HELENA — Since the start of 2026, there’s been a growing group of candidates jumping into Montana’s elections. Not all of them are from the two major parties.
“I think there's a growing constituency out there that are unhappy with the fringe elements at both ends: fringe-end element of the blue, fringe element of the red,” said Mike Eisenhauer. “I think that there really is a growing majority in the middle.”
Eisenhauer, a cardiologist from Great Falls, says he wants to serve that constituency in the middle by running as an independent candidate for U.S. House in the 2nd Congressional District, which covers most of central and eastern Montana.
Watch the video to hear more from Eisenhauer:
“My largest concern right now is that Congress is dysfunctional,” he said. “The two-party system seems to be more interested in fighting against each other than working what's in the best interests of our citizens. I think Montanans are missing out because of that – because of the simple, ‘You've got to vote the way the party bosses tell you to vote, or you're kicked off the island.’”
Eisenhauer, 62 years old, grew up in Nebraska. He spent about 25 years in the U.S. Army, as a physician and health care administrator. After retiring from the military, he moved to Wyoming, and then about 10 years ago came to Great Falls, where he was a cardiologist with Benefis Health System. Now, he says he’s “semi-retired,” working as a traveling physician serving smaller facilities.
Eisenhauer says he’s thought about politics for a while. He says one of the things that drove him to get into the race this time was his frustration with how lawmakers handled the government shutdown last year.
“Rather than communicate with each other, rather than find a middle-of-the-road, rather than try to solve the problem, it was, ‘Let's take our toys and go home,’” he said. “That really bothered me enough that it's like, ‘It's time to try to do something different.’”
He says he has agreements and disagreements with both parties. He’s unhappy with the health care changes Republicans made as part of their “One Big Bill” last year, and he criticizes Biden administration spending policies that he believes fueled inflation.
Eisenhauer’s first challenge is to get onto the ballot. To qualify for the election, independent candidates have an extra requirement that Republicans and Democrats don’t need to go through: getting petition signatures from registered voters.
Last year, the Montana Legislature passed House Bill 207, which amended the signature requirements for independent and minor-party candidates. They must now get 4% of the total number of votes cast for the winning candidate in the last election. In the 2nd Congressional District race, that means 7,274 signatures.
Eisenhauer says he sees Montana’s requirements as unreasonable, especially compared to states like Idaho, which requires only 500 signatures for an independent U.S. House candidate, and North Dakota, which requires 1,000.
“I want to touch this gingerly, but in Montana, even at the statehouse, there seems to be a desire to preserve that duopoly,” he said.
He says he hopes to have volunteers out collecting signatures in large and small communities across the district soon.
Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Downing is up for reelection in the 2nd District race. Two Democratic candidates have also launched campaigns: Helena attorney Brian Miller and Great Falls farrier Sam Lux.
Of course, Eisenhauer might not be the only independent candidate trying to qualify for the ballot this year. There’s also speculation University of Montana President Seth Bodnar will run for U.S. Senate as an independent. That race would require 13,327 signatures.
The only third party in Montana whose candidates can qualify for the ballot without signatures this year is the Libertarian Party, which retained their automatic ballot access by receiving enough votes in the 2024 elections. Earlier this month, Kyle Austin, a pharmacy owner from Billings, filed campaign finance paperwork to run for U.S. Senate as a Libertarian.
An independent campaign has been tried in the eastern congressional district before. In 2022, Billings businessman Gary Buchanan received 22% of the vote as an independent – ahead of Democratic candidate Penny Ronning’s 20%, but well behind Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale’s nearly 57%.
There’s also been increasing attention on independent candidates in congressional races, like in 2024, when Dan Osborn won 47% of the vote in Nebraska’s U.S. Senate race against Republican Sen. Deb Fischer. However, in that race, no Democratic candidates were running.
Independent candidates like Osborn have faced questions about whether they’re running to help one party or the other – as have third-party candidates in previous Montana elections. Eisenhauer insists he hasn’t been recruited by either party.
“I also have no interest at all at being a spoiler,” he said. “If it turns out closer to the election that I'm hurting or harming the process, I will respectfully bow out.”
