Montana Libertarian Party cries foul in Senate primary

Kyle Austin, the winner of the Libertarian primary for U.S. Senate in Montana, says he’s not a Republican in disguise, but members of the Montana Libertarian Party are expressing concern about his candidacy.

Austin beat Tom Jandron, who was endorsed by the Montana Libertarian Party at its convention earlier this year. There were 3,411 Libertarian primary ballots cast in the race, with Austin winning 1,819 to 1,592.

“Ultimately, members concluded that Austin was only running as a Libertarian to take advantage of the MTLP’s statewide ballot access,” a June 3 press release from the state Libertarian party said, adding he was a “phony candidate.”

The party added in a press release it can’t take steps to “prevent bad-faith actors from hijacking its nomination process” and said it wasn’t just a “theoretical” concern, it was what “appears to have happened” in the primary. Montana Libertarians are led by Melissa Wong, the state party chair.

Austin said he’s out to win an election, party leadership isn’t and he’s a proud Libertarian. Shortly after the election, the Libertarian state party denounced Austin on its website.

“They’re bitter and pissed off, but they need to follow their bylaws,” Austin said. “They’re trying to get new members, I’m a new member. For them to treat me like that, it’s unprofessional, it’s against their bylaws, and it shows what kind of party leadership they have.”

Austin is not a political newcomer, though. He picked up 3,177 votes in a large Republican primary for the eastern House District in 2024 and came in a distant second to Matt Rosendale in the 2022 Republican primary for Montana’s U.S. House seat.

Austin was disillusioned by what he called “corruption” in the political process, he said.

“I have conservative values, I see eye to eye with a lot of Libertarian values, not all of them, and decided to run on Libertarian ballot this year,” Austin said.

Libertarian ballot access has also been under threat in the state house, with Republican state Sen. Greg Hertz pushing legislation in 2023, unsuccessfully, that would have raised the threshold of votes needed to maintain ballot access.

In Montana, a political party must keep a minimum percentage of votes to have their candidates automatically qualify for the ballot without needing to gather signatures.

“A party automatically qualifies for the ballot if it had a candidate for statewide office in either of the last two general elections who received a total number of votes that was 5 percent or more of the total number of votes cast for the most recent successful candidate for governor,” the Secretary of State’s website says.

In 2020, Gov. Greg Gianforte received 328,548 votes and Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Lyman Bishop received 24,179 votes, which translates to a little more than 7%.

Some legislators pointed to the weaponization of third-parties in elections and previous issues with Democrats and Republicans bankrolling candidates in different parties. The Libertarian Party leaders say it’s important for candidates and issues to be distinguishable from other parties.

“(Democrats and Republicans) definitely like to keep their power structure,” said Jandron, who is on the Montana Libertarian state party’s leadership committee. “And not give other options than Democrat and Republican. They’re going to do whatever they can to diminish that.”

‘Conservative and freedom from the government’

In Montana, anyone is allowed to register as a candidate with any party and the state doesn’t track party registration, meaning political parties don’t have full control over their candidates.

This has led some members of the Libertarian party to question the motives of Austin, who has previously run as a Republican candidate.

If Libertarians don’t get enough votes in the Senate election, the party could be at risk of losing its status and would be forced to gather signatures for their candidates.

Austin went through the vetting process for state Libertarian candidates, and said they first supported him, though that dampened.

“Throughout the process, party members alternately expressed serious concerns that Kyle Austin’s views and positions conflicted with core Libertarian principles,” a statement from the Montana Libertarian party reads.

The statement went on to say evaluators at a town hall, “noted a lack of ideological grounding” and a weak understanding of key policy including, “weak understanding of key libertarian policy priorities such as monetary policy, entitlement spending, subsidies, and non-interventionism.”

Austin owns a pharmaceutical business, Pharm406, which operates out of Billings and Butte. He grew up on his grandfather’s farm near Havre and has expressed interest in agricultural issues. Pharmaceutical and healthcare issues are major concerns for him, specifically taxpayer dollars being “eaten up,” and is calling for government healthcare programs to be consolidated.

Being a Libertarian, to Austin, also means two very specific things.

“It means conservative and freedom from the government,” Austin said, adding government needs to shrink and “get out of our daily lives.”

‘Wars of choice’

Members of the state Libertarian party are frustrated with President Donald Trump’s entrance into foreign conflicts, which they say is one of their fundamental issues and a place where disagreements exist between them and what Austin supports.

The Libertarian Party is against all “wars of choice,” Jandron said, saying non-aggression, along with fiscal responsibility, are the two core parts of their political philosophy. He added that he was “frustrated” with the election result and hoped voters don’t cast ballots for Austin.

“We are kind of anti-war. Not to say we’re isolationists, or against true defense of the U.S., but against wars of choice like we see ourselves in with Iran again now, and (the) Venezuela conflict,” Jandron said.

He went on to say that Trump was “gaslighting us” with promises of no new wars during his election campaign. That promise has been broken, said Jandron, who is highly critical of current U.S. foreign policy.

These are also conversations Libertarians are standing “strongest in,” Jandron said.

A mainstay piece of legislation the Montana Libertarians have supported is the “Defend the Guard Act,” which would require a Congressional declaration of war before Montanan National Guard members are sent into “federal duty.”

The legislation got a spirited debate, though did not pass, during the 2025 Legislative session. The bill had a $132 million fiscal note attached to it, which assumed the state would lose federal funding if it became law.

Austin said he would support legislation around the Defend the Guard Act, but differed with the state party on the president.

“I support Trump and his efforts with Iran and the threats the Middle East has always been to Americans,” Austin said. “However, I do disagree with his approach and the mess he has created.”

Austin added to his foreign policy platform, saying, “I believe we should be involved in foreign wars in defense and in offense at all times, when it is necessary to protect American soil and American lives against threats foreign and domestic.”

Austin, along with Republican Kurt Alme, Democrat Alani Bankhead and independent Seth Bodnar will be the U.S. Senate choices for Montana voters in the coming Nov. 3 general election.