Tired of being one of the very last states to vote in primary presidential elections, Montana is again debating whether it should go to the polls in early spring or even late winter.

Fear of missing out is a powerful thing, legislators weighing the issue this week concurred, but so is February ground so frozen it can’t be punctured with campaign signs. The discussion took place at the Legislature’s interim State Administration and Veterans Affairs Committee on Nov. 17. 

“If we do it too early, you know, in line with the first primaries, talking about January or February, I would agree that that would generally be too early,” said Rep. Lukas Schubert, a Kalispell Republican. “For us, for any individual that is trying to campaign, door-knocking, putting up signs, if it’s negative-degree weather or having massive snowstorms, which would be a hindrance to that.”

Likely, grassroots campaigning would lose ground to well-financed political committees who can afford TV ad buys, Schubert said.

The 2025 Legislature commissioned the interim study to identify options for an earlier primary with the goal of having something to report to the 2027 Legislature. The timing could accommodate an early primary for the 2028 presidential election, while including school elections on the state and federal ballot. 

“My four sessions here in state admin, at various times, there have been a number of bills trying to move election dates, whether it be, you know, state, county, whatever, municipal dates. And I just think it would be a good idea for the State Admin and Veterans Affairs Committee to do a study during the interim to see where these dates are, and work in conjunction with all the stakeholders and see if we can maybe consolidate,” said Rep. Julie Darling, R-Helena, when introducing the proposal during the 2025 Legislature.

Montana’s dead-last distinction for presidential primaries is shared with the District of Columbia, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota, which also vote on the first Tuesday in June.

Sen. Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton, suggested moving the primary to early May and combining it with other spring ballot issues, like school levies.

Keaton Sunchild, of the advocacy group Western Native Voice, said there’s support for an earlier presidential primary among American Indian tribes who think an earlier vote might get Indigenous and rural issues added to the early campaign conversations of presidential candidates.

Montana has debated scheduling its presidential primary earlier in the year at least since 1999, but no proposal has ever survived both the Legislature and the governor’s desk. As a result, Montana remains one of the last states to vote.

In 2007, the Legislature voted for an earlier presidential primary election, but then-Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed the bill, arguing that a special early primary was a waste of money. Republicans then organized their own 2008 February Super Tuesday caucus to identify the party’s pick for president, the assumption being that voters would follow their lead in the June election, electing their party’s pick for president. 

Only credentialed Republican officers could participate in the 2008 caucus, not the public. The state’s Republican convention delegates were expected to be bound to the caucus winner. The caucus vote was won by Republican Mitt Romney, who was out of the race months later when Montanans voted for John McCain, the last Republican standing.

Sitting out Super Tuesday in 2008 cost Montana Democrats very little. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were still competing for state delegates into June of that year. Obama made several stops in Montana.

In 2019, the state House passed a bill to move the primary to March, but the bill stalled in the Senate. A 2021 attempt failed to pass out of committee. 

Earlier still, former Republican Gov. Marc Racicot in 1999 backed a Western Regional Primary, the thought being that if enough Western states pooled their small number of delegate votes, candidates for president would have to take note. The proposal died in the House as the Legislature wrapped up. The following year, Racicot was chair of the National Republican Party, promoting the campaign of George W. Bush, a fellow governor.