Primary Election Results
 | Author:
Nancy Marks, MT43 News reporter
Nancy Marks: MT43 News Secretary and News Editor |
Article Published: 06/05/2026 Volume: 4 Edition: 48 Voters had a chance Tuesday to whittle down candidates they wanted to run in the general election in November. Turnout was light with 2,128 votes cast out of 6,211 registered voters. Voters needed to choose which party to vote for, but could only vote for one party- Democratic, Republican or Libertarian ballot. According to Clerk and Recorder, Elections Administrator Angie Paulsen, the only contested race for the primary election was the nonpartisan six-year seat for County Commissioner with three candidates. The unofficial numbers here are taken from the Montana Secretary of State’s website.
Incumbent Debi Randolph easily won the runoff with 930 votes. Randolph had promised in her campaign to maintain county fiscal responsibility, improve infrastructure and ensure government transparency.
Her opponent, Tim Ravndal, who had run for the office once in 2002, received 668 votes. Ravndal had also run for Legislative House District 68 twice – in 2013 and 2020. Vitally interested in government transparency, Ravndal campaigned on keeping the public informed at county commission meetings and keeping tight rein on the county budget.
Audrey Walleser of Winston received 419 nofficial votes. Walleser had campaigned on stronger leadership for the county, stronger policies and better communication between the commissioners and their constituents.
Other races eligible voters cast were:
State Legislative House District 77:
Republican Jane Gillette- 1,448
Democrat Deb Hansen- 390
United States Senator:
Republican Candidates:
Kurt Alme- 1,245
Lee Calhoun -186
Charles Walking Child- 150
Democratic Candidates:
Alani Bankhead- 182
Michael Black Wolf- 50
Michael Hummert- 26
Christopher Kehoe- 27
Reilly Neill- 147
Libertarian Candidates: Kyle Austin-25 and Tom Jandron-19.
US Representative 2nd Congressional District: Libertarian Candidate:
Patrick McCracken-39
Democratic candidates:
Sam Lux-119;
Brian J. Miller -218
jonathan Windy Boy-90;
Republican Candidate:
Troy Downing-1,474
District Court Judge District 1, Department 3: Daniel Kuzynski-1,678.
Supreme Court Justice #4:
Amy Eddy-712
Dan Wilson-1,240.
The official election returns will be posted in next week’s paper by the Elections Administrator. The general election is scheduled for Tuesday, November 3.
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