwest Montana’s District 5, incumbent Anne Bukacek of Kalispell is being challenged by former commission employee David Sanders of Hamilton. Former Republican legislators Jeff Pattison and Jeremy Trebas will compete for District 1, representing north-central and northeast Montana.

As of Friday, 190 candidates — 106 Republicans and 84 Democrats — have filed for state legislative races. 

There are currently 24 contested Republican primaries for legislative offices, some featuring grudge matches between the party’s conservative and moderate factions. There are five Democratic primaries for the state Legislature, all for open seats.

Among the contests shaping up to be heated are for control of north-central Montana’s Senate District 9, where House Appropriations Chair Llew Jones — a longtime legislator from Conrad who championed the Legislature’s controversial 2025 property tax measure — is expected to face Rep. Zack Wirth, a Wolf Creek lawmaker who is campaigning against “career politicians.” Wirth has filed for office. Jones hasn’t yet filed, but formed a campaign committee for Senate District 9 in March 2025. 

In the Bitterroot Valley, Republicans David Bedey and Kathy Love of Hamilton are facing off to replace 2023 Republican Senate President Jason Ellsworth, who is termed out. Both Love and Bedey currently serve in the state House, where Bedey is part of a bipartisan coalition that’s prevailed on health care, taxation and education legislation in recent sessions.

In Billings, Rep. Stacy Zinn and Ed Walker will face off for House District 45. Walker is a former state legislator. Zinn is the current vice chair of the Montana Republican Party. Both candidates campaigned for Montana’s Eastern U.S. House District in 2026. 

The nonpartisan race to replace state Supreme Court Justice Beth Baker has so far attracted one official candidate, Flathead County District Court Judge Dan Wilson. Amy Eddy, also a Flathead County District Court judge, has announced her candidacy, but not yet filed for office. Only if there are more than two candidates to replace Baker will there be an elimination round in a primary election.  

Feb. 17 was the first day candidates could register to appear on the 2026 ballot. The final day for registration is March 4.

The post 2026 election slates up and running appeared first on Montana Free Press.

When President Donald Trump nominated Katie Lane for a U.S. District Court judgeship in Montana on Feb. 12, he lauded her work since April 2025 as senior legal counsel on the Republican National Committee.  

Trump didn’t mention Lane’s experience in Montana politics, both as an assistant to campaign managers and in court defending Republican legislative policies.

If she’s confirmed, Lane would replace Judge Susan Watters, who announced in 2025 that she will assume senior status later this year.

Lane is a 2010 Bozeman High School graduate and president of her senior class, according to graduation records. In a senior profile, Lane told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that “it was often hard shooting for the stars and maintaining what I believed” as a Christian.

Her first brushes with political significance began in 2011, when she worked on the successful U.S. House campaign of Steve Daines, now Montana’s senior senator. On LinkedIn, Lane described her campaign work as writing the campaign’s monthly newsletter and “walking in parades.” 

She then interned on Daines’ U.S. House staff in 2013 while pursuing a degree in economics at Furman University.

“I do clearly remember her as incredibly bright and hard-working, and someone who brought so much enthusiasm to her time in our office, which was so appreciated, as she was often the first face visitors saw, or the first voice answering the phone,” said Alee Lockman, Daines’ communications director.

Before graduating from George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School in 2017, she interned at the Bozeman-based Wittich Law Firm, the practice of current Montana Republican Party Chairman Art Wittich, who said Thursday in a statement relayed by the state party that he supports Lane’s nomination.

“Katie is a fantastic choice. Smart and principled. The Senate should confirm her quickly,” Wittich said. The party chairman has said little publicly about federal courts, but Wittich has faulted state courts for blocking conservative state laws passed by Republican lawmakers. 

While working for the Montana Department of Justice in 2022, Lane defended the state Department of Health and Human Services’ policy of not facilitating requested changes to the listed sex of transgender Montanans on driver’s licenses.

State District Court Judge Michael Moses ruled that the state had argued in bad faith, knowing that a 2021 law that made it difficult to amend driver’s licenses was constitutionally vague.

Lane received the brunt of the judge’s frustration about what Moses called the state’s “flagrant disregard” for court orders. At the time, Lane was deputy solicitor general for the Montana Department of Justice, run by Attorney General Austin Knudsen. 

Knudsen gave Lane a strong endorsement for the U.S. District Court position after the Trump nomination was announced. 

“During her two years in my office as deputy solicitor general, Katie played an integral role in defending Montana’s laws and challenging the Biden administration’s unconstitutional mandates,” Knudsen said in a statement. “President Trump could not have made a better pick as I am confident she will bring valuable experience and integrity to the bench and look forward to welcoming her back to the state.”

Similarly, both Daines and U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy announced support for Lane’s nomination.

Other elements of the legal community have criticized Lane’s nomination. 

The Alliance for Justice, a self-described progressive judicial advocacy group, lodged early opposition to Lane’s nomination based on her nine years of legal experience, which makes her one of the least experienced attorneys nominated by Trump during his second term. Of Trump’s six judicial nominees since January 2026, two have had more than 30 years’ experience, and three have had 16 to 20 years’ experience.

The American Bar Association’s standing committee on judicial nominations recommends that nominees should have at least 12 years of experience.

And what a U.S. District Court judge needs most is trial experience, said Doug James, a veteran attorney in Billings whose grandfather was a state attorney general and state Supreme Court associate justice. Trial work, James said, is most of what a U.S. District Court judge does.

By definition, the country’s 91 US. District Courts are trial courts of general jurisdiction, with 673 judges doing the work. Trump filled 174 district court judgeships in his first term, slightly fewer than former President Joe Biden. In 2025, Trump filled 20 District Court judgeships. 

“This is a tremendous insult to the state of Montana and to the legal profession, because we have thousands of attorneys in Montana,” James said. “And President Trump could not find a single qualified attorney in Montana to appoint?”

Lane hasn’t yet been scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Before the Senate holds a confirmation hearing, the National Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary will provide its own evaluation, which will include input from its Montana members.

The post The political path of U.S. District Court nominee Katie Lane appeared first on Montana Free Press.

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February 19, 2026

When President Donald Trump nominated Katie Lane for a U.S. District Court judgeship in Montana on Feb. 12, he lauded her work since April 2025 as senior legal counsel on the Republican National Committee.  

Trump didn’t mention Lane’s experience in Montana politics, both as an assistant to campaign managers and in court defending Republican legislative policies.

Lane would replace Judge Susan Watters, who announced in 2025 that she will assume senior status later this year.

Lane is a 2010 Bozeman High School graduate and president of her senior class, according to graduation records. In a senior profile, Lane told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle “it was often hard shooting for the stars and maintaining what I believed” as a Christian.

Her first brushes with political significance began in 2011, when she worked on the successful U.S. House campaign of Steve Daines, now Montana’s senior senator. On LinkedIn, Lane described her campaign work as writing the campaign’s monthly newsletter and “walking in parades.” 

She then interned on Daines’ U.S. House staff in 2013 while pursuing a degree in economics at Furman University. Before graduating from George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School in 2017, she interned at the Bozeman-based Wittich Law Firm, the practice of current Montana Republican Party Chairman Art Wittich, who said Thursday in a statement relayed by the state party that he supports Lane’s nomination.

“Katie is a fantastic choice. Smart and principled. The Senate should confirm her quickly,” Wittich said. The party chairman has said little publicly about federal courts, but Wittich has faulted state courts for blocking conservative state laws passed by Republican lawmakers. 

While working for the Montana Department of Justice in 2022, Lane defended the state Department of Health and Human Services’ policy of not facilitating requested changes to the listed sex of transgender Montanans on driver’s licenses.

State District Court Judge Michael Moses ruled that the state had argued in bad faith, knowing that a 2021 law that made it difficult to amend driver’s licenses was constitutionally vague.

Lane received the brunt of the judge’s frustration about what Moses called the state’s “flagrant disregard” for court orders. At the time, Lane was deputy solicitor general for the Montana Department of Justice, run by Attorney General Austin Knudsen. 

Knudsen gave Lane a strong endorsement for the U.S. District Court position after the Trump nomination was announced. 

“During her two years in my office as deputy solicitor general, Katie played an integral role in defending Montana’s laws and challenging the Biden administration’s unconstitutional mandates,” Knudsen said in a statement. “President Trump could not have made a better pick as I am confident she will bring valuable experience and integrity to the bench and look forward to welcoming her back to the state.”

Similarly, both Daines and U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy announced support for Lane’s nomination.

Other elements of the legal community have criticized Lane’s nomination. 

The Alliance for Justice, a self-described progressive judicial advocacy group, lodged early opposition to Lane’s nomination based on her nine years of legal experience, which make her one of the least experienced attorneys nominated by Trump during his second term. Of Trump’s six judicial nominees since January 2026, two have had more than 30 years’ experience each, and three have had 16 to 20 years’ experience.

The American Bar Association’s standing committee on judicial nominations recommends that nominees should have at least 12 years of experience.

And what a U.S. District Court judge needs most is trial experience, said Doug James, a veteran attorney in Billings whose grandfather was a state attorney general and lieutenant governor. Trial work, James said, is most of what a U.S. District Court judge does.

“This is a tremendous insult to the state of Montana and to the legal profession, because we have thousands of attorneys in Montana,” James said. “And President Trump could not find a single qualified attorney in Montana to appoint?”

Lane hasn’t yet been scheduled for a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Before the Senate holds a confirmation hearing, the National Bar Association’s Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary will provide its own evaluation, which will include input from its Montana members.

The post A Lane change in U.S. District Court appeared first on Montana Free Press.