Political parties align ahead of special election

U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke is still a month away from presumptively resigning from his U.S. Representative seat, and Montana Republican Central Committee Chairman Jeff Essmann said last Wednesday he’s already taken on a massive workload to coordinate the party’s next step in selecting a nominee.

Essmann said the Republican Party recently held an executive committee meeting on how to proceed in the process. He said currently, committees within the Republican Party are reviewing the options.

“The rules committee is reviewing the bylaws with respect to the rules,” he said.

Zinke, re-elected in November to the U.S. House of Representatives, last week accepted President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment as secretary of the Department of the Interior. After Trump is sworn in as president, Zinke will face the U.S. Senate for confirmation. He will then resign from the House, opening the seat to be filled by Montana voters.

The Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties will each select a nominee for the new U.S. House ticket in a special election to be set by Montana Gov. Steve Bullock. Each party will have to nominate a candidate no later than 75 days before that election and nominations will occur based on the party rules, which Essmann said the party rules committee was still trying to work out.

“They’re in the process of review,” he said.

Once the special election is set, the state chair for each party will call for a special nominating convention to choose a nominee. On the Democratic side, only members of the Democratic Central Committee will be entitled to a vote, including the state party’s chair, vice-chair, treasurer, secretary; National committee members; Western and Eastern District representatives; State House minority leader and whip; State Senate minority leader and whip; the governor; Montana’s U.S. Senator; the chair, vice-chair, treasurer and secretary of each active county central committee; and the president of any recognized partnered organizations — about 50 votes in all.

Only Sen. Amanda Curtis, D-Butte, has voiced her intent to run for Zinke’s seat. Curtis in 2014 ran for U.S. Senate as a late-addition to the race after John Walsh dropped out, and fell to Steve Daines. But Flathead County Democratic Chair Lynn Stanley said rumors have been circulating about former Democratic candidates for statewide offices Jesse Laslovitch, Monica Lindeen and Melissa Romano as possible candidates for Zinke’s chair as well.

“We’re glad to have another shot at the seat,” Stanley said. “It’s a short campaign and you look at how it turned out with the Zinke and Juneau race. I think people want to give it a shot.”

Stanley said former U.S. House candidate Denise Juneau would receive strong support from the Democrats, although Juneau earlier this month confirmed her application for the next president of the University of Montana. Juneau has not publicly spoken about re-running for Congress and Stanley said she was unaware of Juneau’s plans from a party standpoint.

“If she decides to run, I bet people would be happy with that,” Stanley said. “They’d be happy with Amanda Curtis, too, she was a really hard worker. All the people we’ve mentioned have had experience running statewide.”

ESSMANN SAID he’s received calls from more than 20 Montana Republicans looking to throw their names into the ring for the state’s lone representative in Congress. Essmann declined to comment on who has contacted him, although four Republicans have publicly announced their intent to replace Zinke next year. That list includes Great Falls Sen. Ed Buttrey, Bozeman Sen. Scott Sales, Billings Rep. Daniel Zolnikov and Corvallis resident Gary Carlson. The Great Falls Tribune also reported that recently-elected State Auditor Matt Rosendale is considering a bid for Zinke’s seat.

Flathead Republican Committee Chair Jayson Peters said during the executive committee conference call, the option to require a pledge was discussed, to help narrow the field of potential nominees.

“You’re seeing every state senator and representative throwing their names in,” Peters said. “We’re not really worrying on the state standpoint on who’s running because you’re going to see a lot of people talk themselves into this or talk themselves out of it.”

INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES for Congress will have to file their names within the same 15- to 25-day period that parties must put forth a candidate, but without a backing party, the independent candidate needs to garner signatures totaling 5 percent of the votes cast in the previous general election for the winning candidate. In this case, the independent candidate would need 14,258 signatures, equivalent to 5 percent of the votes cast for Zinke in this year’s general election. Independents are also required to be at least 25 years old and a U.S. citizen for at least seven years.

Montana code also requires independent candidates to be inhabitants of the state, but the term isn’t actually defined in the Montana constitution or state statute, according to Secretary of State Spokeswoman Emily Dean. She said the Secretary of State office takes filings “at face value,” meaning a person claiming to be an inhabitant would be accepted, although a later lawsuit may actually determine the definition of inhabitant, whether that means a flat six months, or six months and one day.

“We get this question a lot,” Dean said. “If there was a lawsuit maybe that would determine what that means.”

Reporter Sam Wilson contributed to this report.