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2026 Election Endorsements

Big Sky 55+ is proud to endorse the following candidates and ballot initiative for the 2026 election. 

Click here to learn about our endorsement process.

Montana Supreme Court   Click here to read details about this endorsement

  • Judge Amy Eddy

Congressional Races

U.S. House of Representatives: Click here to read details about these endorsements.

  • Congressional District 1 - Sam Forstag 

  • Congressional District 2 - Dr. Michael Eisenhauer 

Candidates for the 2027 Legislative Session
If you’re not sure what district you live in you can click here to find out. 
(Note: Those legislative candidates with a * by their name are our 2025 Legislative Champions, having voted with us 100% of the time in the 2025 Legislature.)

 

MONTANA STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

  • HD 2, Lincoln County: Jane Maahs 

  • HD 3, Whitefish: Debo Powers* 

  • HD 4, Columbia Falls, Whitefish: Paula Koch 

  • HD 5, Kalispell/Columbia Falls: Luca Welle 

  • HD 7, Kalispell: Madison Evans 

  • HD 9, Flathead: Kate McLaughlin 

  • HD 10, Flathead: Catherine Allen 

  • HD 12, Flathead Lake: Cindy Bruckner 

  • HD 13, Polson: Dalton Bradford 

  • HD 14, Sanders Co.: Colleen Hinds 

  • HD 15, CSKT/Blackfeet: Thedis Crowe* 

  • HD 16, Blackfeet: Lona Running Wolf 

  • HD 19, Great Falls: Jane Weber 

  • HD 24, Great Falls, Fox Farm: Pam Carroll 

  • HD 27, Havre: Paul Tuss* 

  • HD 29, NE MT: Valerie Moore 

  • HD 32, Rocky Boy/Ft. Belknap: Mike Fox* 

  • HD 37, Lewistown: Tracey Miller Karcher 

  • HD 39, Billings Heights: Melissa Smith 

  • HD 40, Lockwood: Gabriel Bradshaw 

  • HD 41, Northern Cheyenne, Crow: Jade Sooktis*

  • HD 42, Crow, some Billings: Sidney "Chip" Fitzpatrick 

  • HD 44, Shepherd/Billings Heights: Mike Eaton 

  • HD 45, Billings: Denise Baum* 

  • HD 46, Billings: Denise Joy* 

  • HD 47, Billings: James Reavis 

  • HD 48, Billings: Tucker Colvin 

  • HD 50, Billings: Mark Peters 

  • HD 54, Laurel: Janine Coole

  • HD 57, Gallatin/Park Counties: Becky Edwards 

  • HD 58, Livingston: Jamie Isaly* 

  • HD 60, Big Sky/West Yellowstone: Alanah Griffith* 

  • HD 62, Bozeman/Four Corners: Josh Seckinger* 

  • HD 63, Bozeman/Four Corners: Peter Strand* 

  • HD 65, Bozeman: Brian Close* 

  • HD 70, Beaverhead/Silver Bow Co.: Kobi Craddock 

  • HD 71, Anaconda, Butte: Scott DeMarois 

  • HD 74, Butte: Marc Lee

  • HD 75, Jefferson County: Patrick Sullivan 

  • HD 79, Helena: Luke Muszkiewicz* 

  • HD 80, Helena: Megan Lane 

  • HD 81, Helena: Janet Ellis 

  • HD 82, Helena: Pete Elverum* 

  • HD 83, East Helena: Joe Cohenhour 

  • HD 84, Lewis and Clark Co.: Tia Nelson 

  • HD 88, Stevensville/Florence: Evan Schroedel 

  • HD 89, Lolo/Missoula: Mark Thane* 

  • HD 91, CSKT/Missoula: Shelly Fyant* 

  • HD 93, Missoula: Ben Davis 

  • HD 94, Missoula (South Hills): Robin Kendall 

  • HD 96, Missoula: Bob Carter* 

  • HD 97, Missoula: Melody Cunningham* 

  • HD 98, Missoula: Jonathan Karlen* 

  • HD 99, Missoula: Tom France* 

  • HD 100, Missoula: SJ Howell 

 

 MONTANA STATE SENATE

  • SD 1 NW Montana: Jonathan Jameson 

  • SD 4 Kalispell: Kyle Waterman 

  • SD 6 Flathead Lake: Patrick Fitzpatrick 

  • SD 10 Great Falls: Margaret Mitchell 

  • SD 23 Billings: Emma Kerr-Carpenter 

  • SD 25 Billings: Julie Hippler 

  • SD 29 Livingston: Scott Rosenzweig* 

  • SD 31 Bozeman: Kathleen Williams 

  • SD 32 Bozeman: Kelly Kortum 

  • SD 41 Helena: Erin Farris-Olsen 

  • SD 42, Helena: Mary Ann Dunwell* 

  • SD 48, Missoula: Andrea Olsen* 

  • SD 49-Missoula: Willis Curdy   

 

If you live in any of these districts, we encourage you to reach out to these candidates and get involved with their campaign. State legislative races often are decided by a small number of votes, so even a couple volunteer shifts can have an impact.​

 

Ballot Initiatives

​

  • Yes on CI-132 Montanans for Nonpartisan Courts 2026 ballot initiative. ​

How do we choose whom to endorse?

Big Sky 55+ sent endorsement questionnaires out to all candidates running for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, State Senate, and State House who were not already people who had voted with us 100% of the time (our Champions).

 

All candidates had an opportunity to return their thoughts on important issues including:

  • Whether they would like our endorsement

  • Funding for rural hospitals, providers, behavioral health, nursing homes, long-term care facilities, and aging in place

  • Reforming the PSC and ensuring residential customers do not get stuck with the cost of electric rates related to data centers

  • Reducing tax burdens on lower-income homeowners and taxpayers while ensuring higher-income individuals pay their fair share; and appropriately funding our government services

  • Protecting residents of mobile home parks from dramatic changes to their rental agreements related to ownership

  • Protecting our Courts and our Constitution, including our rights to know and to participate, and our right to a clean and healthful environment

  • Equity for Montana's Native Americans and providing Indian Education for All

  • Providing funding for more passenger rail services in Montana 

 

Federal questionnaires included questions about:

  • The appropriateness of national cabinet officials

  • Protecting and expanding Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act

  • Protecting low-income, union, and non-union workers

  • Respecting Tribal Sovereignty

 

Many candidates chose not to submit their responses to our questionnaire. If a candidate who was not a 2025 Champion did not complete the questionnaire by the deadline, they were ineligible for our endorsement. 

 

We took many other factors into account when evaluating a candidate for endorsement, including:

  • past voting history on our issues and scorecard,

  • the latest fundraising totals, and

  • their opponent’s voting history on issues important to Big Sky 55+.

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