Montana’s GOP-led state Legislature is creating a one-time jungle primary system that threatens to undermine Democratic Sen. Jon Tester’s reelection bid in 2024.
The Montana State Senate has passed legislation creating the new 2024 primary rules for the U.S. Senate race that eliminate the party primary and put all candidates in a single qualifying election. The top-two vote-getters would advance to a runoff set on the same day as the November 2024 general election.
“It’s always bothered me that in some of our major statewide races, the winning candidate never gets a majority of the vote,” said state Sen. Greg Hertz, a Montana Republican who authored the bill.
Jungle primaries are used in California, Louisiana and Washington. Several states, including Georgia and Texas, use the system for special elections.
The Montana House of Representatives is set to take up the bill this week. Supporters said the legislation is on a fast track to final passage.
Democrats accused Republicans of using the jungle primary to target Mr. Tester. They note the jungle primary will be only used for the U.S. Senate race, with the law creating the system expiring in December 2024.
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The focus on Mr. Tester’s contest comes even as Montana’s governorship and a slew of other statewide offices are on the ballot in 2024.
“I think we all know what this is about,” said Montana Senate Democratic leader Pat Flowers. “This is just brazen partisanship targeting a single race. This isn’t fair.”
Mr. Tester is a top target for national Republicans as they seek to retake the Senate majority. As such, the National Republican Senatorial Committee is already running ads hitting Mr. Tester and has political trackers covering his events in Montana and Washington.
“It’s a must-win seat for Republicans,” said a Republican strategist involved in the race. “If we can’t win a Senate seat in a state where the Republican presidential nominee is likely to win by double digits, we can’t win in more purple areas.”
Mr. Tester did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Tester remains popular in Montana. He was first elected to the Senate in 2006 by narrowly beating longtime Republican incumbent Conrad Burns. The farmer-turned-politician was reelected in 2012 and 2018 even as Montana shifted to the right.
In 2008, Barack Obama lost the state by only 2 percentage points to Republican John McCain. Since then, the Republican presidential nominee has consistently won Montana by more than 14 points.
Mr. Tester has remained politically viable, however, thanks in part to third-party spoilers. In 2008, Mr. Tester bested Mr. Conrad by 1 point (49% to 48%), with a Libertarian Party candidate getting 2.5% of the vote.
The pattern was repeated in 2012 when Mr. Tester beat his Republican challenger by 4 percentage points, but the Libertarian candidate took 6% of the vote.
The streak was broken in 2018 when Mr. Tester received 50% of the vote compared to the 46% garnered by the Republican candidate. In that race, the Libertarian nominee only won 3% of the vote.
“As this bill sunsets after the next U.S. Senate race, it is specifically drafted to eliminate any participation in that specific election except for the big two parties, enhancing the stranglehold on the two-party system,” said Sid Daoud, the chairman of the Libertarian Party of Montana.
Mr. Hertz denies the bill was designed to oust Mr. Tester or anyone else. Initially, Mr. Hertz sought to introduce legislation in September 2022 that would create a constitutional amendment allowing for runoffs in the event a candidate did not receive a majority of the vote.
The effort stalled amid concerns that such a system would be too difficult to implement and could face legal challenges. In February, Mr. Hertz drafted a bill that would require runoffs for all statewide offices. The legislation faced skepticism from Republicans in the legislature, forcing Mr. Hertz to narrow the bill to one race for only one election.
“Our legislature meets every other year, this way we can come back in 2025 and see the effects and decide if we want to transition every election to this system,” said Mr. Hertz. “My hope is the voters of Montana accept the runoff system and we can expand it to all statewide races by 2028.”
He said the U.S. Senate race was chosen for the initial foray into runoff elections because it “garnered the most support among Republicans within the legislature.”
• Haris Alic can be reached at halic@washingtontimes.com.
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