Democrats Gain Four Seats in Montana Legislature, but Republicans Keep Large Majorities

As the federal storyline on Tuesday night became one of Democratic dominance, at the state level, Montana’s final results remained skewed toward Republicans. But, in a microcosm of the national blue wave, Democrats made a pair of pickups in both the state House and state Senate for a total of four additional seats for the minority party.

In the state House, Democrats picked up two seats, making for a split of 56 Republicans and 44 Democrats in 2027.

One of the Democrats’ pickups in the state House came from Flathead County candidate Paula Koch, a teacher from Columbia Falls. Koch defeated entrepreneur Shaun Pandina in a race for House District 4, which contains parts of Whitefish and most of Columbia Falls. The pair were running in a race without an incumbent as state Rep. Lyn Bennett was defeated by Pandina in the primary.

Democrats’ other notable pickup on the House side came in Cascade County. Once considered a Democratic stronghold, Cascade County went red in 2020. Democrats lost all their legislative seats in the state’s fifth most populous county, which contains Great Falls, and the party has struggled to gain back ground since.

This year, Steve Keller, a Democrat and “recently retired radio guy,” according to his campaign website, knocked off freshman Republican state Rep. Melissa Nikolokakos. The close race, decided by 46 votes according to election results from the Secretary of State’s office, notched a legislative win for Democrats in the area for the first time since 2018.

Cascade County also saw Democrat Margaret Mitchell, a small business owner and adjunct professor at Montana State University, flip a state Senate seat. Another state Senate seat that crosses the line between Park and Gallatin counties also flipped to Democratic hands as Scott Rosenzweig took over the seat previously held by John Esp, R-Big Timber.

In total, 11 Democrats and 14 Republicans won election to the state Senate this fall. Those numbers add to holdover state senators, who won election in 2024 and will hold their seats until 2028. Holdover senators included nine Democrats and 16 Republicans.

That means the split in the state Senate in the upcoming session will be 30 Republicans to 20 Democrats, an improvement of two seats for the minority party from 2025.

As legislators looked ahead to 2027, many of those running on both sides of the aisle in the Flathead highlighted intentions to rework the state’s 2025 property tax reform and improve the state’s school funding in the upcoming session, among other issues. The governor has also emphasized a flat income tax as a priority for his administration in 2027. It’s a pitch several Senate Republicans got behind earlier this summer.

The legislative session will kick off Jan. 4. Legislators will meet in Helena next week for orientation, where they’ll also elect party leadership.

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