List of Montana candidates growing

With the deadline to file in the 2020 elections — March 9 — fast approaching, the already-lengthy list of candidates who have filed officially continues to grow.

This week, Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins, who announced very early he intended to run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Montana Republcan Steve Daines, filed as a candidate.

Collins, an immigrant from Liberia and U.S. Naval Reserve veteran, joins Democrat Mike Knoles of Bozeman, who has worked in a multitude of fields, from ranch hand to data analyst; John Mues of Loma, a U.S. Navy veteran and engineer who also taught at Hays-Lodge Pole High School; and Cora Neumann of Bozeman, whose history includes working in the U.S. Department of State, starting an initiative with the offices of First ladies Laura Bush and Michelle Obama to create the Global First Ladies Alliance and creating the conservation advocacy organization RESET.

The five held their first debate Feb. 21.

Incumbent Sen. Daines has yet to file, but has a primary challenger Daniel Larson, a hardware store manager from Stevensville.

And the U.S. House race has a pile of Republicans vying for the seat being vacated by Rep. Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., who has announced he will again try to win the race for Montana’s governor.

Gianforte lost in 2016 to Democrat Gov. Steve Bullock, who can’t run for that seat due to term limits but ran last summer for U.S. president, withdrawing from that race in December.

Gianforte, who owned two computer programming companies, first in New Jersey then in Bozeman, won the special election in April 2017 to fill the seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, who was appointed secretary of the interior by Donald Trump. Zinke resigned from that position in December 2018.

Former state Rep. Kathleen Williams, D-Bozeman, failed in an attempt to unseat Gianforte in 2018. She is filed as a candidate in this year’s race as well.

But Gianforte’s announcement last June that he was running for governor instead of for re-election to the U.S. House has led to a rush of Republican candidates, although one main announced candidate has yet to file.

The same weekend Gianforte declared he was running for governor, Secretary of State Corey Stapleton and Auditor Matt Rosendale both announced they would run for his seat.

Rosendale has filed as a candidate, although Stapleton had not yet done so by this morning, but several other Republicans have.

Those include Butte electrician John Evankovich; Lewis and Clark County Republican Central Committee Chair Joe Dooling; Debra Lamm, both a former Montana Republican Party chair and former Republican state representative from Livingston; and a new candidate who just filed this week, Mark McGinley of Dillon.

And Gianforte has not yet filed for governor, although he announced he will list his running mate this weekend.

But Attorney General Tim Fox, who cannot run again for that office due to term limits, and state Sen. Al Olszewski of Kalispell have filed as Republican candidates for governor.

No one has filed yet for the governor’s race as a Democrat, although Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney, a former state legislator and secretary of state who lost a bid for governor in 2000, has announced his candidacy, as has Whitney Williams of Missoula, daughter of long-time U.S. Rep. Pat Williams, D-Mont.

Lyman Bishop of Kalispell has filed as a Libertarian candidate.

And Rosendale and Stapleton’s announced bids for the U.S. House has brought out a number of candidates for their offices.

In the race for auditor, Bozeman businessman Troy Downing, who lost the primary to Rosendale in the 2018 U.S. Senate election faces Nelly Nicol of Billings, who works in the insurance industry, in the Republican primary — Rosendale lost to Democrat Jon Tester who won his third term in the general election.

On the Democratic side, state Rep. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, has filed.

In the race for secretary of state, state Senate President Scott Sales, R-Bozeman, and state Rep. Forrest Mandeville, R-Columbus, and fellow Republican Christi Jacobsen, the deputy secretary of state.

On the Democrat side, Sen. Bryce Bennett, D-Missoula, was the sole candidate this morning.

And Fox terming out and running for governor has opened up the race for state attorney general.

On the Republican side, former state Speaker of the House Austin Knudsen, R-Culbertson, now serving as Roosevelt County attorney, is the sole candidate so far.

For the Democrats, state Rep. Kim Dudick, D-Missoula, and Raph Graybill, the chief legal counsel for the governor, are facing off in the primary.

And the race for Montana superintendent of public instruction has a rematch from four years ago.

In 2016, Republican Elsie Arntzen defeated Melissa Romano and took the office.

This year, Romano is challenging Arntzen in her bid to retain the office.