The Montana Libertarian Party (MTLP) is disappointed by the outcome of yesterday’s U.S. Senate primary, though not at all surprised.
The MTLP endorsed Tom Jandron following our 2026 Delegate and Platform Convention in Helena this year. That endorsement came after an extensive vetting process, including meetings with both candidates, candidate questionnaires, recorded town halls with membership, written evaluations from attendees, and deliberation by delegates and party leadership. Delegates unanimously supported Tom Jandron as the candidate who best represents the libertarian principles of individual liberty, non-aggression, and constitutionally limited government.
Throughout the process, party members alternately expressed serious concerns that Kyle Austin’s views and positions conflicted with core Libertarian principles. These concerns were informed by our prior Freedom Scorecard assessment of Austin (when he ran as a Republican in 2024) and by this year’s town hall, where evaluators noted a lack of ideological grounding, weak understanding of key libertarian policy priorities such as monetary policy, entitlement spending, subsidies, and non-interventionism, and an absence of a cohesive philosophical framework. Members were also troubled by Austin’s use of AI-generated ads depicting Native Americans, service workers, and others endorsing him. Ultimately, members concluded that Austin was running as a Libertarian only to take advantage of our ballot access.
Last night’s election results highlight a fundamental issue of freedom of association in Montana’s elections. We believe political parties are voluntary associations of individuals who share common principles, and the right to associate necessarily includes the right to define the party’s message, select its standard-bearers and representatives, and uphold its principles. Montana’s open primary system has undermined this by allowing non-members and candidates with little to no commitment to the party’s philosophy or membership to take advantage of the party’s well-earned ballot access and determine its nominees. As a result, we are put into the difficult position of relying on someone we do not know and do not support to ensure that we meet the threshold of votes required to maintain ballot access in November since this is a statewide race.
This is not an isolated incident either. In 2022, the Montana Libertarian Party was forced to publicly oppose one of its own nominees, Sam Rankin, who later admitted he was not a libertarian. In both cases, massive campaign funding from non-libertarians shifted the composition of the primary electorate and diluted the voice of committed Libertarians. These episodes demonstrate a structural and constitutional flaw: despite maintaining ballot access, Montana Libertarians too often lack meaningful control over who carries the party label and speaks on their behalf. This flaw has substantially burdened the political activity of the party, ruined the image of the party, undermined faith in the electoral process, and chilled the speech of members who would otherwise run for office as Libertarians.
At our recent convention, delegates responded to this recurring problem by adopting a platform amendment affirming Party Autonomy and Elections (Section 3.9). This amendment states that political parties have the right to determine their own membership, endorsements, and processes free from state interference and open primaries.
The Montana Libertarian Party is carefully considering all options to better protect our associational rights, strengthen the integrity of our candidate selection process, and ensure that our nominees genuinely reflect the principles and values of Montana Libertarians.
We congratulate all candidates who participated and thank those who worked to advance liberty in Montana. This outcome reinforces the need for a broader discussion about Montana’s partisan nomination system and how the Montana Libertarian Party can remain a principled vehicle for liberty while operating effectively within it.