Montana
Price of persuasion: Groups spent more than $9 million influencing Montana legislators, with mixed results
Ron Marshall knew that he was beat. The vape shop owner-turned-state lawmaker had been in plenty of political scrapes over nicotine products during his tenure at the Montana Legislature, but this time was different.
As chair of the House Human Services Committee in the 2025 session, he’d heard from both Big Nicotine and what the Republican from Hamilton categorically refers to as the “organ lobby” — the heart and lung associations — pushing hard against products that are harmful to users’ health.
But Marshall wasn’t ready for the tidal wave of spending by tobacco companies advocating for House Bill 525, legislation that winnowed the list of vape products sold in Montana, in what was one of the more high-dollar lobbying efforts of that legislative session.
All told, 474 groups spent more than $9.3 million to influence lawmakers as they decided the fates of hundreds of pieces of legislation during the first four months of the year. The data comes from principal spending reports filed with the Montana Commissioner of Political Practices. Total spending was similar for the 2023 legislative session.
Combined, tobacco companies spent $219,151. Spending by Altria, the largest tobacco company in the United States with Philip Morris brands like Marlboro in its portfolio, had more than doubled since the 2023 session.
“They have this PMTA list of approved products, 26 approved,” said Marshall in a recent interview with Montana Free Press. PMTA is shorthand for Premarket Tobacco Product Application. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s PMTA list consists of new nicotine products that can be sold while the government weighs permanent approval. Big Nicotine is very effective at muscling its products onto the list, Marshall said.
Not quite halfway through the 2025 legislative session, Marshall quit, insisting that his adversaries’ lobbying reach was too great. HB 525, which died in process after Marshall resigned, would have put refillable vapes in the loss column by clearing shelves to make space for Big Nicotine’s PMTA-approved products.
Nicotine, labor issues and the politicization of judicial races and elections were top spending issues for principals attempting to influence the Montana Legislature. The top spenders from 2025 are a mix of in-state stakeholders and nonprofit issue advocacy groups tied to Republican influencers. Occasionally, these groups clashed over the same policy matters.
The Montana Federation of Public Employees, the state’s largest union of public employees, was the top spender of the session with $179,079 in total expenditures.
The number of bills MFPE lobbied numbered 262. Their success rate — when a bill’s fate matched the organization’s support or opposition — was about 65%, according to state lobbying reports and the Montana Free Press Capitol Tracker. For perspective, the Montana Chamber of Commerce, which spent $122,000 lobbying on 164 bills including everything from Medicaid expansion (which it supported) to the version of residential and small business property tax relief that lawmakers passed (which it opposed) had a 75% success rate.
MFPE President Amanda Curtis said in an early July email that union members write and vote to select subjects to lobby, or as Curtis calls it a “member-driven and member-approved” process. The list ranged from support for Medicaid expansion and public lands to increasing pay for public school teachers and opposition to partisan judicial elections.
The Service Employees International Union 775 was third in total spending at $138,045. The bills lobbied by SEIU went the way of its position about half the time.
Sandwiched between the two unions at No. 2 was Montana Citizens for Right to Work, which reported total spending of $139,541, while listing work on just one bill, Senate Bill 376, which would have ended requirements that employees pay union dues as a term of employment in organized businesses.
The right-to-work bill was voted down twice in the same day in February, first in committee and second on the Senate floor, where sponsor Sen. Mark Noland, R-Bigfork, couldn’t persuade 26 lawmakers to blast the bill out of committee for a vote.
Before the bill was heard in the Senate Business, Labor and Economic Affairs Committee, union advocates lined the path from the Capitol’s second-floor rotunda to where the committee was meeting one floor above.
Noland recognized the union backers’ strength in numbers, granting them the majority of the time during the SB 376 hearing. More than 200 people signed up to speak against the bill. The only supporters of the bill were two right-to-work organization reps.
“We’re going to give you a little more time, because there’s more of you. And you know, I’m all about fairness,” Noland said at the hearing’s start. Spending reports for Western States Right to Work, lobbying as Montana Citizens for Right to Work, show they spent more than $100,000 on printing and postage, on-brand for an organization whose national parent, National Right to Work, is known for mail campaigns to pressure lawmakers and voters, including a secretive campaign in Montana’s 2010 Republican primaries.
A voicemail placed to Montana Citizens for Right to Work President Randy Pope wasn’t returned before the publication of this story.
Other single-issue big spenders include Americans for Citizen Voting, a Missouri-based group that’s proposed amending several state constitutions to say that only citizens vote in local elections. Voting is already restricted to citizens in state and federal elections.
ACV was once a nonprofit but the IRS revoked that tax status in 2022, citing several years of not reporting their finances. When it was a nonprofit, the group was funded by Liberty Initiative Fund, which in turn received money from Restoration of America, an organization that has funded the use of discredited techniques for finding voter fraud, according to a 2022 report by ProPublica. Richard Uihlein, a large Republican donor and shipping supplies magnate, is the primary contributor to Restoration’s efforts.
ACV Director Jack Tomczak traveled to Montana twice to testify for Senate Bill 185, the citizen vote bill sponsored by Sen. Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton. ACV’s total spending was $111,881. The bill died in the House. Afterward, ACV ran attack ads against Billings Republican Sherry Essmann for voting against the bill.
Essmann told Montana Free Press in June that Montana already limits voting to citizens, which is why she voted against it.
A slate of bills to weaken the political firewall between Montana courts, the Legislature and the executive branch drew top spenders. Combined, the American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Montana spent nearly $250,0000. The two groups opposed a bill to make Montana judicial races partisan, while also opposing bills that they said violate constitutional rights like freedom of religion. Likewise, the Montana State Bar and Montana Trial Lawyers spent a combined $103,000 opposing bills to change the judiciary.
Seven of 27 bills to change the judicial system passed. Registered principals supporting the bills were few in number, but Senate Bill 42, which called for partisan judicial races, did draw support from Montana Family Foundation, a Christian policy and advocacy group that mostly steered clear of bills challenging the judiciary. MFF reported spending $78,000 lobbying the Legislature in 2025.
EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — A proposed high-voltage transmission project in far East El Paso is raising concerns among residents in the Montana Vista area, as developers work to determine a potential route that could impact private property.
The project, known as Pecos West, is being developed by Grid United and would create a high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line connecting El Paso to southeastern New Mexico.
According to the company, the goal is to link major parts of the U.S. electric grid, specifically the Western and Eastern interconnections, allowing electricity to move in both directions between regions. Developers say the project could strengthen energy reliability, expand access to power markets, and help prevent outages during extreme weather.
Grid United also describes Pecos West as a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure investment that could bring jobs, tax revenue, and long-term economic benefits to communities along the route.
However, for residents in Montana Vista, the immediate concern is not the long-term benefits, but what the project could mean for their land.
At a community meeting Saturday morning, several residents were able to voice their concern, telling KFOX14/CBS4 they feel they have not received enough information about the project’s path or timeline, especially as discussions about a preliminary route continue.
“We haven’t got anything from you,” said Armando Rodriguez, president of the Montana Vista Landowners. “Not one quote.”
Others echoed concerns about communication, calling on the company to directly notify homeowners who may be affected.
“You need to go to these houses, give people information, and say this could affect you,” one resident said.
Grid United says the project is still in the planning and development phase, and no final route has been approved.
The company says construction would only begin after securing regulatory approvals and negotiating land agreements with property owners.
Company representatives also emphasized that landowner participation is voluntary.
“Pecos does not have eminent domain,” said Alexis Marquez, community relations manager for the project. “If a landowner does not want it on their property, we would look at alternate routes.”
Developers say outreach will continue as planning progresses, but residents are asking for more direct communication now, especially those who believe they could be directly impacted.
The project is not expected to be completed anytime soon, with Grid United estimating that Pecos West could become operational in the mid-2030s if approved.
For now, the conversation in Montana Vista reflects a familiar tension seen in large infrastructure project, balancing long-term regional benefits with local concerns about transparency, property, and community impact.
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EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Following widespread neighborhood concerns first reported by KTSM 9 News on Friday, residents of the Montana Vista area came face-to-face with developers of the proposed “Pecos West” transmission line project on Saturday morning, May 9 during a community meeting held at the Montana Vista Community Center.
The multi-million dollar project, spearheaded by power grid developer Grid United, aims to build a massive transmission line connecting the El Paso area to southeastern New Mexico.
While developers tout the project as a crucial link to prevent grid bottlenecks, families living in the path of the proposed line continue to voice mounting frustration and distrust over how the land acquisition is being handled.
On Friday, Grid United released a statement to KTSM insisting their one-on-one land negotiations were conducted out of respect for private property rights. But at Saturday’s community gathering, residents and advocates made it clear they aren’t buying it.
“People are afraid. I’m not afraid. I’m angry,” said Armando Rodriguez, president of the Union of Montana Vista Landowners, who previously said that developers had been quietly approaching his neighbors for months with varying buyout offers.
Only about a dozen residents and advocates attended the weekend meeting, but they loudly questioned why the company spent the past year approaching landowners individually rather than addressing the community as a whole.
During the exchange, project officials admitted they have already acquired about 50 percent of the properties in the impacted area. Grid United later clarified to KTSM that the exact number fluctuates frequently, just like the proposed route.
Community organizers argued that the company’s isolated approach leaves residents vulnerable and misinformed.
“When a company like this turns up and says, ‘We’re going to buy your property.’ We must ensure that community members understand that they have the right to say no, or that they have the right to negotiate a higher value,” said Veronica Carbajal, an organizer with the Sembrando Esperanza Coalition.
Carbajal highlighted that the lack of widespread notification and a standardized compensation formula is creating deep unease.
“They’ve already bought properties, but they have not established notification to every resident that will be impacted, nor have they set up a formula for compensation,” Carbajal said. “So what we can see online through the title transfers is that there is a very wide distinction between how much people are being paid. We don’t want the community to be divided. We also want people to understand that this is voluntary. They do not have to sell if they don’t want to.”
A major point of contention at Saturday’s meeting was the threat of eminent domain. Grid United explained that, as a private company, they do not possess eminent domain authority, insisting that if a landowner refuses to sell, the company will simply find an alternative route.
“At Pecos West we’re very landowner-first approach,” said Alexis Marquez, Pecos West community relations manager. “So if a landowner does not want (the transmission line) on the property, then we would find alternative routes.”
But Rodriguez remains highly skeptical that the developers would simply walk away from targeted plots.
“A corporation as big as you, a multi-million dollar corporation, I find it hard to believe that you would invest money into something this big and just walk away if the family said, ‘No, I don’t want to sell it,’” Rodriguez told officials during the meeting. “The question is: Are you really serious about what you’re saying here? Or is this just another dog and pony show?”
Project leaders conceded they need to adjust their efforts in engaging and informing the community, promising more meetings to come. However, residents emphasized that trust is currently broken and will only be rebuilt with concrete action.
El Paso County Commissioner Jackie Butler, who helped organize the meeting, said the County has no power to halt the proposed project, but she said she has been communicating with project officials and is trying to connect them with community advocacy organizations.
“I learned very quickly that the County does not have any authority or permitting process to stop these kinds of projects. And so that’s when I started connecting Pecos West to community members so that they could get directly involved,” Butler said. “My questions to Pecos West have been, Why do you have to come through our community? And even if you have to build through our region, you should go around it.”
Moving forward, the residents in attendance made it clear they do not intend to sell their property. They are demanding Grid United bring all impacted neighbors to the table as a collective before any more land is purchased.
If the project continues to move forward, construction is not expected to begin until the mid-2030s.
The Montana Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.
Here’s a look at May 8, 2026, results for each game:
Winning Mega Millions numbers from May 8 drawing
37-47-49-51-58, Mega Ball: 16
Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Big Sky Bonus numbers from May 8 drawing
09-14-18-20, Bonus: 16
Check Big Sky Bonus payouts and previous drawings here.
Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from May 8 drawing
14-16-21-43-51, Bonus: 03
Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.
Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results
When are the Montana Lottery drawings held?
- Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
- Lucky For Life: 8:38 p.m. MT daily.
- Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
- Big Sky Bonus: 7:30 p.m. MT daily.
- Powerball Double Play: 8:59 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
- Montana Cash: 8 p.m. MT on Wednesday and Saturday.
- Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.
Missed a draw? Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.
This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Great Falls Tribune editor. You can send feedback using this form.
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