Sen. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, on the Montana Lowdown Podcast. Credit: JOHN ADAMS / Montana Free Press


Sen. Bob Keenan, a longtime conservative Republican from Bigfork, is one of the longest-serving lawmakers in the state capitol.

He served as president of the Montana Senate in 2003, and in 2006 he surprised many in his party when he challenged incumbent U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns in the 2006 Republican primary election. 

Keenan, who returned to the Legislature in 2015 when he served as vice-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is an outspoken critic of one of Legislature’s most influential lawmakers, fellow Republican Rep. Llew Jones, of Conrad. 

In this week’s podcast, Keenan lays out his complaints what he’s calling the “unicameral Legislature.”

Veteran award-winning investigative and political reporter John S. Adams founded Montana Free Press in 2016. John was formerly the Capital Bureau Chief of the Great Falls Tribune and a correspondent for USA TODAY. John is known as a dogged investigator whose unbiased reporting has changed the shape of Montana politics. John serves as an elected member of the Institute for Nonprofit News board and on the board of the Montana Newspaper Foundation. He lives in Helena.