BILLINGS — Chances are you’ve been seeing a lot of political advertising in the race for Montana’s U.S. Senate seat – and if you live in Montana’s western congressional district, likely also for the U.S. House seat there. In the state’s eastern congressional district, the campaign has played out very differently.
The race to replace Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale began with a crowded field – eight Republicans and four Democrats campaigning in June’s primary. That primary narrowed the race to Republican nominee Troy Downing and Democratic nominee John Driscoll.
Downing, who’s been Montana’s state auditor since 2021, told MTN his campaign is still deciding how much broadcast advertising to do.
“To be quite honest with you, everybody we talked to is just exhausted from the onslaught of political ads right now,” he said. “Really the question is how much return you get on that investment, when everybody is just starting to turn it off because there's so much of it.”
Driscoll, a former state lawmaker and Montana Public Service Commission member, said from the beginning that he would refuse to accept campaign contributions or spend more than $5,000, to make a point that there’s too much money in politics.
“The first job in Congress is to get rid of all the distractions, and I think a lot of the people who are performing for the public the way they are, are people that are trying to get money,” he said. “To me, it was important to first get there by somehow opening the door on a different way to get to Congress.”
The 2nd Congressional District covers all or part of 40 counties in central and eastern Montana, with the largest communities including Billings, Great Falls and Helena. Rosendale won the district with well over 50% of the vote against a Democrat and an independent challenger in 2022, and former President Donald Trump won it by a wide margin there in 2020. Republicans are considered heavy favorites.
Downing says he’s advocating for things like reining in the federal budget deficit, supporting agricultural producers and continuing development of natural resources – both on economic and natural security grounds.
Downing says he’s not taking the race for granted and his campaign still needs to earn every vote. Still, he has traveled to Washington, D.C., and begun meeting with House Republicans.
“I don't want to be trying to figure out where the water cooler is on Day 1,” he said. “I want to make sure on Day 1 we hit the ground running, that we've got a team put together, that I've got the committee picks that I want, the leadership knows what I want, who I am, they know what Montana wants, and we can actually get some work done on Day 1.”
Downing says, if elected, he would like to serve on the House Financial Services Committee, since it fits with his background and his work as auditor, and the Natural Resources Committee, because of its importance for Montana.
Driscoll says, besides reducing the influence of political money, his top priorities are restoring the protection for abortion rights as under Roe v. Wade and supporting an international nuclear weapons reduction treaty. He says he’s willing to take stances that may be unpopular, like expanding nuclear energy development – and potentially nuclear waste storage – but opposing the Sentinel project to upgrade the nuclear missiles in central Montana.
In light of Driscoll’s unconventional tactics, some have questioned how serious his campaign is. Reilly Neill, a former Democratic state lawmaker from Livingston, filed as a write-in candidate, saying “Montana Democrats deserve a voice.”
Driscoll says he has no regrets about how he’s run this race, and he still believes he has a chance to win.
“I'm not conceding at all,” he said. “I was amazed at how genuinely gracious people from all political backgrounds were to me, and I think it has to do with people being tired of the adversarial aspects of politics – and then that on top of going out to little towns like Lodge Pole and Hays and Grass Range and Roy, talking to people and them just being glad that you showed up to ask them what they think. I think it's ripe for a change.”
There are two filed write-in candidates in this race: Neill and John Metzger of Helena. Unlike Driscoll, both of them are actively advertising; Neill has yard signs out, and Metzger has purchased several billboard ads.
MTN held a candidate forum this week for the western congressional district race and attempted to organize one in Helena with Downing and Driscoll. Driscoll accepted the invitation, but Downing’s campaign said they were not able to make the event work with his schedule.
