Montanans voted this week to send more Democrats to the state legislature, smashing a Republican supermajority in Big Sky Country.
Democrats gained nine more seats in the state’s House of Representatives, and two more in the state Senate, even as Montanans voted for conservative lawmakers to represent them in Washington.
It won’t be enough to break the Republican trifecta in Montana, but it will be enough to allow Democrats to block conservative bills and negotiate with Governor Greg Gianforte on issues that splinter the state’s conservatives, reported the Montana Free Press. Tuesday’s results, which were made possible in large part thanks to recently redrawn legislative maps, mean that Montana Democrats will hold 41 of 100 House seats as well as 18 out of 50 Senate seats in the 2025 Legislature.
State Representative Zooey Zephyr celebrated her re-election, writing in a statement that the win marked “historic gains” for Democrats in the traditionally red state.
“Despite a national election cycle that saw a 2-3 point shift towards Republicans, Montanans voted to send an additional nine Democrats to the state House of Representatives,” Zephyr wrote. “This is the largest gain for Democrats in over 30 years and represents a clear repudiation of the Republican’s extreme and undemocratic policies.”
Zephyr, the first and only openly transgender individual to be elected to Montana’s legislature, was censured and barred from the state House floor by the conservative caucus in 2023 for declaring that Republicans had “blood” on their hands for advancing an anti-trans bill.
“By shattering the Republican supermajority, Montanans have taken steps towards restoring accountability and genuine representation in our state government, and have shown that when Democrats are unwavering in our values, we are rewarded at the ballot box,” Zephyr added in her statement Friday.
