North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong has signed legislation banning synthetic kratom products while restricting the sale of natural kratom to people 21 and older, replacing a temporary statewide prohibition imposed earlier this summer. House Bill 1628 cleared the Legislature during a three-day special session and creates a new regulatory framework for kratom products sold in Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — Rep. Ryan Zinke announced the introduction of the A River Runs Through It Act, a locally developed public lands package bringing together more than two decades of work by communities throughout the Blackfoot and Clearwater valleys. Zinke unveiled the legislation at Smoke Elzer Barn in Missoula alongside local elected officials, members of Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte joined Mountain States Policy Center at a press conference at the Montana State Capitol on Tuesday to announce the “Flat. Fair. Montana.” campaign, a statewide initiative promoting a flat individual income tax rate of 4.7 percent. The campaign is a project of MSPC focused on making Montana’s income tax system simpler, more Read More…
Republican congressional candidate Aaron Flint is using his first two general-election advertisements to emphasize his working-class upbringing, military service and support for skilled-trades education as he campaigns for Montana’s 1st Congressional District. Flint’s newest ad features his mother, Karen, recounting how she raised him as a single parent while working two jobs. She says Flint Read More…
North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong has signed legislation banning synthetic kratom products while restricting the sale of natural kratom to people 21 and older, replacing a temporary statewide prohibition imposed earlier this summer. House Bill 1628 cleared the Legislature during a three-day special session and creates a new regulatory framework for kratom products sold in Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — Rep. Ryan Zinke announced the introduction of the A River Runs Through It Act, a locally developed public lands package bringing together more than two decades of work by communities throughout the Blackfoot and Clearwater valleys. Zinke unveiled the legislation at Smoke Elzer Barn in Missoula alongside local elected officials, members of Read More…
Gov. Greg Gianforte joined Mountain States Policy Center at a press conference at the Montana State Capitol on Tuesday to announce the “Flat. Fair. Montana.” campaign, a statewide initiative promoting a flat individual income tax rate of 4.7 percent. The campaign is a project of MSPC focused on making Montana’s income tax system simpler, more Read More…
Republican congressional candidate Aaron Flint is using his first two general-election advertisements to emphasize his working-class upbringing, military service and support for skilled-trades education as he campaigns for Montana’s 1st Congressional District. Flint’s newest ad features his mother, Karen, recounting how she raised him as a single parent while working two jobs. She says Flint Read More…
Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat will feature a crowded general election field this November, after minor-party candidates were certified to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot alongside the major-party nominees. Libertarian Shawn Johnson and Constitution Party candidate Jeffrey Haggit both made the cut and will join Republican Chuck Gray and Democrat Lisa Kinney in the Read More…
Musk’s super PAC recently dropped almost a quarter-million dollars boosting the Republican Senate nominee, who has seen a recent surge in outside support yet continues to lag in fundraising. WASHINGTON — Elon Musk’s America PAC waded into Texas’ U.S. Senate race for the first time in recent days, dropping almost $250,000 to boost Attorney General Ken Read More…
(The Center Square) – As inflation concerns dominate the midterm landscape, the candidates in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race are offering competing solutions to bring costs down. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is challenging incumbent Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, in a race the Cook Political Report rates a toss-up. Republicans hold a slim 53-45 majority in the Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is scheduled to speak at the Republican National Committee’s 2026 Midterm Convention in Dallas, joining a national lineup of Republican officials and candidates as the party turns its attention toward the November elections. Knudsen, who also serves as chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association, is scheduled to address the Read More…
South Dakota’s U.S. Senate race has effectively become a two-person contest between Republican Sen. Mike Rounds and independent Brian Bengs after Democrat Julian Beaudion withdrew from the race in August. Beaudion, who had been the Democratic nominee, formally withdrew Aug. 4. The South Dakota Secretary of State now lists Rounds and Bengs as the active Read More…
Republican Kurt Alme holds a commanding lead in Montana’s U.S. Senate race, according to a new analysis from Decision Desk HQ, as neither Democrat Alani Bankhead nor independent Seth Bodnar has been willing to step aside for the other, leaving the state with a fractured opposition against the GOP front-runner. In 2026, prominent independent candidates Read More…
North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong used his State of the State address to a special session of the 69th Legislative Assembly to renew his call for lawmakers to ban the unregulated drug kratom, following his executive action last month to temporarily prohibit its sale. “We are here to address a public safety and a public Read More…
Wyoming’s Nov. 3 general election ballot grew more crowded this week as minor-party candidates were certified to appear alongside major-party nominees in several of the state’s top races, headlined by a governor’s contest that already ranks as the most expensive of the primary cycle. In the governor’s race, Republican Eric Barlow and Democrat Kenneth Casner Read More…
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Prosecutors in Cascade County are investigating potential signature-gathering fraud by at least one firm that worked for the independent campaigns of U.S. Senate candidate Seth Bodnar and U.S. House candidate Michael Eisenhauer, according to the Cascade County Attorney’s Office. The Cascade County Attorney’s Office and the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office are Read More…
(The Center Square) – A slew of candidates running as democratic socialists appears to be raising alarms with a majority of American voters, according to a new poll. The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll – Logo – White Background The Center Square’s Voters Voice Poll found 63% of Americans are concerned with the growth of Read More…
The Republican Attorneys General Association is highlighting a new Michigan advertisement from its affiliated Safer Michigan Fund as part of a nearly $7 million political spending campaign across 13 states ahead of the November elections. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen serves as chairman of RAGA, which is working to elect and defend Republican attorneys general Read More…
Western Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke received the Excellence in Advocacy Award from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation at a ceremony at the organization’s Missoula headquarters, recognizing his work on public lands, wildlife habitat and America’s hunting heritage. RMEF president and CEO Kyle Weaver and chief conservation officer Blake Henning presented the award. Zinke is only Read More…
Vice President JD Vance remains the clear favorite in a prospective 2028 Republican presidential primary, with 41% of Republicans and right-leaning Independents saying they would vote for him in The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll. The Center Square has conducted four 2028 presidential primary polls since October, and Vance’s latest showing was his strongest to Read More…
National teacher unions contribute at least 10% of their annual budget to lobbying and political activism, which includes calling for the impeachment of Republican President Donald Trump in the 2026 American Federation of Teachers handbook. Efforts also include supporting Democratic causes such as messaging against immigration enforcement. Some teachers raise questions about whether union dues are being Read More…
Montana’s Carpenters Union Local 82 endorsed Republican congressional candidate Aaron Flint during a construction site tour at the new Bretz RV warehouse in Butte, with members of the Ironworkers Union also joining to show their support — a notable show of organized labor backing for a Republican in a race rated Likely Republican by Sabato’s Read More…
Despite watchdog groups warning that few regulatory guardrails exist to meet the threats posed by the rapid development and deployment of AI technology, the 119th Congress has been slow to respond. Though the White House in March proposed a blueprint for lawmakers to craft federal AI-related legislation, no federal framework has advanced out of committee Read More…
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen issued a legal opinion reversing a 14-year-old interpretation of the state’s constitutional term limits — a move that could remove prominent Republican lawmakers from the November ballot just days before the state must certify candidates. The opinion withdraws a 2012 interpretation issued by then-Attorney General Steve Bullock, now a former Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming Republicans will choose among four candidates for governor Tuesday in a closely watched primary that is likely to determine who succeeds Gov. Mark Gordon. State Sen. Eric Barlow, Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, retired Marine Col. Brent Bien and businessman Curt Blake are competing for the Republican nomination in the Read More…
BOISE, Idaho — Republican Sen. Jim Risch remains the clear favorite to win another term in one of the nation’s most reliably Republican states, but independent Todd Achilles is trying to turn Idaho’s Senate contest into a more competitive race by appealing to voters dissatisfied with both political parties. The contest has attracted unusual attention Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines and Rep. Andrew Clyde led a coalition of 47 Republican lawmakers urging the Justice Department to apply a landmark federal court ruling striking down National Firearms Act registration requirements nationwide — and the Trump administration has since confirmed the DOJ will not appeal the decision. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of Read More…
Sen. Tim Sheehy introduced legislation that would create a dedicated pharmaceutical trade negotiator within the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and expand federal oversight of foreign drug pricing policies. The Use Sovereignty to Reduce Rx Act, or USTRx Act, targets what its sponsors describe as price control regimes in wealthy countries that suppress payments Read More…
The Montana Democratic Party published a statement praising Democrat Alani Bankhead for suspending her Senate campaign before she had actually done so — a stunning blunder that laid bare how certain party leaders had become that their own nominee would step aside. The statement, first surfaced by Semafor’s Burgess Everett on X, reads: “The Montana Democratic Read More…
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s bill that would place sweeping new regulations on college sports failed to reach the floor this week before the Senate gaveled out for recess, imperiling its chances to become law this year as the midterm elections approach. The measure, coined the Protect College Sports Act, had gained a sudden Read More…
A bill that would exchange subsurface mineral interests on the Crow Reservation for federal acreage in Musselshell County cleared the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Sens. Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy announced. The Crow Revenue Act would transfer roughly 4,660 acres of private subsurface inholdings on the reservation, known as the Hope Family Tracts, to Read More…
A group of residents in northeastern Missoula County is pursuing the creation of a new county encompassing Potomac, Seeley Lake and Condon, which would be Montana’s first new county since 1925, the Missoulian reported. The effort, organized under the banner “County 57,” is the latest attempt by rural residents in the Seeley Swan Valley to Read More…
President Donald Trump held a telephone rally Thursday afternoon for Megan Degenfelder, his endorsed pick for Wyoming’s next governor, urging voters in a state that gave him his widest margin of victory in 2024 to back her Republican primary bid. The roughly 15-minute call opened with Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” a departure from Read More…
Pressure to narrow the field in Montana’s U.S. Senate race intensified this week, but with a Monday evening deadline approaching, none of the candidates has shown any willingness to step aside. Seth Bodnar, running as an independent, said at a news conference in a Billings park Friday morning that he was staying in through November, Read More…
A bipartisan provision championed by Sen. Steve Daines to sharply increase penalties for unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information cleared the Senate Finance Committee as part of a broader tax administration package, moving one step closer to becoming law. The Daines-Cortez Masto provision passed as part of the Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act, which the Finance Read More…
Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy introduced two pieces of legislation in recent weeks — one bipartisan bill to strengthen Buy American requirements for school meals and one to extend nationwide concealed carry privileges to elite special operations veterans. On July 30, Sheehy and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) introduced the American Food for American Schools Act, with Read More…
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, released the last four years of tax returns late last week, providing a glimpse into their financial life over the last four years of Newsom’s time in office. The couple’s annual finances remained relatively stable, with the exception of 2021, when they saw a bump Read More…
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Ken Paxton’s campaign said he would debate state Rep. James Talarico in Texas’ U.S. Senate race after Talarico challenged him to do so Thursday morning. Talarico, the Democratic nominee, said he had accepted invitations from Texas media groups for three televised debates and urged Paxton, who has not participated in debates Read More…
The man who led the U.S. response to the global pandemic in 2020 told Congress on Wednesday he wouldn’t answer questions about it. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said he will invoke his Fifth Amendment right to protect against self-incrimination in a hearing about his role as Read More…
Sen. Steve Daines joined Sens. Jim Risch of Idaho and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in introducing the Hydropower Licensing Affordability Act, legislation that would reform the Federal Power Act to reduce delays and costs in the hydropower licensing process. The bill would limit mandatory conditions that federal resource agencies — including the Forest Service and Read More…
A group of nine Montana Democratic attorneys published an open letter this month urging the Montana Democratic Party’s State Central Committee to consider not nominating a replacement candidate if Democratic Senate nominee Alani Bankhead withdraws — a legal argument designed to clear the path for independent candidate Seth Bodnar to face Republican Kurt Alme one-on-one. Read More…
See the latest fundraising totals, where the money is coming from and how super PACs are spending in what’s poised to be Texas’ most expensive Senate race. The race for Texas’s senate seat is shaping up to be one the most expensive competitions in the nation. Democratic nominee James Talarico is setting records, raising more Read More…
Montana’s U.S. Senate race entered a turbulent new phase as the national Democratic Party’s campaign arm publicly declared it would not support the party’s own nominee, a major veterans organization endorsed independent candidate Seth Bodnar, and President Trump weighed in to attack Bankhead on social media — all while both candidates insisted they were staying Read More…