Beyond Party: Strengthening Montana’s Constitutional Guardrails

By the Board of Beyond Party – Montana First

As Montana moves toward the 2026 elections and the legislative session that will follow in 2027, the health of our state government deserves renewed attention. The filing deadline for primary candidates has now passed, campaigns are taking shape across the state, and voters are considering not only the issues at stake but also the kind of leadership they want for Montana in the years ahead.

Montana’s history provides a powerful example of cross-partisan leadership rooted in integrity, grounded ethics, and a commitment to fairness. Mike Mansfield, our nation’s longest-serving Senate Majority Leader, built a relationship with Minority Leader Everett Dirksen of Illinois that was defined by trust and anchored in a shared love of country.

By honoring their shared obligation to work for the nation’s best interests, they helped pass some of the most consequential and enduring legislation in American history, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.Their partnership reminds us that the strength of a republic depends not only on policy outcomes but on the character of those who lead it.

Inspired by such examples of ethical leadership, we are launching Beyond Party – Montana First, a bipartisan effort focused on 1) strengthening the civic framework that supports Montana’s democratic republic, and  2) evaluating public leadership through that lens.

Our board includes former elected officials from both parties who have spent years working in and around state government. We do not all share the same policy views, and we have disagreed with one another over the course of long careers in public life. What unites us is a shared belief that Montana’s constitutional system, and the ethos that sustains it, require deliberate stewardship.

Montanans hold different views about taxes, public lands, housing policy, energy development, education, and the proper scope of government: debates that take place everywhere from the Capitol in Helena to coffee shops across the state. Those differences are not a flaw in the system; they represent its inherent value.

What often receives less attention is the shared consensus that allows those disagreements to play out without undermining the system itself. Montana’s Constitution does not resolve our policy debates, but it does establish the guardrails within which those debates are meant to occur. It separates powers, promotes transparency, and guarantees citizens a central role in decision-making.

Those guardrails exist so that, regardless of who wins any given election, the system itself remains accountable and responsive.  The difficulty arises when the partisan pursuit of attaining and extending power at all costs begins to undermine the ways of working together that give our system its legitimacy.

Beyond Party is deliberately focused on those pragmatic, problem-solving approaches to governing. We will call attention to (and in some cases endorse or financially support) candidates who have exemplified these republican virtues.

We will apply these standards equally, regardless of party label or district.

Beyond Party will not attempt to involve itself everywhere, nor will it measure candidates by ideological purity or party loyalty.  Our involvement will be grounded in the question of whether constitutional balance and responsible governance are being upheld.

Montanans are capable of holding two ideas at once: that political competition is healthy, and that the rules governing that competition matter more than any single victory. Political parties will continue to compete in Montana, as they should. Parties organize debates and present voters with choices. But no party and no individual officeholder is more important than the principles and practices of the democratic republic that make those choices meaningful.

Placing Montana first, beyond any one party, means recognizing that the long-term stability of the state matters more than the temporary success of any faction within it.

Arguments over policy will not subside. Nor should they. The question is whether those arguments unfold within a structure that preserves balance, accountability, and public trust.

Strengthening that structure, patiently and deliberately, is the work Beyond Party is pursuing. Please join us in this work.  Visit our website at https://beyondpartymtfirst.org/, join us, and support us as you are able.

Daniel Kemmis – Beyond Party Board Chair

Mae Nan Ellingson – Vice Chair

Joel Krautter – Secretary

Mike Halligan – Treasurer

Bob Brown

Frank Garner

Marc Racicot

P.O. Box 7152, Missoula, Montana 59807

www.beyondpartymtfirst.org / info@beyondpartymtfirst.org

406-285-1899