This story was originally published by Daily Montanan: URL: https://dailymontanan.com This story has not been altered or edited. (C) Daily Montanan. Licensed for re-distribution through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. ------------ Racing everywhere: As filing period closes, more than 300 candidates run for public office – Daily Montanan ['Darrell Ehrlick', 'More From Author', '- March'] Date: 2022-03-14 00:00:00 More than 300 Montana residents have filed for public office, the Montana Secretary of State’s office reported. Monday marked the close of the filing period, with the primary scheduled for June 7. A total of 287 candidates filed for legislative office, including 21 candidates running for the Legislature unopposed. Sixty-four incumbents face challengers, with 15 facing a primary in June. One notable race at the state Supreme Court level became more crowded. Last week, Lewis and Clark District Court Judge Michael McMahon announced that he was going to run against current sitting Supreme Court Justice Ingrid Gustafson. On Monday, James Brown of Dillon filed in the race as well. Brown is the current chairman of the Montana Public Service Commission. The PSC is a five-member panel and is partisan. All five members, including Brown, are Republican. Races for Montana Supreme Court are nonpartisan, as are judicial elections at the district court level. Gustafson is not the only Supreme Court seat that will be challenged. Justice Jim Rice will be challenged by Bill D’Alton of Billings. While most judicial races are unopposed, one race in Cascade County will pit former Judge Michele R. Levine against sitting Judge David Grubich. Levine was appointed to the bench by former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat. Levine, who is also a former legislator, was not confirmed by the Montana Senate in 2021, being criticized by the Republican-majority as being too liberal. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte appointed Grubich to the bench, but not without Levine still making a short-list of Gianforte’s possible candidates. House District 1 The western part of the state will become “House District 1” and will include Missoula, Kalispell and Bozeman. Montana’s population grew enough to warrant the addition of another seat in the United States House of Representatives. Former Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, who served in the U.S. House, is running for election as a Republican, as is Al “Doc” Olszewki, a longtime state lawmaker from the Flathead area. Other Republicans running for the seat include Mitch Heuer of Whitefish, Matt Jette of Missoula, Mary Todd of Kalispell. Zinke resigned from the House to serve in President Donald J. Trump’s cabinet, the first Montana confirmed to a cabinet-level position. On the Democrats’ side, Cora Neumann of Bozeman, Monica Tranel of Missoula and Tom Winter of Missoula are running for the top slot. John Lamb of Bozeman is running as a Libertarian. House District 2 Congressman Matt Rosendale, a Republican who has held the seat since winning in 2020, will face competition from Kyle Austin of Billings, Charles Walkingchild of Helena, and James Boyette on the Republican ballot. Rosendale, of Glendive, represents a new district that spans across the central and eastern half of the state and includes Billings, Helena and Great Falls. Former state commerce director Gary Buchanan of Billings has filed to run against Rosendale as an independent. Current Montana lawmaker Mark Sweeney of Philipsburg has filed on the Democrats’ side as has Skylar Williams of Billings and former Billings City Councilwoman Penny Ronning. Three people have filed as Libertarians including Sam Rankin of Billings, Roger Roots of Livingston and Samuel Thomas. Public Service Commission Two Republicans have filed in District 1 to challenge current Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci of Sun River. Pinocci is a former state lawmaker. Arlo Christianson of Great Falls and K. Webb Galbreath of Browning will face off against Pinocci in a race that has just been finalized because of a lawsuit that challenged the PSC districts. A panel of three federal judges ruled that the PSC districts, which hadn’t been modified for decades, violated the constitutional principle of one-person, one-vote and adjusted the boundaries until the Legislature could address the issue. That changed the statewide map as PSC District 1 and 5 were up for grabs in 2022. As anticipated, Derek Skees, a Kalispell Republican state lawmaker who is termed out of the Legislature, is running for District 5, and will be challenged by Republicans Ann Bukacek of Kalispell, Dean Crabb of Marion, and Joe Dooling of Helena. On the Democrats’ side, John Repke of Whitefish will square off against Kevin Hamm of East Helena. [END] [1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2022/03/14/racing-everywhere-as-filing-period-closes-more-than-300-candidates-run-for-public-office/ Content is licensed through Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/montanan/