Swanson and Bidegaray win Montana Supreme Court seats

Judicial candidates Cory Swanson and Katherine Bidegaray claimed victory Wednesday in races for two open seats on the Montana Supreme Court. Statewide vote counts showed them outstripping their respective competitors Jerry Lynch and Dan Wilson by margins of roughly eight percentage points.

About 90% percent of election precincts had finished reporting vote counts as of 8:30 a.m. The Associated Press called the races for Swanson and Bidegaray shortly after 9 a.m. 

Swanson, the current Broadwater County attorney, will replace retiring Chief Justice Mike McGrath, while Bidegaray, a district court judge from Sidney, will take over the associate justice position held by Dirk Sandefur.

Swanson celebrated the outcome in a statement posted to Facebook Wednesday morning. 

“Thank you to all the Montanans who supported us and made this victory possible,” Swanson said. “I will work every day to reward your trust by delivering fair and impartial legal rulings, and removing partisanship from justice.”

In a Wednesday afternoon statement, Bidegaray said she is “humbled and honored” by the show of voter support. 

“I am committed to upholding the Constitution and approaching each case in a fair and impartial manner. I look forward to working with my new colleagues on the pressing matters before the court,” she said.

A spokesperson for Lynch had not provided a comment by Wednesday afternoon.

In a text to Montana Free Press, Wilson congratulated Bidegaray on her campaign. 

“Running for the Supreme Court has been a great privilege for me and a rich experience I wouldn’t trade for anything. I congratulate Justice-elect Katherine Bidegaray on her victory and wish her every success and happiness serving Montana on the Supreme Court,” Wilson said.

The outcomes present a split result for conservative and liberal interest groups that flooded the race with outside spending in an effort to paint the candidates as in line or opposed to various agendas.

Swanson and Wilson were supported by a steady stream of mailers and digital advertisements from the Montana Republican State Central Committee, donations from the national Republican State Leadership Committee’s Judicial Fairness Initiative and repeated endorsements by high-up Republican officials on the campaign trail, including Gov. Greg Gianforte.

Lynch and Bidegaray, on the other hand, saw a surge of financial and advertising support from major trial lawyer organizations and progressive groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Wild Montana Voter Fund, Earthjustice Action, the Montana Federation of Public Employees and political committees affiliated with Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

In public forums across the state, all four candidates repeatedly said that support from third-party groups and partisan figures would not influence their decision-making if elected.

The election for the two Supreme Court seats coincides with a tumultuous political era for Montana’s high court. Since Republicans collected power in statewide offices and the Legislature in 2020, majority-party lawmakers have launched investigations and empaneled special committees to probe how the third branch of government operates, often alleging bias against Republican laws and officials.

Legislators in 2021 and 2023 passed several laws changing how the judiciary operates, including giving the governor more power in appointing judges to district court vacancies. Bills to make judicial races partisan and make Supreme Court justices elected by district failed to pass the Legislature last year. 

Tension between branches surfaced again in recent weeks during Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen’s public ethics trial. The proceeding stemmed from a 2021 conflict about the Legislature’s subpoena powers over the judiciary. 

The Commission on Practice, which regulates the professional conduct of Montana’s attorneys, recommended in October that the Montana Supreme Court suspend Knudsen’s license to practice for six months. As of Monday, five Supreme Court justices, including Sandefur, had recused themselves from adjudicating the case. 

The results of Tuesday’s election are scheduled to be certified in December. The incoming justices will be sworn into office in January.