Corruption & EthicsVoting Rights

65% of Montana Voters Said Keep Corporate Money Out of Elections. The Montana Republican Party Sued to Stop It 18 Minutes Before the Race Was Called.

Montana voters passed Initiative 194, which bars corporations from spending to influence elections, 65% to 34%. The Montana Republican State Central Committee and four conservative groups filed a federal lawsuit to block it on election night — and told the court the law would cut into the money the party needs for its own outside spending.

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65% of Montana Voters Said Keep Corporate Money Out of Elections. The Montana Republican Party Sued to Stop It 18 Minutes Before the Race Was Called.
Photo: Lauren Miller, Montana Free Press, CatchLight Local/Report for America

On November 3, Montana voters decided they'd had enough of corporate money in their elections. Before the race was even called, the Montana Republican Party was already in federal court trying to throw it out.

Initiative 194, which supporters call "The Montana Plan," bars corporations and other incorporated entities in Montana from spending money to influence local, state and federal elections. It passed 65% to 34%, with 97% of the vote counted as of November 5, Montana Free Press reported, citing the Associated Press.

The lawsuit to block it was filed at 11:15 p.m. on Election Day — 18 minutes before the AP called the race.

Who sued

The plaintiffs, according to Montana Free Press:

  • The Montana Republican State Central Committee — the state Republican Party
  • The Frontier Institute and the Frontier Action Fund
  • The Montana Family Institute and the Montana Family Foundation

They sued the state's attorney general, Austin Knudsen, and secretary of state, Christi Jacobsen, whose job it would be to enforce the law.

The suit argues the measure violates the First Amendment rights to free speech, assembly and the press, and that its terms are too vague to know what's banned. It asks the court to stop the law before it takes effect on January 1, 2027.

The party said the quiet part in its own lawsuit

Here's the line that tells you what the fight is really about. The lawsuit says the measure "will significantly reduce the funds the Montana GOP needs to make independent expenditures."

Independent expenditures are outside spending — ads and mailers paid for separately from a candidate's campaign. In other words: the party is suing because the law Montanans just voted for would cut off money it wants to spend on elections.

How the law works

Montana's plan is an attempt to work around the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision.

States create corporations, and states decide what powers they get. I-194 uses that power: a company that breaks the spending ban could lose protections like limited liability, Talking Points Memo reported. The lawsuit leans heavily on Citizens United.

Supporters expected the fight. "We expected a lawsuit from day one, and we've been waiting for this moment," Jeff Mangan, founder and president of the Transparent Election Initiative, the group behind the measure, said in a statement, Montana Free Press reported.

What the record shows

Montana voters approved Initiative 194, which bars corporations from spending to influence elections, by 65% to 34%. Eighteen minutes before the race was called, the Montana Republican Party and four conservative groups sued in federal court to block it — and the party's own complaint says the law would reduce the money it needs for outside election spending.

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