(C) Daily Montanan This story was originally published by Daily Montanan and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . House committee tables 'jungle primary' bill targeting Montana's 2024 U.S. Senate race – Daily Montanan [1] ['Blair Miller', 'More From Author', '- April'] Date: 2023-04-19 The House State Administration Committee on Wednesday tabled in a 17-1 vote Sen. Greg Hertz’s bill that sought to create a “top-two primary” solely for Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s 2024 re-election bid. Sen. Greg Frazer, R-Deer Lodge, told the committee he had heard from many of his constituents asking him to vote against the bill – saying the outreach was more than he thought he would receive. “It’s actually been pretty interesting,” Frazer told the committee. “With all due respect to the sponsor, because I know he’s worked really hard, but as the conduit to my constituents and their voice, I’m going to oppose this bill.” Frazer motioned to table the bill at the outset of the committee’s executive action Wednesday morning. In a voice vote, every representative except for Rep. Tony Brockman, R-Kalispell, supported tabling the bill. It was also tabled earlier this session in the Senate State Administration Committee before it was brought back. According to legislative data, Senate Bill 566 has seen among the largest number of messages from constituents to lawmakers of any bill, and the outreach has skewed largely in opposition – 28 in favor of the bill and 473 against it. The bill would have created what some have referred to as a “jungle primary” for Tester’s upcoming re-election race, in which all candidates would run in the same primary election, and the two candidates who receive the most votes would face off in November’s general election. The bill has been criticized by Democrats, Tester’s campaign, and third parties like the Libertarian Party, for trying to tip the scales in a single race and attempting to push out Democratic and third-party candidates. Hertz previously said the bill was aimed at ensuring Montana’s U.S. senator in the 2024 race gets at least 50% of the vote. Wednesday, Hertz told the Daily Montanan “the committee did what it did” with the bill and said there was still time left in the session before the legislature adjourns. Tester won 50.3% of the vote when he beat Republican Matt Rosendale, who received 46.8% of the vote and is now a U.S. congressman, in the 2018 midterm election. Libertarian Rich Breckenridge brought in 2.9% of the vote. In 2012, Tester won 48.6% of the vote, defeating Republican Denny Rehberg (44.9%) and Libertarian Dan Cox (6.6%). In 2006, he beat Republican Conrad Burns 49.2% to 48.3%, while Libertarian Stan Jones finished with 2.6% of the vote. Tester’s fellow U.S. senator, Republican Steve Daines, won 55% of the vote in 2020 and 57.8% in 2014 when he was first elected to the Senate. Daines is the current chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is targeting Tester’s re-election bid as Republicans attempt to take back the Senate majority in 2024. Emails from a legislative file showing how the bill was drafted show Daines’ finance director, Charles Denowh, who is also a Montana lobbyist, had influence on how the bill was written and amended, and that Senate Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, had called it a “priority” for the Senate. The New York Times reported that in text messages involving Fitzpatrick, Hertz and others, Fitzpatrick said the measure “came from Daines” and was the “brainchild of the Jason Thielman,” who is the executive director of the NRSC and Daines’ former chief of staff and campaign manager. Some Democratic lawmakers and opponents of the bill in last Friday’s committee hearing wondered if the measure sought to squeeze out both Tester and any third-party candidate in favor of two Republicans. So far, Republican Jeremy Mygland, a construction company owner in East Helena, is the only candidate aside from Tester who has declared his candidacy for the Senate race, according to Federal Election Commission records. But the Club for Growth has been pushing for Rosendale to run against Tester again and the NRSC has been recruiting businessman Tim Sheehy, Politico has reported. Hertz said earlier this session he believes more than $200 million will pour into Montana in the 2024 election cycle and that third-party candidates would be “weaponized.” Tester announced his re-election bid in February, and raised $5 million in the first quarter of 2023, including $1.2 million in contributions of $200 or less, according to the FEC. He spent about $870,000 in the first quarter of the year, and ended March with just over $7 million in cash on hand. The House State Administration Committee also tabled Hertz’s SB565 earlier this week, which sought to raise the threshold needed for independent candidates to get on the ballot. Tester’s campaign did not immediately return an email seeking comment about the tabling of the bill. The Daily Montanan’s Nicole Girten contributed to this report. 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