MT Supreme Court races still tight after early results
Two seats are up for election on the Montana Supreme Court, although the sparse results available by 10 p.m. suggested both races were still too close to call.
Cory Swanson, Broadwater County Attorney since 2014, maintained an early lead in the contest for chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court over retired federal magistrate Jeremiah Lynch. The winner will succeed Mike McGrath to be the first new jurist to lead to the judicial branch in 15 years.
Without an incumbent in either race, heated exchanges and outside spending became a regular feature of these nonpartisan contests.
Katherine Bidegaray, a longtime District Court judge from northeast Montana, and Flathead County District Court Judge Dan Wilson, remained in a tight matchup in the race to replace Justice Dirk Sandefur.
Outside spending continued to pour into these races in the final months of the campaigns, almost always bundling candidates as if they emerged from the same party. The Republican State Leadership Committee announced an eleventh-hour, $300,000 digital ad campaign supporting Swanson and Wilson. Planned Parenthood's super PAC, meanwhile, spent $2.2 million in October on ads opposing Swanson and Wilson, while outdoor conservation groups painted Bidegaray and Lynch as champions of public access.
Each candidate is required by the Judicial Code of Conduct to campaign in nonpartisan fashion and refrain from commenting on issues that may come before them in court, such as abortion access or gun control.
The defining element of each race, however, was the judicial branch's ongoing conflict with the political branches, particularly the Republican-controlled Legislature. Swanson often spoke to voters about staying out of "food fights" with the other branches, while Lynch's campaign was built around the idea that the new chief justice should be an aggressive defender of the courts against ongoing political quarrels from the Legislature.
Lynch broadcast his approach through attacks against Swanson at campaign forums, while Swanson tended to take a more tempered tone.
Bidegaray and Wilson, meanwhile, were far less caustic on the campaign trail, but still split along the interbranch conflict, with Bidegaray calling the Legislative maneuvers "unwarranted attacks" and Wilson said the Supreme Court races were causing more strife in the public eye than the dispute itself.
Incumbent Bowen Greenwood, meanwhile, was on course for reelection to Clerk of the Montana Supreme Court.
Greenwood, without about 80,000 votes tallied up at 10 p.m. Tuesday, was well ahead of Democratic newcomer Erin Farris-Olsen.
The office is a partisan position that works within the nonpartisan judicial branch, although the office maintains court records, swears in new attorneys, compiles statistics and ensures public access to public documents and information.
Greenwood, former director of the state Republican Party, campaigned on the humility of the low-profile office, particularly in a crowded election year.
Seaborn Larson has worked for the Montana State News Bureau since 2020. His past work includes local crime and courts reporting at the Missoulian and Great Falls Tribune, and daily news reporting at the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell.
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