Montana
New group put more than $500K into Montana Public Service Commission race • Daily Montanan
In one Public Service Commission race this week, incumbent Republican Jennifer Fielder walloped her challenger despite an infusion of cash by an independent committee for her opponent late in the campaign.
Independent Elena Evans, who criticized Fielder for supporting recent steep rate increases the PSC approved, had raised significantly more money than Fielder on her own.
Then, an independent committee, the Montana Ratepayers Association, reported raising nearly $500,000 for the race to support Evans and defeat Fielder.
Evans lost her campaign anyway, but the windfall of six figures is an anomaly in these races.
Neither the Montana Ratepayers Association nor its dark money funder, American Jobs and Energy Security, returned requests for comment from the Daily Montanan.
However, a political analyst said the big money may be an attempted warning to the Public Service Commission to reconsider its energy priorities — and a state senator and newly elected PSC member said he fears it is and could affect future campaigns.
State Sen. Brad Molnar, a Republican who also previously served on the PSC, noted the push of money in the race in a news release last week.
He said he wanted to alert Montanans that a “moneyball” awaits commissioners who don’t support the agenda of the funders, citing another donor, the Climate Cabinet Action.
Based in San Francisco, the organization identifies itself as using a “moneyball” approach — identifying and supporting under-the-radar politicians who back climate initiatives. Records show it gave $20,000 to the Montana Ratepayers Association.
The American Jobs group then gave $475,000.
“We do not know the donors’ motives in funding the Montana Ratepayers Association, but plainly it is not open/fair elections or consumer protection,” said Molnar, himself a previous and future Public Service Commissioner, in a statement.
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The Public Service Commission, made up of five commissioners elected by district, has been criticized for approving high rate increases for energy utilities.
Detractors also argue the PSC, currently all Republican, has been slow to encourage more affordable and sustainable power sources for Montana consumers.
Earlier this year, a coalition of 40 businesses and other organizations submitted a formal request asking the Public Service Commission to consider the adverse impacts of greenhouse gas emissions in utility regulation.
The climate petition is pending.
Most of the late push of more than half a million dollars into the race came from the American Jobs and Energy Security group, which lists its purpose as to support clean energy candidates and initiatives.
The group could not be reached for comment through phone numbers and an email address on file with its registration with the Commissioner of Political Practices.
American Jobs and Energy Security reported sending $475,000 later in September and $40,000 later in October to the Montana Ratepayers Association, plus additional in-kind contributions.
The Montana Ratepayers Association reported spending part of the money on “creative testing,” or polling research, and the bulk of it on digital and print advertising to support Evans.
In an interview last Friday, political analyst Lee Banville said large infusions of dark money are unusual in down-ballot races in Montana. However, he said they have taken place before, such as in Montana Supreme Court races.
“We saw it in the ballot initiative to get marijuana legalized,” said Banville, journalism professor and head of the School of Journalism at the University of Montana, of the 2020 effort. “There was a single group that funded the entire thing that we know almost nothing about.”
In this case, Banville said funders might be those who are frustrated by the lack of transition to renewable energy, which the PSC has not been pushing. The money may be a way to “change the conversation,” but be a warning to other commissioners and hopefuls as well.
“‘Maybe you should be taking renewables more seriously,’” Banville said of the possible message.
Prior to the election, however, Banville said Fielder had the advantage in the race regardless, being a Republican with incumbency and plenty of name recognition as a former state legislator.
But Banville also said he wanted to know the true purpose of the Montana Ratepayers Association: “Are they a real organization doing things to protect ratepayers? Or are they serving as a pass-through for money that is otherwise dark?”
The Montana Ratepayers Association is not registered with the Secretary of State’s Office. It did not respond to an email last week from the Daily Montana or a request for comment in a form submitted through its web portal.
The only information on its website is about recent PSC rate hikes, and the only candidates it mentions are Evans, whom it supported, and Fielder, whom it accused of “corporate cronyism.”
In a phone call the day after the election, however, Fielder said she suspects the funds spent to oppose her are “corporate money from entities that tend to profit from PSC decisions.”
But Fielder said she did not know for sure, and regardless, she didn’t see the expenditure as a threat from those who want the PSC to respond to the harmful effects of climate: “I don’t operate that way.”
“I do what is right under the law and in the public interest,” Fielder said. “I do my best, and fortunately, the people have tended to agree with that kind of thinking and have sent me back to continue working for them.”
Fielder had earned 55% of the vote to Evans’ 45%, according to the election results on the Montana Secretary of State’s elections site Thursday.
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In an email to the Daily Montanan about the Montana Ratepayers Association, Evans said she learned about the group from people in her district who received its mailers and shared them with her.
Although she lost, she said she was “overwhelmed” by the response from Montanans — “Trump voters and Harris voters” — who wanted to see change on the PSC.
In a public statement after the election, Evans said she would not stop advocating for “forward-thinking” energy sources and “a better future for our children.”
Besides Fielder and Molnar, one other Republican won his race for the Public Service Commission this week. State Sen. Jeff Welborn, a moderate from Dillon, had 62% of the vote Thursday to Leonard Williams’ 38%.
Welborn said when it comes to energy sources, reliability is key for the people he has talked to during his campaign — to keep refrigerators cold and hospitals open, for instance — even if consumers have to pay a little bit more.
But he said it’s hard to raise money for Public Service Commission races, more so than for legislative races, and the six-figure contribution is striking.
Four- and five-figure campaigns are more commonplace for the PSC.
“I’m here to tell you that it is a big effort to raise even $5,000 one check at a time from donors,” Welborn said.
The groups didn’t insert themselves in his campaign, but Welborn said big money won’t change the way he approaches his decisions regardless: “I’m not going to be bullied or pushed around by any organization.”
Still, he said, the fact that some entity can drop even $100,000 on a PSC candidate — “exponentially” more than candidates can raise on their own — and help them buy 20 times the name recognition is significant. And he said it raises questions.
“What is that expectation for the return on investment?” Welborn said. “And at whose feet does that expectation fall?”
Support, direct and indirect
The groups behind the half a million dollars for PSC candidate Elena Evans, separate from her candidate campaign, did not return calls or emails for comment from the Daily Montanan.
American Jobs and Energy Security lists an address at a Delaware building with a business that registers companies and helps make sure others “stay out of your business.”
It couldn’t be reached by phone last week or this week.
Montana Conservation Voters political director Molly Bell said her organization supported Evans, and it received indirect help from the groups.
In August, a consultant with Ship Creek Group, a creative and political agency in Alaska, contacted Montana Conservation Voters to see if it wanted to pool resources in conjunction with a poll, Bell said.
Ship Creek received support from the Montana Ratepayers Association, funded mostly by American Jobs and Energy Security, according to campaign finance reports.
The consultant on the project did not return a request for comment from the Daily Montanan.
Late last week, Bell said she didn’t know much about the groups that were also wanting to support Evans and clean energy, although she was pleased to hear they shared similar goals.
Bell had hoped to see Evans declare victory, but she said the aim from her organization is a PSC that supports new energy and commissioners who won’t be a “rubber stamp” for the fossil fuel industry.
A group of legal and civil rights organizations late Friday sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over conditions at Camp East Montana in El Paso, the country’s largest immigration detention facility.
“Camp East Montana is nothing short of a civil rights catastrophe,” Kyle Virgien, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, said in a statement. “We’re suing to ensure that no other human being has to endure the inhumane treatment that the Trump administration has inflicted on our clients.”
The Texas Tribune has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Filed by the ACLU of Texas, the ACLU, the Texas Civil Rights Project and law firm Farella Braun + Martel, the federal lawsuit comes less than a year after the opening of the sprawling tent camp.
In that time, the facility has seen at least three detainee deaths, a measles outbreak and nearly 50 detention standards violations as reported by ICE’s own inspectors, prompting calls for the camp’s closure from immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers.
The civil rights groups behind the lawsuit also alleged in a December letter that detained immigrants were subject to medical neglect, physical and sexual abuse by officers, insufficient food and denial of meaningful access to attorneys. In March, ICE switched out the facility’s prime operator for a more experienced contractor, saying the agency would “work closely with them” to improve services, including higher standards of medical care. Still, in a subsequent letter to ICE dated May 22, the groups said the situation “continued to deteriorate” and outlined additional complaints such as hazardous dust exposure.
Friday’s lawsuit argues that conditions at the facility are “unconstitutional punishment” and violate detainees’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment.
“These conditions are longstanding, pervasive, and well documented, and Defendants’ continued inaction in the face of known risks shows their deliberate indifference — not mere negligence — to detainees’ constitutional rights,” the lawsuit said.
The petition, filed on behalf of four detainees, is also seeking approval to proceed as a class action to cover all those who are currently or will be detained in Camp East Montana.
One of the plaintiffs is Gerald Akari Angye, a detained immigrant who called the conditions at the camp “inhumane and cruel.”
Prior to this lawsuit, the 35-year-old man had filed a petition in January seeking release from ICE detention. According to the filing, Angye was a high school teacher in Cameroon but fled after being kidnapped and tortured amid a separatist conflict. He sought asylum after crossing through a New Mexico port of entry in December 2024. An immigration judge later denied his application, and Angye appealed.
In a statement provided by the civil rights groups, Angye said he had been beaten at Camp East Montana and never thought he would face “such severely violent treatments” in the United States. He was also placed in solitary confinement for 15 days, according to the lawsuit.
“No one deserves such cruel treatment,” he said. “We are all humans and deserve to be treated like it.”
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar said in a statement to the Tribune that she is grateful for the legal fight. A leading critic of Camp East Montana, the El Paso Democrat called the facility “a purgatory for human beings held there.” She also vowed to continue her oversight visits and demand for the tent camp’s permanent closure.
Camp East Montana, first opened in August 2025, is located on Fort Bliss U.S. Army base.
Expected to ultimately reach a 5,000-bed capacity, the camp had a daily average of more than 2,500 detainees as of April 2, according to the most recent public data from ICE. The facility has also held the largest number of detained immigrants thus far in fiscal year 2026, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University found.
“Camp East Montana is at the epicenter of the administration’s cruel deportation agenda,” Savannah Kumar, staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement.
Disclosure: ACLU Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
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BUTTE, Mont. — The Sentinel Spartans are the kings of Montana AA baseball.
In the inaugural season of AA baseball in the Treasure State, Sentinel took the title by winning three games in two days at the State AA Tournament, culminating with a 6-3 championship game victory over the Gallatin Raptors.
“It’s tough to find words right now,” said Sentinel head coach Brian Moser. “It was pretty emotional celebrating with the guys. Just really happy for them. What an opportunity. They took advantage of it. Very proud of them. Very appreciative of everything they’ve done for me and Sentinel High School and Sentinel baseball. It’s a great night to be a Spartan.”
Junior Stellan Ridley was stellar for Sentinel, with two triples, two runs scored, and two runs batted in. Kaden Thennis added two hits, two runs, and an RBI while also drawing a hit by pitch. Owen Dale had a hit and a run batted in.
“We have a great mentality,” said Ridley. “I’m so proud of these young guys. As a junior and the seniors, leading us to this and showing how discipline works. We faced some chirpy people, and we just stayed with our level of the game and we performed, as you can see. We won the State Tournament!”
Each win for Sentinel in the tournament came in vastly different fashion.
The Spartans earned a nine-inning victory in their quarterfinal against Butte on Thursday, then came back from a 6-0 deficit after 4.5 innings in their Friday semifinal matinee against the Glacier Wolfpack. But on Friday night, in a game that started at 10 p.m. and ended at 12:08 a.m., Sentinel took an early lead and never trailed enroute to a victory over a Raptors team that had lost just one game all season.
“I had never played a game that late. Going from the early game, it was good that we had that little gap, we got to recuperate and take a solid power nap and come back out here with a lot of energy. Because if we came out flat, there was no way. But we came out with a lot of energy, and we stuck it to them. I mean, that team was good,” said Ridley of their hot start in the title game.
“Baseball is a funny game. There’s a lot of ways to win, there’s a lot of ways to lose. Just happy for the guys for sticking to it and never giving up.” said Moser. “Honestly, it takes a couple of lucky bounces here and there in a State Tournament, and we got those and took advantage. Beat a really, really good Gallatin team tonight. Just extremely proud.”
Gallatin managed to tie the game at 3 apiece in the fifth inning before the Spartans scored one in the sixth and two in the seventh, allowing freshman pitcher Lucas Johansson to earn the win and the save on the mound.
“It’s a big deal. 3 runs are way more than 1. It takes a lot of what the offense can do away. So those were huge, huge runs,” said Moser.
Johansson picked up two of the three wins in the tournament for Sentinel, while fellow freshman Paxson Onstot had the victory in the triumph over Glacier.
“I’m not going to say that’s how we drew it up, but that hopefully gives them confidence to come back next year ready to go,” said Moser. “We’ll have a target on our backs, but that’s okay. A lot of youth, it’s fun.”
Keaton Elliott tossed the first 4.1 innings of the title game for Sentinel, allowing just two hits, three earned runs, and five walks while striking out two.
The title marked the end of a remarkable turnaround for a Spartans team that started the season with a record of 5-7 before winning 10 of their last 11.
“(We got) absolutely shamed by our entire school (at assembly). It sat with me this whole time and I hated that. I just had so much drive,” said Ridley. “What are they going to say now?”
Wyatt Ford pitched a complete game for Gallatin, allowing three earned runs, five hits and a hit by pitch while striking out 10 on 103 pitches.
Ford and Louis Musial had the Raptors only two hits on the night, a triple and double, respectively, while Harvey Kimmel had two runs batted in.
Sentinel ends their season with a record of 15-8, while Gallatin concluded their campaign at 18-2.
“I think Gallatin came in here a little cocky. One loss the whole season, thinking they were going to probably roll us,” said Ridley. “No. We showed them up. Their eyes got big, and they realized we’re not a team to mess with.”
HELENA, Mont. — Montana counties have accepted enough signatures for Seth Bodnar, running for U.S. Senate and Michael Eisenhauer, running in Montana’s 2nd Congressional District, to be on the November ballot, although counts are still unofficial.
County election officials are continuing to verify signatures submitted by Tuesday’s deadline as part of the candidate petition process.
The Montana Secretary of State’s Office has not yet verified, certified or accepted the petitions, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Counties must submit candidate petitions to the Secretary of State’s office by June 1.
The Secretary of State’s office will then conduct its “statutory review to ensure the petitions meet the necessary legal requirements under law.”
The deadline for the November general election ballot to be certified is Thursday, Aug. 20. By then, all qualifying candidates and any potential ballot issues that qualify for the general election will be officially certified.
The following was out by the Montana Secretary of State’s Office:
The attached report is unofficial. It includes totals that the county election officials have processed and entered in the system. These totals do not represent what the Secretary of State’s Office has received, reviewed, tabulated, or certified. The certified totals may differ from what is reflected.
Seth Bodnar, U.S. Senate
- 13,327 required
- 18,772 accepted
- 7,812 rejected
Kimberly Persico, MT-01
- 6,742 required
- 563 accepted
- 156 rejected
Michael Eisenhauer, MT-02
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- 7,274 required
- 7,754 accepted
- 4,720 rejected
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