A “red wave” could be considered something of an understatement regarding the Montana general election on Tuesday and the same held true for Yellowstone County where late registrations on Election Day pushed the total number of voters to record levels. Election workers were still counting ballots at noon on Wednesday.
Ballot counting, by law, has to continue through the night and into the next day until ballots are counted.
While Yellowstone County had a trend of over 60 percent of the voters voting Republican, more than half of the counties in the state are more “red” than Yellowstone, with most experiencing over 70 and 80 percent of voters leaning Republican in support of Donald Trump. Only Gallatin, Missoula, Beaverhead, Glacier, Silver Bow and Deer Lodge trended in favor Democrats with a 50-60 percent range in support of Democrat Kamala Harris.
Based on 75,678 ballots tallied in Yellowstone County as of 5 am on Wednesday, Republican candidate former President Donald Trump won 46,003 votes defeating Democrat candidate Kamala Harris with 26,426.
Other candidates picking up votes in the Presidential election picking were Robert Kennedy Jr. with 1,399 votes, and Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver with 542, and Green Party Candidate Jill Stein with 307.
Newcomer to the political scene, Republican candidate Tim Sheehy defeated three term incumbent, Democrat Senator Jon Tester, 42,900 to 30,874 votes in Yellowstone County. Libertarian candidate Sid Daoud won 887 votes and Green Candidate Robert Barb won 530 votes.
Republican Troy Downing, current Montana State Auditor and Commissioner of Securities and Insurance, won his bid for US House Representative 2 (eastern district) in Montana with 47,678 votes over former state legislator, Democrat John Driscoll with 25,759.
Incumbent Republican Governor Greg Gianforte soundly defeated Democrat candidate Ryan Busse, in Yellowstone County, 46,944 to 25,9145. Libertarian Candidate Kaiser Leib took 59 votes.
Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, Republican, won re-election with 47,965 votes over Jesse James Mullen’s 23,519 votes, and Libertarian candidate John Lamb with 2,080.
Democrat candidate Ben Alke lost his bid to oust Republican Austin Knudsen as Attorney General, among Yellowstone County voters, with Knudsen getting 46,648 votes and Alke getting 26,887.
Republican candidate James Brown gained 47,249 for the position of State Auditor with Democrat candidate John Repke getting 25,309 votes.
Republican candidate for the position of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Susie Hedalen, gained 46,664 votes over Democrat candidate, Shannon O’Brien with 26,656.
Public Service Commission repeat candidate Republican Brad Molnar easily defeated Democrat Susan Bilo, 35,116 over 19,383.
Incumbent candidate for Clerk of the Supreme Court, Republican Bowen Greenwood defeated Democrat candidate, Erin Farris-Olsen 44,015 to 25,617. Libertarian candidate Roger Roots garnered 2,806 votes.
In the contest for Supreme Court Chief Justice, Cory Swanson defeated Jeremiah Lynch, 41,298 to 28,329. Kathrine Bidegaray defeated Dan Wilson, 36,294 to 33,788.
Voters approved retaining all of Yellowstone County’s District Court Judges who were on the ballot, which included Jessica Fehr, Donald Harris, Thomas Pardy, Colette Davies, and Ashley Harda.
Following are the results for the local state senatorial elections:
State Senator Dist. 20 — Sue Vinton (R) defeated Linda Auch (D) 6,186 to 2,611.
State Senator Dist. 21 — Gayle George Lammers (R) defeated Sharon Stewrd Peregoy (D) 1,040 to 542.
State Senator Dist. 24 – Mike Yakawich (R) defeated Mark Nicholson (D) 3,912 to 3,325.
State Senator Dist. 26 – Tim McGillvray (R) defeated Karen Lyncoln (D) 7,221 to 4,115.
State Senator Dist. 27 – Vince Ricci (R) defeated Kathleen Gilluly (D) 7,735 to 2,728.
Following are the results for the local state representative elections:
State Representative District 35 – Gary W. Parry (R) defeated Kim Kreider (D) 288.
State Representative District 38 – Republican candidate Greg Oblander was re-elected with 5,414 votes garnering the most votes in that district to date.
State Representative District 39 – Kerri Seekins-Crow (R) defeated Melissa Smith (D) 2,878 to 1,505.
State Representative District 40 – Mike Vinton (R) defeated Bob Auch (D) 3,304 to 1,153.
State Representative District 42 – Bill Hodges (R) defeated Sidney ‘Chip’ Fitzpatrick (D) 1,029 to 552.
State Representative District 43 – Larry Brewster (R) defeated Alexander Clark (D) 2,730 to 1,513.
State Representative District 44 – Unchallenged Republican candidate Katie Zolnikov was re-elected with 4,065 votes.
State Representative District 45 – Denise Baum (D) defeated Kassidy Olson (R) 2445 to 2,119.
State Representative District 46 – Emma Kerr Carpenter (D) defeated Starr Emery (R) 2,319 to 2000.
State Representative District 47 – James Reavis (D) defeated Stephane Moncada (R) 1,615 to 1,436.
State Representative District 48 – Curtis Schomer (R) defeated Anne Ross (D) 2,387 to 1,772.
State Representative District 49 – Sherry Essmann (R) defeated Rudolf Haden (D) 2,838 to 1,725.
State Representative District 50 – Anthony Nicastro (R) defeated Shawn Giesick (D) 3,770 to 1,927.
State Representative District 51 – Jodee Etchart (R) defeated Jana Hafer (Dem) 2,934 to 2,180.
State Representative District 52 – Bill Mercer (R) defeated Carole Boerner (D) 4,234 to 2,060.
State Representative District 53 – Nelly Nicol (R) defeated Elle Kerns (D) 4,464 to 1,422.
State Representative District 54 – Unchallenged Republican candidate Lee Deming received 3,868 votes.
Unchallenged incumbent Republican Terry Halpin retained her position as Clerk of District Court with 58,395 votes.
Also, unchallenged, Republican Mike Waters will become a Yellowstone County Commissioners with 57,564 having defeated a primary election challenge.
Republican Hank Peters who also was unchallenged in the General Election having defeated a Primary Election challenge will become Yellowstone County’s next Treasurer having garnered 57,577 votes.
Yellowstone County voters rejected the two Constitutional Initiatives dealing with elections. I-126 was defeated 39,916 to 33,646 and I-127 was defeated 45,710 to 26,666.
However, Constitutional Initiative 128 that dealt with abortion and parental rights was approved 40,274 to 34,103.
