This story is produced by Montana Free Press/Mountain Journal in collaboration with Grist as part of the Report for America Local News Initiative.
It was a long night as candidates awaited voting results in Montana’s race for two open seats on the Public Service Commission. They awoke this morning to the same uncertainty. The Associated Press is yet to call the race for PSC districts 1 and 5. Here’s what we know:
In District 1 as of 10 a.m., Republican Jeff Pattison held a 65.4% lead over Democrat Angeline Cheek’s 34.6% with an estimated 53% of the votes counted, according to the AP.
District 5 is a much closer race. As of 10 a.m., Incumbent Republican Commissioner Annie Bukacek held a slim lead of about 5.5 percentage points over Democrat challenger Kevin Hamm. With what the AP estimates to be 41% of the votes counted, Bukacek led Hamm 52.8% to 47.2%.
The PSC is Montana’s quasi-judicial agency responsible for the regulation of monopoly utilities, which include everything from power companies to trash services.
In the era of artificial intelligence data centers, the PSC could play an important role in regulating the amount customers pay for energy, as well as how data centers generate power or build out infrastructure. NorthWestern has already signed several agreements to power data centers. At a time of rising costs, affordability is a top-of-mind concern for Montana voters this election according to a MTFP-Eagleton poll. Polling found 80% of registered voters pointed to cost-of-living and affordability concerns as “very important” in helping them decide who to vote for on their ballots.
