2018 Montana Senate election

Not to be confused with 2018 United States Senate election in Montana.

An election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect 25 members to Montana's Senate. The election coincided with elections for other offices, including the U.S Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, and state house. The primary election was held on June 2, 2018.

2018 Montana Senate election

November 6, 2018 (2018-11-06)
25 seats in the Montana Senate 26 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Scott Sales Jon Sesso Party Republican Democratic Leader since January 2, 2017 January 5, 2015 Leader's seat 35th – Bozeman 37th – Butte Last election 32 18 Seats won 30 20 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 128,760 99,828 Percentage 54.76% 42.45%
Results:      Democratic gain      Republican hold      Democratic hold      No election
Senate President before election Scott Sales Republican Elected Senate President Scott Sales Republican

Results summary

Party		Candi- dates	Votes		Seats
			No.	%	No.	+/–	%
	Republican Party	23	128,760	54.76%	30	2	60
	Democratic Party	21	99,828	42.45%	20	2	40
	Independent	1	4,274	1.82%	0		0
	Libertarian Party	5	2,292	0.97%	0		0
Total		50	235,154	100%	50		100

Senate seats

Republican			60%
Democratic			40%

Popular vote

Republican			54.756%
Democratic			42.452%
Independent			1.818%
Libertarian			0.975%

Close races

Districts where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 14, 1.48%
2. District 12, 2.9%
3. District 49, 3.18%
4. District 32, 3.59% gain
5. District 24, 7.98%
6. District 30, 8.84%
7. District 13, 9.26%

Incumbents defeated in the primary election

• Pat Connell (R-District 43), defeated by Jason Ellsworth (R)

Incumbents defeated in the general election

• Jedediah Hinkle (R-District 32), defeated by Pat Flowers (D)

Open seats that changed parties

• Edward Buttrey (R-District 11) was term-limited, seat won by Tom Jacobson (D)

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing	Safe R	October 8, 2018

Summary of results by state senate district

State senate district	Incumbent	Party		Elected senator	Party
Montana 1	Chas Vincent		Rep	Mike Cuffe		Rep
Montana 4	Mark Blasdel		Rep	Mark Blasdel		Rep
Montana 5	Bob Keenan		Rep	Bob Keenan		Rep
Montana 8	Lea Whitford		Dem	Susan Webber		Dem
Montana 9	Llew Jones		Rep	Bruce Gillespie		Rep
Montana 11	Edward Buttrey		Rep	Tom Jacobson		Dem
Montana 12	Carlie Boland		Dem	Carlie Boland		Dem
Montana 13	Brian Hoven		Rep	Brian Hoven		Rep
Montana 14	Russel Tempel		Rep	Russel Tempel		Rep
Montana 19	Eric Moore		Rep	Kenneth Bogner		Rep
Montana 20	Duane Ankney		Rep	Duane Ankney		Rep
Montana 22	Douglas Kary		Rep	Douglas Kary		Rep
Montana 24	Mary McNally		Dem	Mary McNally		Dem
Montana 27	Cary Smith		Rep	Cary Smith		Rep
Montana 29	David Howard		Rep	David Howard		Rep
Montana 30	Nels Swandal		Rep	John Esp		Rep
Montana 32	Jedediah Hinkle		Rep	Pat Flowers		Dem
Montana 33	Jennifer Pomnichowski		Dem	Jennifer Pomnichowski		Dem
Montana 34	Gordon Vance		Rep	Gordon Vance		Rep
Montana 41	Mary Caferro		Dem	Janet Ellis		Dem
Montana 42	Jill Cohenour		Dem	Jill Cohenour		Dem
Montana 43	Pat Connell		Rep	Jason Ellsworth		Rep
Montana 48	Nate McConnell		Dem	Nate McConnell		Dem
Montana 49	Diane Sands		Dem	Diane Sands		Dem
Montana 50	Tom Facey		Dem	Bryce Bennett		Dem

Detailed results

Districts 1–22

District 1

Incumbent Republican Chas Vincent had represented the 1st district since 2011. Vincent was term-limited and could not seek re-election.

Montana Senate 1st district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Cuffe	7,333	83.17%
	Libertarian	Austen Lee Nelson	1,484	16.83%
Total votes			8,817	100%
	Republican hold

District 4

Incumbent Republican Mark Blasdel had represented the 4th district since 2014.

Montana Senate 4th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark Blasdel (incumbent)	5,626	64.50%
	Democratic	Diane Taylor-Manhke	3,097	35.50%
Total votes			8,723	100%
	Republican hold

District 5

Incumbent Republican Bob Keenan had represented the 4th district since 2015.

Montana Senate 5th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bob Keenan (incumbent)	8,048	100%
Total votes			8,048	100%
	Republican hold

District 8

Incumbent Democrat Lea Whitford had represented the 8th district since 2015. Whitford did not seek re-election.

Montana Senate 8th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Susan Webber	5,443	100%
Total votes			5,443	100%
	Democratic hold

District 9

Incumbent Republican Llew Jones had represented the 9th district since 2011. Jones was term-limited and successfully ran for a seat in the state house.

Montana Senate 9th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bruce Gillespie	6,347	73.25%
	Democratic	Kurt J. Dyer	2,318	26.75%
Total votes			8,665	100%
	Republican hold

District 11

Incumbent Republican Edward Buttrey had represented the 11th district and its predecessors since 2011. Buttrey was term-limited and successfully ran for a seat in the state house. State Representative Tom Jacobson, a Democrat, won the open seat.

Montana Senate 11th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tom Jacobson	4,706	57.50%
	Republican	Adam Rosendale	3,478	42.50%
Total votes			8,184	100%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 12

Incumbent Democrat Carlie Boland had represented the 12th district since 2017.

Montana Senate 12th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carlie Boland (incumbent)	3,680	51.45%
	Republican	Steven Galloway	3,472	48.55%
Total votes			7,152	100%
	Democratic hold

District 13

Incumbent Republican Brian Hoven had represented the 13th district since 2015.

Montana Senate 13th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Hoven (incumbent)	3,315	53.22%
	Democratic	Bob Moretti	2,738	43.96%
	Libertarian	Kevin Vincent Leatherbar Row	176	2.83%
Total votes			6,229	100%
	Republican hold

District 14

Incumbent Republican Russel Tempel had represented the 14th district since 2017.

Montana Senate 14th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Russel Tempel (incumbent)	4,526	50.74%
	Democratic	Paul Tuss	4,394	49.26%
Total votes			8,920	100%
	Republican hold

District 19

Incumbent Republican Eric Moore had represented the 19th district and its predecessors since 2011. Moore was term-limited and successfully ran for a seat in the state house.

Montana Senate 19th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kenneth Bogner	7,334	80.85%
	Democratic	Mary Zeiss Stange	1,737	19.15%
Total votes			9,071	100%
	Republican hold

District 20

Incumbent Republican Duane Ankney had represented the 20th district since 2015.

Montana Senate 20th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Duane Ankney (incumbent)	8,226	100%
Total votes			8,226	100%
	Republican hold

District 22

Incumbent Republican Douglas Kary had represented the 22nd district since 2015.

Montana Senate 22nd district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Douglas Kary (incumbent)	5,120	60.46%
	Democratic	Jennifer Merecki	3,349	39.54%
Total votes			8,469	100%
	Republican hold

Districts 24–50

District 24

Incumbent Democrat Mary McNally had represented the 24th district since 2015.

Montana Senate 24th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mary McNally (incumbent)	4,608	53.99%
	Republican	Tom McGillvray	3,927	46.01%
Total votes			8,535	100%
	Democratic hold

District 27

Incumbent Republican Cary Smith had represented the 27th district since 2015.

Montana Senate 27th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Cary Smith (incumbent)	8,671	68.11%
	Democratic	Bryan Stafford	4,060	31.89%
Total votes			12,731	100%
	Republican hold

District 29

Incumbent Republican David Howard had represented the 29th district since 2015.

Montana Senate 29th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Howard (incumbent)	7,351	66.83%
	Democratic	Elizabeth (Betsy) Scanlin	3,649	33.17%
Total votes			11,000	100%
	Republican hold

District 30

Incumbent Republican Nels Swandal had represented the 30th district since 2015. Swandal did not seek re-election.

Montana Senate 30th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Esp	6,254	53.16%
	Democratic	Dan Vermillion	5,214	44.32%
	Libertarian	Frank McClain	296	2.52%
Total votes			11,764	100%
	Republican hold

District 32

Incumbent Republican Jedediah Hinkle had represented the 32nd district since 2014. He lost re-election to Democrat Pat Flowers.

Montana Senate 32nd district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Pat Flowers	5,979	50.38%
	Republican	Jedediah Hinkle (incumbent)	5,552	46.79%
	Libertarian	Francis Wendt	336	2.83%
Total votes			11,867	100%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 33

Incumbent Democrat Jennifer Pomnichowski had represented the 33rd district since 2015.

Montana Senate 33rd district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jennifer Pomnichowski (incumbent)	9,627	100%
Total votes			9,627	100%
	Democratic hold

District 34

Incumbent Republican Gordon Vance had represented the 34th district since 2015.

Montana Senate 34th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gordon Vance (incumbent)	6,395	64.79%
	Democratic	Sam Newville	3,475	35.21%
Total votes			9,870	100%
	Republican hold

District 41

Incumbent Democrat Mary Caferro had represented the 41st district and its predecessors since 2011. Caferro was term-limited and successfully ran for a seat in the state house. State representative Janet Ellis won the open seat.

Montana Senate 41st district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Janet Ellis	6,065	57.76%
	Republican	John Schmidt	4,436	42.24%
Total votes			10,501	100%
	Democratic hold

District 42

Incumbent Democrat Jill Cohenour had represented the 43rd district since 2015.

Montana Senate 42nd district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jill Cohenour (incumbent)	5,556	57.07%
	Republican	Bob Leach	4,180	42.93%
Total votes			9,736	100%
	Democratic hold

District 43

Incumbent Republican Pat Connell had represented the 43rd district since 2015. Connell lost re-nomination to fellow Republican Jason Ellsworth.

Montana Senate 43rd district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jason Ellsworth	6,990	62.06%
	Independent	Laura Garber	4,274	37.94%
Total votes			11,264	100%
	Republican hold

District 48

Incumbent Democrat Nate McConnell had represented the 48th district since 2018.

Montana Senate 48th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Nate McConnell (incumbent)	6,427	62.76%
	Republican	Adam S. Pummill	3,813	37.24%
Total votes			10,240	100%
	Democratic hold

District 49

Incumbent Democrat Diane Sands had represented the 49th district since 2015.

Montana Senate 49th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Diane Sands (incumbent)	5,579	51.59%
	Republican	Chase Reynolds	5,236	48.41%
Total votes			10,815	100%
	Democratic hold

District 50

Incumbent Democrat Tom Facey had represented the 50th district and its predecessors since 2011. Facey was term-limited and could not seek re-election. State Representative Bryce Bennett won the open seat.

Montana Senate 50th district general election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bryce Bennett	8,127	72.20%
	Republican	Niki Sardot	3,130	27.80%
Total votes			11,257	100%
	Democratic hold