HELENA — The race to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Downing in Montana’s 2nd Congressional District was upended a few weeks ago, when one of the three candidates for the Democratic nomination announced he was suspending his campaign. That left two Democrats actively running for the nomination: a pair who both say either one of them would be a good choice.
Sam Lux, a farrier from Great Falls, and Brian Miller, an attorney from Helena, have become friends during the campaign and sometimes appeared at each other’s events on the trail. Neither is attempting to criticize the other, and they’re largely aligned on policy. They say they’ll leave it to voters to decide which one of them has the right skill set for this job.
(Watch MTN's extended interview with Sam Lux.)
“What I can say that I bring to it is a background of a lifetime of experience working in the rural communities, being part of rural Montana and knowing what the Eastern District is truly all about and what it's going to need,” Lux said.
“I've been litigating cases in Montana for 15 years,” said Miller. “I know how to work with subject matter experts in different fields, ask questions, get data and information – because if you're a member of Congress, you need to go and talk to economists, you need to go and talk to agriculture experts, you need to go into fields where you may not really know it all, but you have to figure out and ask the right questions.”
(Watch MTN's extended interview with Brian Miller.)
The third Democratic candidate, state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, suspended his campaign two weeks ago. While he cited health concerns, Democratic Party leaders referred to what they called “allegations of serious sexual abuse.”
Lux and Miller have played a role in bringing attention to those allegations, including claims of inappropriate messages to a minor – and they say they worked together in doing so. Lux says he was contacted by voters about the allegations and he brought in Miller because of his legal background. Miller says he is now representing one of Windy Boy’s accusers – though he said he didn’t take her on as a client until after Windy Boy stopped campaigning, because he accepted there could be an appearance of conflict of interest.
“The reality is, I don't know if there's going to be any other justice other than the justice we get in the court of public opinion,” Miller said.
The official deadline for candidates to withdraw has passed, so Windy Boy’s name will still appear on ballots. However, his campaign website and donation page have been closed.
“The way I see it is, we have now cleaned a little bit of house here in eastern Montana, and next year we're going to do the same thing in the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Lux.
Lux has lived in Montana for about seven years. He previously worked as a veterinary technician and in the tech industry before starting his own business caring for horses’ hooves.
Miller is originally from the Southeast, and has lived in Montana for most of the last 25 years. Since 2010, he’s worked with the Helena law firm Morrison, Sherwood, Wilson and Deola.
Both men are sharply critical of the Trump administration, and both have said they want to see Trump impeached. They call for Congress to do more to check the power of the executive branch, and they want to undo Trump’s tariff policies. They also want to reverse the tighter Medicaid requirements included in last year’s “One Big Bill.”
Republicans have been considered overwhelming favorites in the 2nd District, which covers much of central and eastern Montana, including Great Falls, Helena and Billings. In 2024, Downing defeated his Democratic opponent by more than 30 points. However, Lux and Miller believe there are disillusioned voters there who are open to change.
“There's a huge movement of what I call nonaligned voters in this district,” said Miller. “Many of them are women and they're not partisan, but they really want to vote for the candidates that they know are going to have their back.”
“I think that at the end of the day, what I've learned is that Montana – yeah, it's conservative, but it's not red,” Lux said. “I think that we can get back to that progressive conservatism that has made Montana always stand out as the best of what the United States has to offer.”
The winner of the Democratic primary will move on to the general election, along with Downing and Libertarian candidate Patrick McCracken, of Columbia Falls. In addition, Mike Eisenhauer, is attempting to qualify for the general election ballot as an independent.
Editor’s Note: This week and next week, MTN will bring you full coverage on the candidates in each of Montana’s contested congressional primaries. You can find our coverage of the candidates in the 1st Congressional District on this website.
