Introducing: Who Actually Wants To Be Governor of Montana

The candidate filing period has closed with the Montana Secretary of State, and we now know who wants to be the next (26th) governor of Montana. The candidates that have filed represent three different political parties.

5 people filed to run for governor of Montana, by the closing date of 5 p.m. on March 11, 2024. The office of governor is a four year term vs. a U.S. Senator with a six year term. The governor of Montana is a partisan office, with a current compensation of $118,397 (according to BallotPedia.org).

Who is the governor of Montana right now in 2024? Greg Gianforte has been the 25th governor of Montana since 2021 (elected in 2020). According to the National Governors Association:

"Montanans elected Greg Gianforte as their state’s 25th governor on November 3, 2020. Gianforte received more votes than any candidate for governor in Montana history and won with the largest margin for a first-term governor since 1920."

Who are the people who are running for Governor in the 2024 election? All candidate information can be found with the Secretary of State if you'd like to see all the candidates that filed for all the offices.

The primary will occur on June 4, 2024. The general election will occur on November 5, 2024. (The addresses below were provided as mailing addresses for the campaigns. The towns may not reflect current residence of the candidate.)

• RYAN BUSSE (KALISPELL, MT - Democrat)
• GREG GIANFORTE - Incumbent (HELENA, MT - Republican)
• JIM HUNT (HELENA, MT - Democrat)
• KAISER LEIB (HELENA, MT - Libertarian
• TANNER SMITH (LAKESIDE, MT - Republican)

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Tanner Smith on illegal immigration: "On week one of my Administration, I will declare a State of emergency. If the Federal Government won’t enforce our laws, then I WILL enforce them HERE in our State. I will use our National Guard dressed in plain clothes to wrangle these folks up and escort them out of our State. Borders, Language and Culture are the Bedrock of American and Montana." (via official site)

As of this writing, we did not find an official candidate's website for Jim Hunt.

Ryan Busse on Freedom of Choice: "Ryan is an unapologetic defender of the freedom of health care and reproductive choice, and of Montana’s constitutional right to privacy. He believes no politician has any right to make private health care decisions for women, including whether to have an abortion." (via official site)

Greg Gianforte on TikTok: "The CCP’s ability to spy on Americans through TikTok is well-documented. It's time the federal government follow Montana's lead to ban the app to protect our personal, private data." (via X)

Kaiser Leib on running for office: "I would hereby like to announce my candidacy for governor of the state of Montana for the 2024 election. We've let out-of-state big-money mainstream politicians make choices for us for too long. I'm the only Libertarian in the race. I'm the only one running who was born here." (via X)