Get an insider’s look into what’s happening in and around the halls of power with expert reporting, analysis and insight from the editors and reporters of Montana Free Press. Sign up to get the free Capitolized newsletter delivered to your inbox every Thursday. Sign up July 09, 2026 Soon after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 60-year-old practice of boosting minority representation through political districts based on race, Montana Republicans started talking about eliminating legislative districts drawn to benefit Native American voters. What started as rhetoric soon turned into action when Republican Reps. Braxton Mitchell, of Columbia Falls, and Lukas Schubert, of Kalispell, began inquiring about the prospect of a special redistricting effort to undraw Native-majority districts. “These districts stretch unnatural distances to pack voters by race,” Mitchell said in a press release the day after the April 29 Supreme Court ruling in Louisiana vs. Callais. “Senate District 8 stretches from Browning all the way to St. Ignatius. Does that genuinely keep communities of interest together?” Schubert, who serves on a legislative committee overseeing election administration, asked the 2020 Districting and Apportionment Commission to appear before the Interim Committee for State Administration and Veterans Affairs to discuss the matter. The bipartisan commission, which redrew Montana’s political maps after the 2020 U.S. census, politely declined, explaining that it had dissolved, as required by law, shortly after creating the state’s new districts, which were first used in the 2024 election. In Montana, districts are used for 10 years before being replaced with new maps rebalanced with population data from the latest census. But there was more to the story, districting commissioner Joe Lamson told Capitolized. The request to appear before legislators spoke not only to eliminating majority-Native districts, but also asked that the districting commission’s chair, Maylinn Smith, resign. Smith, an attorney for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, was appointed to the commission by the Montana Supreme Court. In lieu of an appearance by the defunct redistricting commission, legislators on the SAVA committee were briefed Thursday by staff attorney Andria Hardin about how the Montana Constitution disallows redrawing districts between the established 10-year intervals. Louisiana paused an in-progress election to redraw its congressional districts after the Supreme Court ruling. Montana doesn’t allow that. “Our Constitution protects us from these kinds of political shenanigans taking place with the districting process,” Lamson said. “It keeps the Legislature from meddling.” Schubert wasn’t giving up, suggesting to SAVA that the state Constitution doesn’t rule out a commission for mid-decade redistricting. “To be clear, though, it doesn’t specifically rule it out,” Schubert asked. “The Constitution does not say explicitly that this is the only process.” Hardin repeated that the Constitution authorizes just one districting process. Montana wasn’t quick to recognize a need for Native-majority legislative districts. During the 1980s and 1990s, Native voters and tribes sued the state, arguing that the Native vote was being actively diluted by districting decisions.  In 1996, members of the Blackfeet and Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes sued over Montana’s 1994 legislative district map. The next time the state’s political maps were revised, the two reservations were drawn into the same state Senate district, creating a majority-Native district. In 1995, there was just one Native American lawmaker in the state Legislature: Rep. Carol Juneau, D-Browning, who was among the plaintiffs in the 1996 lawsuit. By 2019, the number of Native Americans in the Legislature had increased to 11. That number could increase to 14 in 2027.  —Tom Lutey Too Many Candidates in the Kitchen? Convinced that a four-way race for U.S. Senate will assure a Republican win, Democratic state legislators this week delivered a letter communicating their concern to their party’s candidate, Alani Bankhead, and independent candidate Seth Bodnar.  “We are deeply concerned that a race featuring a Democrat, an Independent, and a Republican substantially increases the likelihood of a Republican victory through a divided center-left vote,” the lawmakers wrote.  The legislators encouraged Bankhead and Bodnar to agree that only one of them will continue to campaign after the end of July. Both candidates have previously emphasized that they don’t intend to drop out of the race. On the day the letter was sent, Bodnar was publicly touting his best-in-race fundraising. Bankhead is at a significant financial disadvantage in the race, reporting less than $24,000 raised through mid-May, while Bodnar and Republican Kurt Alme have fundraised into the millions. Several Democratic donors and high-profile former Democratic officeholders, including former U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester, are supporting Bodnar.  Libertarian Kyle Austin is the race’s fourth candidate.  The letter was signed by 17 legislators: Reps. Jill Cohenour, East Helena; Mike Fox, Hays; Tom France, Missoula; Shelly Fyant, Arlee; SJ Howell, Missoula; Connie Keogh, Missoula; Jennifer Lynch, Butte; Marilyn Marler, Missoula; Luke Muszkiewicz, Helena; Debo Powers, Whitefish; Josh Seckinger, Bozeman; Mark Thane, Missoula; Paul Tuss, Havre; and Sens. Janet Ellis, Helena; Ellie Boldman, Missoula; Dave Fern, Whitefish; Chris Pope, Bozeman.  —Tom Lutey Tester Plays Favorites  Speaking of Tester, the former U.S. senator and Montana’s last (to date) Democratic statewide office holder has endorsed two independent Montana candidates: Seth Bodnar for the open U.S. Senate being vacated by Steve Daines, and eastern U.S. House District candidate Michael Eisenhauer. Tester has called the Democratic brand “poison” to his own past campaigns.  Bodnar faces Democrat Alani Bankhead, Republican Kurt Alme and Libertarian Kyle Austin. Eisenhauer faces Republican incumbent Troy Downing, Democrat Brian Miller and Libertarian Patrick McCracken Tester has also endorsed Democrat Sam Forstag in Montana’s Western U.S. House District race. Promoting the endorsement, Forstag emphasized Tester’s moderate bona fides. The Missoula resident received 37% of the primary vote touting endorsements from Democratic Socialists Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York. Forstag faces Republican Aaron Flint and Libertarian Nick Sheedy.  —Tom Lutey By the Numbers $838,470 — Amount of money that’s been spent by super PACs promoting Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Alme since the day after the June 2 primary election. Most of that money has been spent on mailers. $30,536 — Amount spent by super PACs since the primary promoting independent candidate Seth Bodnar. Most of that money has been spent on text messages.  $0 — Amount spent after the primary by super PACs promoting Democrat Alani Bankhead, who had previously benefitted from $3 million in advertising and phone banking by the Progressive Vet super PAC. Progressive Vet announced at the end of June that it is done spending on Bankhead, calling her race unwinnable. —Tom Lutey The post Can Republicans undistrict Montana’s Native vote? appeared first on Montana Free Press. ...read more read less