A growing field of Democrats is lining up to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke in Montana’s western U.S. House district, as the party looks to mount a competitive bid in a seat national analysts still rate as safely Republican. On Thursday, Ryan Busse, an author, climate activist and gun control advocate from Kansas, announced Read More…
House Speaker Johnson spoke yesterday at the kickoff of the House Republican policy summit, delivering a wide-ranging address that touched on the party’s legislative agenda, U.S. military action in Venezuela, Democratic opposition, and the sudden passing of Congressman Doug LaMalfa. Republicans Leading on Tax Policy, Speaker Says Speaker Johnson emphasized Republican achievements on tax policy, Read More…
Montana State Auditor and Commissioner of Securities and Insurance James Brown issued a statement following the Montana Supreme Court’s dismissal of a complaint filed against Attorney General Austin Knudsen, calling the decision a reaffirmation of constitutional principles and the separation of powers. In his statement, Brown said the court’s ruling confirmed that the complaint was Read More…
(The Center Square) – Democratic lawmakers criticized President Donald Trump’s announcement of land strikes against Venezuela and leader Nicolas Maduro’s capture. In a post to social media, Trump announced the U.S. carried out a “large scale strike” against Venezuela, capturing Maduro and his wife. The two are in U.S. custody and charged with “narco-terrorism conspiracy, Read More…
OAKLAND, Calif. — As speculation grows that Gov. Gavin Newsom is leaning toward California elections chief Alex Padilla to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, a crowd of top Democratic donors and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown are launching an aggressive campaign to argue that another woman of color should Read More…
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Two South Dakota law enforcement officials want the courts to overturn a citizen-approved constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana in the state. Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom and South Dakota Highway Patrol Superintendent Rick Miller filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the constitutionality of the amendment. READ FULL STORY
CASPER, Wyo — Liz Cheney, Wyoming’s sole delegate and third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, has called on President Donald Trump in a statement to either back up his claims of voter fraud or respect the “sanctity of our electoral process.” “America is governed by the rule of law,” Cheney wrote. “The President Read More…
GILLETTE — The son of a Wyoming state representative who opposed COVID-19 public restrictions said his father was positive for the coronavirus when he died. Roy Edwards, 66, died Nov. 2 at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper after being hospitalized for more than a week with illness that was not immediately disclosed, The Gillette Read More…
The Trump campaign is mulling a recount request in Wisconsin after a statewide canvass showed the president trailing President-elect Joe Biden there by 20,608 votes. All 72 counties in Wisconsin have now completed their canvassing process, The Associated Press reported. The final tally shows Biden, who has been projected president-elect, with a lead of about 0.6 percentage points, or roughly Read More…
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Governor-elect Greg Gianforte today announced his joint-transition advisory team for the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor and Industry. The advisory team will identify and review candidates to serve as the next directors of Commerce and Labor. The team will forward their recommendations to Governor-elect Gianforte. “For too long, Montanans Read More…
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Governor-elect Greg Gianforte today announced his transition advisory team for the Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (FWP). The advisory team will identify and review candidates to serve as the next director of the FWP and will forward their recommendations to Governor-elect Gianforte. “Montana’s landowners, hunters, and anglers share a tradition of Read More…
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was “distracted” before he drove onto a highway shoulder where he struck and killed a pedestrian in September, state Secretary of Safety Craig Price said Monday. Price said 55-year-old Joseph Boever was walking on the side of the road and displaying some type of light on the night of Sept. Read More…
This year in Montana, Republicans swept every statewide and federal race, while also increasing their majority in the statehouse by 10 seats. Montana, once dubbed a purple state for its split-ticket voting, is now deep crimson. After four terms of a Democratic governor, a Republican will sit in Montana’s governor’s mansion for the first time Read More…
U.S. Sen. John Thune, (R-South Dakota), has been re-elected to Senate Republican Whip, the second highest position in Senate Republican leadership, according to a press release from the senator’s office Tuesday. He was re-elected unanimously and his term as whip will begin in January for the 117th Congress. Thune was first elected as Republican whip for Read More…
Gov. Steve Bullock is on president-elect Joe Biden’s list to head the interior department, The New York Times is reporting. “The governor of Montana, Bullock recently lost a close Senate race to Steve Daines, a Republican incumbent. Bullock has been active in environmental issues: In 2014, he signed an executive order creating a habitat for Read More…
Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage made it crystal clear on Friday that’s he’s ready to return to public office. Asked in an interview with NewsRadio WGAN in Maine if he has plans to seek a third term as governor, LePage said “yes I do. Unequivocally. If I’m breathing, I’m running.” Term-limited after two four-year terms in office, from 2011 Read More…
BOZEMAN, Mont. – Governor-elect Greg Gianforte today announced his joint-transition advisory team for the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The advisory team will identify and review candidates to serve as the next directors of the DNRC and DEQ and will forward their recommendations to Governor-elect Gianforte. Read More…
Gov. Doug Burgum is seeking legal representation for a likely lawsuit over a Bismarck-area state legislative seat won by a deceased candidate. The governor on Friday asked Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to appoint three attorneys with Vogel Law Firm in Bismarck to represent him “on legal matters related to Legislative District 8’s membership in the North Read More…
Micron Technology is one of Idaho’s largest employers, but it only pays property taxes on a fraction of its taxable value. The reason? An unsuccessful attempt to lure a nuclear company to East Idaho during the Great Recession. The company paid $4.75 million in property taxes in 2019, only 23% of what it would owe Read More…
Georgia’s top election official said Wednesday the state will conduct a hand recount of all paper ballots cast in the Nov. 3 presidential election. Uncertified results in the state show Democrat Joe Biden leading President Donald Trump by 14,000 votes out of nearly 5 million votes counted in the state. Nearly all ballots have been Read More…
Democrat Cal Cunningham conceded Tuesday to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis in North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race, one of the last undecided contests in the fight for control of the chamber. Later Tuesday, NBC News projected that Tillis was indeed the winner. Tillis leads Cunningham by fewer than 2 percentage points with some votes outstanding. In a tweeted Read More…
BILLINGS, Mont. – This year’s election results in Montana prove, yet again, how divisive people’s views are on gun regulation across the state. Legislative Referendum 130, restricting local governments’ authority to regulate carrying firearms, passed by 51%-49%. LR-130 has quite a lot of history to it, dating back to 2016 when Missoula enacted a city Read More…
HELENA — As Election Day approached last week, most public polls had declared the big statewide races in Montana – U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor – to be relatively close, with Republicans perhaps having an edge. Yet the final outcome showed no such spread: Republicans cruised to easy victories, up and down the ticket, winning Read More…
On Friday Nov. 6 around the lunch hour MTN canvassed just over 50 voters in Helena to gauge their reaction to the election. Much like the vote, reactions were split. In regards to the state of the presidential election, around a third of those canvassed directly supported the president’s actions so far. ‘It’s a scam Read More…
The Libertarian Party earned a historic victory Tuesday, clinching a statehouse seat for the first time in nearly two decades. Marshall Burt was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives in its 39th district, defeating Democrat incumbent Stan Blake, said Bob Johnston on the Libertarian National Committee. “This is only the fifth time in Libertarian Party history a candidate running only on Read More…
South Dakota and Montana are the latest states to vote in support of the legalization of recreational marijuana use. Arizona and New Jersey voters also approved the legalization of recreational marijuana on Election Day. The addition of South Dakota and Montana means that there are now 15 states in the nation that permit marijuana use Read More…
Elizabeth Warren wants to be Joe Biden’s Treasury secretary and will make her case for it if he wins next week, according to three Democratic officials who have spoken with her inner circle. “She wants it,” two of them said matter-of-factly. Warren’s moves could set up the marquee fight between the party’s left and its Read More…
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Bernie Sanders is the latest figure endorsing Portland mayoral candidate Sarah Iannarone. Sanders’ endorsement late Thursday endorsement came the same day Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty announced her backing of incumbent Ted Wheeler’s challenger. The former presidential hopeful and current U.S. senator from Vermont also endorsed Chloe Eudaly in her Portland City Read More…
Whether dark money is a problem in North Dakota depends on who you ask. “Absolutely there’s problems with transparency in elections here,” Ellen Chaffee, a proponent of the Ethics Commission, said. “I don’t think dark money is a real problem in North Dakota,” Bismarck Republican Sen. Dick Dever said. Dark money refers to political spending Read More…
HELENA- Results are in for the Montana Youth Vote 2020. The election was held Thursday in many schools throughout Montana and results were finalized at 4:00 pm. Around 4,500 students from Montana schools participated in the election. Two demographics were polled, grades K-6 voted for the President and other age-appropriate questions and grades 7-12 voted Read More…
New York (CNN Business)Ted Cruz yelled. His Democratic colleague Brian Schatz called the hearing in which he was speaking “a sham.” Committee chair Roger Wicker couldn’t pronounce the last name of Google’s CEO. Just another day on Capitol Hill for Big Tech. In a contentious hearing on Wednesday, the CEOs of Facebook (FB), Google (GOOG) and Twitter (TWTR) were questioned by Senators Read More…
With less than one week to go until election day, Montana’s Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) is bringing two of the US Senate’s heavy hitters to the Treasure State. Both Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R) and Texas Senator Ted Cruz (R) will be in Montana. Rubio hit Great Falls on Tuesday, while Ted Cruz will be in Read More…
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is getting grilled in Pennsylvania ever since he said during last week’s debate that he plans to “transition” away from the oil industry. In three separate local news interviews in the key battleground state on Saturday, Biden responded to questions about his comment, as well as his mixed messages regarding fracking. “Look I’m from Read More…
North Dakota voters are deciding whether to reelect their only congressman, a freshman incumbent, or pick someone new for the next two years. U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., is seeking a second term. He’s challenged by Democratic-NPL nominee Zach Raknerud, a retail manager in Minot, and Libertarian Steven Peterson, a Fargo business owner. In Read More…
A state financial report released Monday showed a General Fund shortfall of $451.1 million and a school funding shortfall of $300 million, according to a news release from Gov. Mark Gordon. The Consensus Estimating Revenue Group’s forecast is slightly better than projected in May, but the state’s revenue collections have experienced a significant decline. “I Read More…
WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste Political Action Committee (CCAGW PAC) announced its endorsement for Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) for re-election to the Senate and Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) for governor. CCAGW PAC based its endorsements on the candidates’ lifetime score in CCAGW’s 2019 Congressional Ratings. Sen. Daines has a lifetime rating of Read More…
It’s less than two weeks before election day and Montana on Thursday again set a new record for COVID-19 cases reported in a single day with more than 900. Whoever is elected as Montana’s next governor will inherit oversight of the state’s response to the pandemic. Yellowstone Public Radio’s Nicky Ouellet and Rachel Cramer discuss Read More…
You have to do something extraordinary to unite Elizabeth Warren and Bill Barr. But that’s what Google has done. President Trump’s attorney general and personal fixer has filed an antitrust suit against the trillion-dollar internet titan. And the Massachusetts senator, who despises everything about the Trump administration and has called on Barr to resign, is cheering Read More…
Sen. Bernie Sanders is hoping to be a part of Joe Biden’s potential administration and has expressed a particular interest in becoming Labor secretary, two people familiar with the conversations tell POLITICO. “I can confirm he’s trying to figure out how to land that role or something like it,” said one person close to the Read More…
MISSOULA, Mont. — A new exclusive NBC Montana/Strategies 360 poll shows very close Montana races less than two weeks before Election Day. Strategies 360 conducted a mixed-mode survey of 500 likely November 2020 voters in Montana. Interviews were conducted Oct. 15-20. A combination of landlines, cellphones, and voter file-based online interviews via text message were used Read More…
Some things are easy to predict in Wyoming politics. The liberal enclaves of Jackson and Laramie will continue to favor Democrats, despite Wyoming’s deep red reputation. Natrona County, home to a robust and influential conservative establishment, will continue to elect Republicans under the local, “big tent” tradition. And towns such as Gillette, as conservative Read More…
Why is the union that is supposed to represent Montana school teachers spending $800,000 to campaign against a referendum on the ballot this November? Does it involve teacher pay? Would it take away the pensions of teachers or public employees? Nope. The teachers union is spending $800,000 to campaign against your gun rights. Legislative Referendum Read More…
WINDHAM, N.H. – South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, campaigning in the battleground state of New Hampshire on behalf of President Trump and fellow Republicans, took aim at Joe Biden over a much-publicized story this week in the New York Post regarding the Democratic presidential nominee’s son Hunter Biden. The president, his reelection campaign and surrogates, have spotlighted the report to charge that Biden’s Read More…
A federal grand jury has charged six Russian nationals with a wide-ranging campaign of cyberattacks — including a highly destructive global malware rampage and a 2018 attack on the Winter Olympic Games — that reflects the scope and intensity of Russia’s digital aggression. As officers of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency, the six defendants launched Read More…