HELENA — The Montana Libertarian Party is currently the only third party in the state whose candidates have a guaranteed spot on the general election ballot, alongside Republicans and Democrats. In Montana’s U.S. Senate race, two candidates are competing to secure that spot.
Voters who choose the Libertarian primary ballot in the June election will select between Kyle Austin and Tom Jandron. The winner will move on to the November general election, with the Republican and Democratic nominees and possibly with an independent candidate.
Austin owns Pharm406, a pharmacy business based in Billings. He’s previously run twice for Montana’s eastern U.S. House seat as a Republican and says he’s been a lifelong Republican, but he decided to switch to send a message.
“We're tired of the garbage that's coming out of the two-party system,” he said. “And it goes to the voters: Do you want to continue going down the same path we've been going, or do you want change?”
(Watch MTN's extended interview with Kyle Austin.)
Austin is concerned about some of the changes Congress made to Medicaid last year, saying they could lead to Montanans who should have coverage getting kicked off. However, he supports the idea of work requirements for benefits, especially for programs like SNAP. He’s unhappy with the growing size of the federal government and the national debt, and he says President Donald Trump’s tariff policies are misdirected.
“If you're an ally of ours, zero tariff – zero tariff on imports, zero tariff on exports,” he said. “It's a great diplomacy that we can have in the world: If you're not an ally of ours and you want to do business with the United States, then it gives them a good reason to lead with us, follow what we’re asking them to do as a non-ally and bring them in.”
Jandron is an aviation mechanic and retired Army National Guard member from Clancy. He got heavily involved in the state Libertarian Party about five years ago. He’s critical of Republicans like incumbent U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, saying they haven’t done enough to shrink the federal budget or push back on government surveillance.
“We find Republicans typically run as libertarians, and then when they get to Washington, they will go right back to voting as the party tells them,” said Jandron. “So I just wanted to have another voice in this election cycle.”
(Watch MTN's extended interview with Tom Jandron.)
Jandron has also been an advocate for the “Defend the Guard Act,” a bill proposed in the Montana Legislature in 2023 and 2025 that sought to prevent National Guard members from being deployed for combat without a congressional declaration of war. He drew some national attention shortly after launching his campaign when he posted to the social media platform X, saying that if he was elected, he would call for legislation to draft U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham – a prominent advocate of military action in Iran – into the military.
“I just got sick and tired of it and thought I'd call him out,” he said. “Obviously it was tongue-in-cheek, but it got the attention and the message out there.”
Last month, the Montana Libertarian Party held a convention in Helena, and the delegates there voted to endorse Jandron in the primary. The party’s announcement cited Jandron’s “deep alignment with party goals” and questioned Austin’s commitment to libertarian positions.
As Montana has no political party registration, anyone is free to file in any party’s primary. The state Libertarian Party said it has become more active in primaries following the 2022 election, when a candidate they disagreed with won the Libertarian nomination in the eastern congressional district and they ended up disavowing his candidacy.
Jandron said he’s grateful for the party’s support. He says he’s been studying libertarian ideas since Ron Paul’s presidential campaign in 2008, and he wants to advance those principles.
“I'm bringing the message and a brand of true libertarianism to the people in Montana,” he said.
Austin said he wasn’t surprised by the party’s decision, and that his campaign is aimed at reaching more than just Libertarians.
“Libertarians don't put their names on the ballot to win; they put their names on the ballot to steal votes and have a name recognition, but they don't go out to win,” he said. “I'm different: I'm out to win the race and represent all Montanans across the board.”
Two other Libertarian congressional candidates do not have primaries and are set to move on to the general election: Nick Sheedy in Montana’s western congressional district and Patrick McCracken in Montana’s eastern congressional district. Both men live in Columbia Falls; U.S. House candidates are not required to live in the district they’re running in. The Montana Libertarian Party gave endorsements to Sheedy and McCracken.
Editor’s Note: This is the last of MTN’s stories on Montana’s contested congressional primaries. You can find our interviews with the Republican and Democratic candidates for Senate – and all the major-party candidates for U.S. House – on this website.
