Grassroots support and a new Montana mystery

By Micah Drew, Jordan Hansen and Keila Szpaller

"Let me take this opportunity to disabuse the City (and other localities) of the notion that compliance with Montana’s anti-sanctuary city law is a collaborative enterprise. The Legislature was clear … local governments don’t get to set their own immigration policies.” — Attorney General Austin Knudsen in response to the city of Helena’s request for guidance on a new immigration resolution.

Financial disclosures for the first three months of 2026 were due from federal election candidates on Wednesday, giving politicos across the country millions of dollars worth of insight into this fall’s elections.

Nationally, Democrats boasted huge numbers from competitive U.S. Senate races across the country, led by a sky-high $27 million raised by James Talerico in Texas — six times more than the two Republicans seeking the GOP nomination combined. 

Locally, it’s the first look at most of the candidates running for Montana’s federal offices, including the flurry of last-minute additions to the candidate field before March’s filing deadline — three Republicans jumping into the western congressional race, and the dramatic switcheroo of Sen. Steve Daines dropping out and tapping a successor in the final minutes — plus an independent Senate candidate. 

I made a few charts summarizing the FEC filings here, which can be quickly bulleted as: Independent Senate candidate Seth Bodnar leads all fundraising, Republican Kurt Alme is a close second in the same race; and all MT-01 Democrats combined saw more contributions than all Republicans in the race. 

Looking at the chatter across social media this week and candidate press releases touting big numbers, I had a question about just how much support these candidates have. 

Sure, the black-and-white fundraising number is one thing, but if lots of that money comes from PACs, like Alme, it means something different than if it comes primarily from small-dollar donations, like Democrat Reilly Neill, who is running for U.S. Senate. While she only raised about $60,000, well below Bodnar and Alme’s roughly $1 million, ¾ of her donations were less than $200. 

FEC reports require disclosures of all contributions of more than $200, but only require an aggregate of smaller, “grassroots” donations, listed as “unitemized” donations on forms. 

But a little bit of math — dividing the aggregate number by $200 — gives a lower limit for donors, i.e. the smallest number of contributions that could make up the total. By that metric, Bodnar leads all candidates with a minimum 1,003 grassroots numbers. His main opponent, Alme, has a minimum of 25. Neill would have roughly 222 and the remaining Democrats combine for about 37. 

Among Democrats in the western house race, Ryan Busse has a low-end estimate of 995 donors; Sam Forstag would have 772; Russ Cleveland 320 and Matt Rains 170. 

Republican Aaron Flint would have 446; while Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen would have a whopping 2.7. 

Of course, these numbers could be significantly higher — five $200 donations is a total of $1,000, but so is 200 $5 donations — but gives us at least something to speculate about. Candidates are free to disclose these numbers, and indeed, Busse’s campaign touted more than 10,000 individual donors, while Forstag touted more than 6,000. 

By those metrics, the candidates would be receiving roughly $20 and $25 from most supporters. 

It’s a long way until June, and even longer until November, so we’ll continue to get better ideas of how voters, PACs, corporations and lobbyists feel about the candidates running to represent Montanans in D.C.

~Micah Drew

The city of Helena is starting monthly listening sessions beginning on Thursday, April 23, to help create "meaningful dialog" between city staff and the public. The first is titled “Sustainability in Action: How Our City Supports the Environment and Our Workforce,” will be held at 5 p.m. at Lewis & Clark Library, and will include city staff from Sustainability and Recycling program as well as Human Resources.

The listening sessions follow massive public engagement in city policy over the last few months over an immigration resolution, an investigation into which was recently closed by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen. Hundreds of people have come to speak to the City Commission, with one meeting even held in the city's Civic Center because so many people were interested in what was going on.

It is heartening to me to see people actively engaged in political discourse. I've heard Helena referred to several times as a "political" town, which of course makes sense, considering the number of state employees that live in the area, and of course the Capitol itself. But I would also classify Helena as a politically engaged town, and it's one of the reasons I love this place so much. And I think that's a good thing — if people do care what is happening around them, it only makes for better discourse and decision-making that represents what the public actually wants.

~ Jordan Hansen

I wanted to buy a couple of thank you presents recently, and I had a couple of books in mind.

Fact & Fiction in Missoula had the ones I wanted — “One-Sentence Journal” by Chris La Tray and “Thirty Below” by Cassidy Randall.

But then I saw a new mystery set in Glacier National Park, and I couldn’t believe it. Impulse purchase.

It’s “Baited,” by Colleen O’Brien, who has an MFA from the University of Montana and lives near the park.

The blurb on the back says it’s her first novel, and I’ve only started it, but I’m hoping she’s typing away right now on her next one.

A book that takes you to brand new places is thrilling, like Abraham Verghese’s “The Covenant of Water,” set in Kerala, India.

“Through the window, the water in the paddy field shimmers like beaten silver.” Amazing. For me, new.

A book that reminds you of places you already know can be comforting.

O’Brien describes a meadow “crammed with wildflowers — lupine, sticky geranium, and biscuitroot, a riot of purple, fuchsia, and yellow.”

I’ve walked through that meadow. 

Her characters sit “in the deep cool of Sunrift Gorge, tossing stones into the rushing creek.” If you’ve been there, you can imagine the way the light hits the stone.

(One of the characters picks up a section of the Great Falls Tribune and reads a story about the urban chicken controversy. I covered that story in Missoula many years ago, and it was wild. Got flashbacks of a giant man in a giant chicken costume at City Hall. Love.)

After I bought the book, I also saw the Glacier National Park Conservancy is featuring it at its July 28 Glacier Book Club. Here’s how to register, and here’s what the conservancy said:

Colleen O’Brien’s “Baited” is a riveting wilderness mystery set in the Cut Bank Valley of Glacier National Park. When a trail crew member discovers her coworker has disappeared from camp, she enlists the help of the district ranger to investigate. Meanwhile, a biologist grapples with preserving the integrity of her grizzly bear study as her research faces sabotage. Told through multiple voices, “Baited” explores themes of grief, betrayal, justice, and love for wilderness and the wild creatures within it.

Happy reading.

~ Keila Szpaller

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