Montana’s most prominent third party may be having a moment.
For the first time in recent memory, Montana Libertarians have in 2026 fielded candidates in every race for federal office, plus several down-ballot contests.
Libertarian candidate interest is up, party leaders say, and they expect voter interest could be too. The Libertarian ballot is full of candidates, all younger than 50 and none having previously run for office in Montana under the Libertarian banner.
“Americans are worried about the cost of living, and Republicans and Democrats have not adequately addressed the issue, partly because they haven’t identified the real cause, which is the printing press — or the amount of spending,” Montana Libertarian Party Vice Chair Liam McCollum told Montana Free Press. “And part of that is due to the war machine. Since 2001, our country has been in seven wars.” McCollum, less than 10 years removed from high school, hosts “The Liam McCollum Show,” a podcast that last week featured a discussion with Libertarian icon Ron Paul about the United States’ war with Iran. McCollum lives in Billings.
“Trump is in his second of two terms, and some of the things he’s doing, like the war, et cetera, it’s not from a Libertarian perspective at all,” said Jeremy Johnson, head of the political science department at Carroll College in Helena.
“Americans are worried about the cost of living, and Republicans and Democrats have not adequately addressed the issue, partly because they haven’t identified the real cause, which is the printing press — or the amount of spending.”
Montana Libertarian Party Vice Chair Liam McCollum
Libertarians typically oppose military action for reasons other than self-defense — a position reflected in the porcupine logo adopted by the national party in 2020. They haven’t forgotten President Donald Trump’s campaign promises of “no new wars.”
They have argued for decades that U.S. military and economic aid to Israel makes America complicit in Israel’s actions in Gaza, violating Libertarianism’s non-aggression agenda. And they have warned against the influence of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Congress — an issue Montana’s Democratic candidates for U.S. House have also raised.
Libertarians may also see opportunity in increasingly gridlocked political polarization.
“I think there’s definitely more interest to break away from the two-party system,” said Tom Jandron, one of two Libertarian candidates for U.S. Senate. “I think people are getting tired of the duopoly of power that seems to hold the reins on everything.”
The race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Sen. Steve Daines will feature a rare Libertarian primary between first-time candidate Jandron, of Clancy, and Billings pharmacist Kyle Austin, who in two previous elections ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for Montana’s eastern district U.S. House seat.
With Daines declining to seek reelection, the race features contested primaries for all three Montana parties that automatically qualify for the ballot. Libertarians cleared that bar by receiving at least 15,000 votes in a previous statewide race, a threshold defined as at least 5% of the total votes cast for Gov. Greg Gianforte in 2024. Five Democratic and three Republican candidates are also in the race, along with former University of Montana President Seth Bodnar, who needs to collect 15,000 registered-voter signatures by petition to qualify for the ballot as an independent candidate. Trump has endorsed Republican Kurt Alme for the seat.
Trump famously attended the national Libertarian Party convention in 2024 and endured some heckling. At an August 2024 campaign appearance in Bozeman for then U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, the president attempted to persuade Montana Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Sid Daoud to drop out of the race. Republicans flew Daoud from Kalispell to Bozeman to meet with Trump, but Daoud declined to withdraw, even after Trump informed the crowd of about 8,000 at Montana State University that the Libertarian would soon be making big news.
“What a nice guy, Sid, please stand up. Please stand up. What a nice guy,” Trump told the audience. “A lot of us are Libertarian, and I think he’s going to be giving you a very nice surprise very soon.”
Opposition to foreign wars has long been a political staple for Libertarians, and Montana Libertarians have for years, as part of a broad coalition, pursued state legislation to prevent the Montana National Guard from being deployed without a congressional declaration of war, which hasn’t happened since World War II.
Describing the support as evidence of Libertarians’ tripartisanship, McCollum said the party secured 2024 Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse’s support for the Libertarian’s National Guard Act, as well as Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy’s agreement to back a national version of the bill. In the Legislature, Rep. Lee Deming, a Laurel Republican, worked on the proposal with Montana Libertarians and others. Libertarians for the first time in the party’s memory hired a lobbyist in 2025.
In 2022, the National Libertarian Party also removed a pro-choice plank from its platform, McCollum said — not out of opposition to abortion rights, but to open the door to conservative converts. Officially, Libertarians are “silent” on abortion rights.
With the price of gas rising and the tax cuts of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill giving way to war spending, Eastern Congressional District U.S. House Libertarian candidate Patrick McCracken, of Columbia Falls, said he expects voters will be increasingly interested in what Libertarians have to say.
“What good is a tax cut if the government can just go ahead and print more money to cover spending that it can’t afford on issues nobody voted for?” said McCracken, a former Billings resident whose lack of a primary opponent means he will challenge incumbent Republican Rep. Troy Downing in Montana’s Eastern U.S. House District in November. “The inflation that follows money printing eats up your budget. It raises your cost of living and leaves you worse off than before.”
In the Western Congressional District, there are 10 candidates — five Democrats, three Republicans, an independent and a libertarian — lined up to replace retiring incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke, who is not seeking reelection. The Libertarian, Nick Sheedy, said he wants the crowded field to approach public lands from a Libertarian perspective: as a potential source of new wealth — an approach harkening back to Montana’s early prospecting and agriculture economies.
“I would like to see other candidates commit to better management of our public lands to improve multiple use, public access, and productive stewardship of our vast and valuable natural resources,” Sheedy said.
All told, there are nine Libertarians on the Montana ballot in 2026, including five for the state Legislature: Dru Koester of Helena, J.C. Windmueller of Missoula, Dave Von Eschen of Great Falls, Jordan Ophus of Havre, and Greg DeVries of Jefferson City.
This story was updated March 20, 2026, with a more detailed description of Montana Libertarians’ work on the National Guard Act.
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