U.S. Senate Race: Libertarian Kyle Austin Pitches Himself as the ‘True Independent’ 

Editor’s note: Montana’s U.S. Senate race has been defined by its twists. On March 4, the filing deadline, Seth Bodnar entered the race as an independent, and Republican Sen. Steve Daines withdrew later that day, clearing the way for his preferred successor, Kurt Alme. 

In June, a pair of unlikely candidates won the Democratic and Libertarian primaries. Alani Bankhead, virtually unknown in Montana political circles, beat former state legislator and gubernatorial candidate Reilly Neill after a boost from a mysterious PAC that later pulled its support. Kyle Austin, who previously ran as a Republican in the eastern congressional district, won the Libertarian primary even as the party denounced his candidacy and withdrew its support. 

Bankhead remains in the race despite a barrage of attacks and an intense pressure campaign throughout much of the summer to leave it and improve Bodnar’s odds against Alme. The Beacon will roll out stories about all four candidates as part of its election coverage, all of which can be found on our 2026 Northwestern Montana Election Guide.  

Kyle Austin, a pharmacist and farmer who was born and raised in Havre, said he entered politics with the goal of being a leader, not a politician.  

In the 43-year-old Libertarian candidate’s run for U.S. Senate, that has translated into a willingness to meet with any and everybody as he traverses the state in a white truck with a large “Austin for Senate” banner in the tailgate.  

That includes appearing on debate stages across the state alongside the other three candidates in the race. In early October in the Flathead, Austin met with a climate group before attending a candidate forum put on by the left-leaning hosts of the local Beer, Buds and the Big Sky podcast, where he was one of the only non-Democrats to appear. To him, representing Montana would mean representing all Montanans. 

“I present myself as being a candidate for all Montanans, because technically Libertarians are the true independent voice because there’s Libertarian in everybody,” he said. “You know, everyone has Libertarian values if you sit down and look at it. So, we’ve seen Democrats who aren’t happy with their candidates, they’ll come over and vote Libertarian, same thing with Republicans. So, really, I am the true independent candidate that could represent all Montanans equally.”  

Austin described his candidacy as an unusual one, arguing it’s not often that Libertarians in the state truly compete for the seats they’re running for in the way he has. The party earns enough votes to maintain its ballot status, but no Libertarian has ever won a statewide office in Montana. More often in the state’s political lore, Libertarians have been difference-makers in close races, pulling votes away from either a Democrat or Republican.  

Jessi Bennion, a political scientist at Montana State University, said the overall impact of a Libertarian candidate in the Senate race is likely to be small. Austin is polling at around 3-5% this year, well below the other three candidates in the race. But, Bennion added, some people are fed up with the two-party system.  

“So, having those other options for voters, nothing wrong with that, for the good of the community, to have lots of options,” she said. “But I don’t see it making a difference when you come down to it.”  

Austin agreed with Bennion that his candidacy is providing Montanans with a choice. And if more heard his message, he thinks they could get onboard.  

“People want that change and that energy,” he said. “I think they see that in me as they get to meet me as well, that I’m younger, I’m energetic. I do have a good background: healthcare. I’m the only candidate with agricultural experience. I’m a gun owner. I got a pilot’s license, and then the other thing, too, is I’m a small business owner, and Montana’s backbone is small business.”  

Austin is the CEO of Pharm 406, a business he started during the pandemic to help distribute vaccines and COVID testing. It has locations in Billings and Butte. 

But Austin, like others in the Senate race this year, has faced headwinds from the party he’s running under.  

The Montana Libertarian Party endorsed his primary opponent, Tom Jandron, in June. After Austin won, it issued a press release calling him a “phony candidate” and suggesting he hijacked the party’s nomination process. The concerns stemmed from Austin’s runs for the state’s eastern congressional district in 2022 and 2024, during which he ran as a Republican. 

He opted to run as a Libertarian this time because he found himself frustrated by what he called “handpicking,” which he claimed that happened in 2024 in the eastern district, where U.S. Rep. Troy Downing won the primary.  

“So, me being the low guy on the totem pole, or I guess the underdog … how do I beat that?” he said. “How do I beat that corruption to get a true primary, to get to the general election so people actually know who I am and give me a chance to win? And … I’m a conservative. I don’t have too many values far off from Libertarian. I’m gonna change to Libertarian Party and I’m gonna run on that ticket.”  

The candidate sees himself as not fully in alignment with either the Republican or Libertarian parties. Instead, he agrees with some key tenets of both. He’s for small government, controlling spending, securing borders and being tough on immigration.  

But he drew distinctions between his views and those of the Republican Party he has run under previously. For instance, Austin holds a center-of-the-road viewpoint on abortion, arguing the government should stay out of healthcare, even though he said he wasn’t fully pro-choice, either. And in both an interview with the Beacon and across several debates in the past month, he has called for both ending the Iran War and doing away with Trump’s tariffs as critical points for addressing a cost-of-living crisis that is top-of-mind for voters this fall.  

To Austin, though, the most critical issue is health care.  

A pharmacist who went through the University of Montana’s pharmacy program, he has spoken about corruption in the healthcare industry and advocated for his own healthcare plan, which he has dubbed “Healthcare 2.0.” The details are loose, but in a debate in Whitefish in October, he said his pitch would consolidate plans, eliminate waste and aim to get money to the patient.  

As the Senate race this fall draws to a close, Austin is hopeful that the people of Montana are looking for something new this fall — and he hopes he can offer that perspective.  

“You know, my motto is ‘Montana values for Montana’s future,’” Austin said. “I’ve asked people all along that if you’re tired of the way our system has gone, if you’re tired of the same old, same old, then you have to make a decision and make a change in how you vote. Because if you always vote Republican and you’re tired of the system, well, you gotta change the way you vote. If you always vote Democrat and you’re tired of the way the system is and nothing ever gets fixed, you have to change how you vote. And this is a year that you vote for the person, not the party, and I’ve been campaigning on that all along. We have to break that system up.”  

Ballots were mailed to absentee voters Oct. 9. Election Day is Nov. 3. Voters can check their registration status and the status of their ballot here: https://voterportal.mt.gov/WhereToVote.aspx. To register to vote, voters can either bring their completed voter registration application to their county election office or visit their county elections office to fill out a voter registration application and receive a ballot there.  

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