Nearly 150 candidates file for office on first day

Micah Drew

(Daily Montanan) Around 150 candidates for district, legislative and statewide offices submitted their official paperwork with the Montana Secretary of State’s Office on Tuesday, the first day candidates could file for office.

“Tuesday was an incredible opening day for the 2026 candidate filing period,” Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen said in a statement. “It was great to visit with so many of the candidates, and an honor to assist them with this step as they sign up to serve their community and state.”

Candidates have until March 4 to file their paperwork.

Among those seeking re-election is Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, the first to file Tuesday morning.

As of Wednesday afternoon, seven candidates had filed to run for Congress, including a Libertarian challenger to Daines and five Democrats looking to challenge the state’s two sitting Republican representatives.

The vast majority of candidates filed for the Montana Legislature, where half of the seats in the Senate and all 100 seats in the House are up for election.

Republicans hold both chambers, with a 32-18 majority in the Senate, but conservative members of the State GOP — a majority that includes party leadership — are hoping to shift some moderate Republican seats to the right.

State senators serve staggered, four-year terms, so half of the upper chamber’s seats are up for election each cycle. The lighter areas on the chart above indicate districts with a holdover senator who was elected in 2024, with those seats next up in 2028.

Republicans hold a 58-42 majority in the House, after redistricting going into the 2024 election gave Democrats several additional seats, breaking a supermajority.