Montana Supreme Court Denies Effort to Remove Green Party Senate Candidate From Ballot
Montana Democrat Sen. Jon Tester already faced a hard road to victory in November.
The Montana Supreme Court made it rockier by denying the Democrat Party’s request it take control of its case to remove the Green Party senate candidate from the ballot. From The Daily Montanan:
A five-justice Montana Supreme Court panel on Tuesday denied the Montana Democratic Party’s request that the court take over its case challenging the appointment of the Green Party’s U.S. Senate candidate, saying the party had not convinced the justices that a lower court erroneously allowed the Green Party candidate onto the ballot.The decision means U.S. Senate candidate Robert Barb remains on the ballot.While the court panel denied the party’s request for a writ of supervisory control, it also found that the party had not shown it was likely to succeed on the merits of its argument for a preliminary injunction that would block Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen from certifying the November ballot to include Barb.
Barb became the nominee when Michael Downey withdrew from the general election in August.
The Green Party filed to put Barb on the ballot instead of Downey, which the state certified a few weeks later.
The state’s Democrat Party argued the Green Party did not properly interpret the statute that explains how a party can replace a candidate.
Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Kathy Seeley granted a restraining order, but denied the preliminary injunction after she heard arguments.
The Democrat Party “appealed Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Mike McMahon’s ruling from Sept. 3, which denied the Democratic Party’s request for an injunction to keep Barb off the ballot.”
But if the Montana Supreme Court receives the case again, the justices said it would “affirm the district court when it reaches the right result, even if it reaches the right result for the wrong reason.”
Losing Tester to his GOP challenger Tim Sheehy could flip the Senate to a Republican majority.
Cook Political Report described their race as “lean Republican.”
The Real Clear Politics polling average has Sheehy leading Tester, 50% to 44.8%.
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