Montana's new law opens the door to political donations in Supreme Court contests

The Montana Republican Party is making good on chairman Art Wittich's promise to get more hands-on in the state’s lone Supreme Court contest, with $20,000 in contributions to the campaign of Dan Wilson, a district court judge in Flathead County.

The party's direct donations to Wilson's campaign follow the 2025 Legislature's enactment of a law allowing parties to do so. Previously, political parties were limited to independent expenditures, such producing TV ads or mailers that tell voters to support or oppose certain candidates.

For years, the Republican-led Legislature has worked bring politics into judicial elections, frustrated that their most controversial policies are often struck down on legal challenges. Those Republicans contend the court should reflect the voter base that elected the Legislature to pass those policies.

Members of the court, meanwhile, have pushed back on that notion, arguing they deal in constitutional law, not the political whims of the moment.

With House Bill 39, GOP lawmakers said the money flowing in to influence the state Supreme Court elections has long been sourced in partisan interests, and that the new law would allow that support to take place out in the open.

The cap for political parties to donate to Supreme Court candidates is now the same as any other statewide candidate: $84,150.

Wilson's opponent, District Court Judge Amy Eddy, said she won't accept any contributions from political parties, nor will she appear at any political events.

Wilson, meanwhile, appears to have leaned further into the political fray than he did in 2024, when he ran and lost his first bid for the state's high court. He was the keynote speaker at the GOP's premier campaign kickoff event in February and earlier this month his campaign trail took him to the governor's home; the living room speech was posted to social media by Supreme Court Clerk Bowen Greenwood, a Republican.

Jeremy Johnson, head of the political science department at Carroll College, said Monday that political parties' preferences between candidates have been fairly easy to parse out of the nonpartisan races in recent years.

"This might be the next step toward that general trend, manifesting itself more explicitly," he said.

Wilson raised a little more than $105,000 in the latest reporting period and, after spending about $36,000, heads into April with nearly $200,000 in the bank.

Wilson did not return a call seeking comment for this story but in a press release last week boasted a strong showing.

"The incredible generosity of our supporters shows that Montanans want a court defined by impartiality and constitutionalism, not one molded by the agendas of the highest bidder or special interests," he said in the statement. "The outpouring of support from every corner and community in Montana has been nothing short of overwhelming."

Wilson may have won the fundraising period, but Eddy has the edge in cash-on-hand. Her campaign raised about $55,000 in the latest reporting period and spent about $31,000, advancing with more than $240,000 in the bank into the next reporting cycle.

"Montanans deserve justices that will protect our freedoms, guard the constitution and hold criminals accountable — not advance political party platforms," Eddy said in a text to the Montana State News Bureau on Monday. "Nonpartisan courts are a Montana tradition for a reason. I believe deeply that we must keep politics out of the courtroom. That is why I refuse to take money from either political party and do not attend political party-sponsored events — Republican or Democrat."

Both candidates will advance through the primary election because there is no third candidate vying to replace Justice Beth Baker, who is retiring at the end of her term this year.

The state GOP's efforts in Montana Supreme Court elections in recent cycles has been met with little success. In 2022, the Republican Party spent more on independent expenditures supporting James Brown’s Supreme Court bid than all of its legislative candidates in partisan races combined. The incumbent, Justice Ingrid Gustafson, still won with 54% of the vote.

That 2022 election cycle saw huge figures spent in Gustafson's favor, as well. Spending by Montana trial lawyers and the state's public employee union to support Gustafson surged in the lead-up to the election, totaling more than $2 million in October alone.

The $20,000 the Republican Party spent on Wilson’s campaign so far is more than the party spent on Troy Downing’s entire bid for state auditor in 2020. That figure is below what was donated during the 2024 primary election cycle to the reelection campaigns of Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen ($30,000) and Attorney General Austin Knudsen ($83,750).