Montana Politics: Latest News

Calling for supporters, including Montana’s congressional delegation, to be more “aggressive,” Sen. Jon Tester will reintroduce the Blackfoot Clearwater Stewardship Act.

Top Montana Democrats sent a scathing letter to Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez on Friday in response to the DNC’s decision to change its debate qualification rules in a way that would prevent Gov. Steve Bullock, a 2020 presidential candidate, from participating.

Leaders of the agencies tasked with fighting wildfires in Montana say they’re prepared for the start of the fire season.

The political news website POLITICO reported Thursday Montana Gov. Steve Bullock will not make the stage for the first Democratic presidential debate on June 26-27 in Miami.

On the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Europe, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester spent the morning in Fort Harrison Thursday at Montana’s main Veterans Administration Medical Center, meeting with national VA leaders to discuss implementation of a sweeping new health law for military veterans.

Republican Congressman Greg Gianforte late Thursday made his 2020 run for Montana governor all but official, filing campaign fundraising paperwork with the state Political Practices Office.

A state district judge sided with Governor Bullock Wednesday in a dispute with Secretary of State Corey Stapleton over a governor’s veto.

A federal judge in Great Falls heard arguments Wednesday over a lawsuit involving dark money.

Montana Supreme Court Justice Laurie McKinnon said Monday she won’t run for re-election next year, setting up a battle for an open seat that could affect the political balance on the seven-member court.

A court has granted a temporary restraining order against Secretary of State Corey Stapleton in a battle over a vetoed bill.

It’s been a month since Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed and appeared to kill a bill that redefines “wild bison” in Montana, saying the bill’s language would threaten bison hunts and create “an unacceptable level of confusion around bison management.”

Democratic state Sen. Bryce Bennett of Missoula said Wednesday he’s running for secretary of state in 2020.

The Montana Supreme Court Tuesday chose former state Commissioner of Higher Education Sheila Stearns as the fifth member and chair of the panel that will draw new legislative districts in Montana — and, possibly, a new congressional district for the state.

U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte plans to run for governor in 2020, MTN News has learned — adding to a crowded Republican gubernatorial primary and creating an open race next year for Montana’s only congressional seat, and possibly other statewide offices.

Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester, the only working farmer in the Senate, blasted President Trump’s handling of the escalating trade dispute with China, calling the White House’s $16-billion bailout for U.S. farmers a temporary “Band-Aid.”

Next Tuesday, the Montana Supreme Court plans to choose the critical fifth member of the state panel that will draw new legislative districts in Montana for the next 10 years — and, possibly, a new congressional district for the state.

Members of the legislative Montana American Indian Caucus joined Governor Steve Bullock to celebrate a number of bills passed by the 2019 Legislature that address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW), and honor the state’s Native American heritage and history.

Solar-power consumers and advocates lined up Thursday before the Public Service Commission, to denounce NorthWestern Energy’s proposed rate change for owners of new rooftop solar-power systems in Montana.

A hotel worker and union organizer from California appeared Wednesday before the Montana Board of Investments, urging it not to place state money with a firm that owns hotels they said are not addressing sexual-harassment claims.

The arrangement for Gov. Steve Bullock’s state security detail, and who pays for it, is defined in a memorandum between the Montana Highway Patrol and the governor’s office — not in state law, as Bullock indicated last week while campaigning in Iowa.

State lawmakers are voting, by mail, whether to override Gov. Steve Bullock’s vetoes of at least eight bills, on subjects ranging from sports gambling to business tax credits to campus free speech.

Former Speaker of the Montana House Austin Knudsen, a Republican from Culbertson, on Monday became the fourth person to enter the 2020 race for attorney general in Montana.

State Auditor Matt Rosendale is urging Montana lawmakers to vote to override Gov. Steve Bullock’s veto of a bill designed to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, through new restrictions on pharmacy-benefit managers.

When Gov. Steve Bullock hits the campaign trail as a presidential candidate, his security detail of two Montana Highway Patrol officers comes along, too — at taxpayer expense.

They urge Montana’s junior senator to do whatever he can to bring changes that would convince more young men and women to stick with firefighting as a career and help those who are seriously injured protecting homes and forests.

Here in the land of cornstalks and small towns — and the first presidential nominating contest in the nation — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is betting Iowa’s unique Democratic caucus can help propel him from obscurity to relevance in the 2020 presidential race.

Congressman Greg Gianforte and a bipartisan group of legislators introduced Savanna’s Act, a bill meant to address the missing and murdered Indigenous women’s crisis, this week in the United States House.

Gov. Steve Bullock’s presidential campaign said it received contributions from all 50 states during the first day of the campaign.

Bullock, 53, a two-term governor, said he’s the only Democratic candidate who’s won election in a state won by President Donald Trump in 2016.

After Montana Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed a bill to give fifth-time DUI offenders prison time, sponsors and supporters of the bill said Monday they feel furious.