MT was warning America about dark money long before Citizens United | Emily Marburger

This Tuesday, Montanans will head to the polls in one of the most important U.S. Senate primaries our state has seen in decades.

And once again, we’re watching millions of dollars from outside interests flood into Montana politics.

Super PACs. Dark money groups. Out-of-state billionaires. Washington insiders. National political operatives trying to shape the future of a state most of them couldn’t find on a map a few years ago.

For a lot of Montanans, this feels familiar. Because we’ve seen this story before.

Long before Citizens United became a household phrase, Montana understood what happens when wealthy corporate interests gain too much control over politics. Our state was exploited by powerful mining interests that treated elected officials like investments and ordinary Montanans like an afterthought.

That history is exactly why Montana passed one of the strongest anti-corruption laws in the country over a century ago. We knew then what much of America is now learning the hard way: when unlimited money floods into elections, regular people get drowned out.

Since the Citizens United decision in 2010, the floodgates have opened nationwide. According to campaign finance watchdogs, dark money spending has exploded over the last decade, often through nonprofit groups that never disclose where their money comes from. The promise was that unlimited political spending would be transparent and independent. Instead, voters are bombarded with attack ads funded by organizations with vague names and hidden donors.

And Montana, because we are a less populated state with relatively inexpensive media markets, has become one of the easiest places in the country for outside money to dominate the conversation. In many instances candidates have no choice over the money being spent to support or attack them.

A few million dollars here can completely overwhelm local voices.

That matters in this Senate race.

This is not about Republicans or Democrats. Plenty of people in both parties benefit from the current system. That’s part of the problem.

This is about whether Montana elections still belong to Montanans.

There’s a reason efforts are once again gaining traction here to challenge corporate political spending and dark money influence. Montana remains one of the few places in America where people across the political spectrum still believe elections should not simply go to the highest bidder.

We still believe a rancher in Miles City, a teacher in Havre, or a mechanic in Butte should matter more than a billionaire donor writing checks from Manhattan or Silicon Valley.

The bigger question hanging over this race is whether ordinary voters still have the loudest voice in our democracy. Does that voice now belong to whoever can afford the next ad buy?

Montana warned the country about this a long time ago.

Maybe it’s time the country started listening.