Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen wins reelection

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen won reelection Tuesday, defeating Democratic challenger Ben Alke. Knudsen had a 60% vote share to Alke’s 40% with 528,599 ballots counted. The attorney general made a speech at the Armory Hotel in Bozeman about the slate of Republican wins.

History favored the reelection of Knudsen, an attorney from the northeast Montana community of Bainville and a former state legislator. No Montana attorney general seeking reelection has been denied a second term dating back to 1942.

Alke hadn’t prepared concession remarks after the race.

The election punctuates a month in which Knudsen faced a two-day disciplinary hearing resulting in the recommendation that his law license be suspended for 90 days for refusing to follow a Supreme Court order and disparaging justices in 2021.

The attorney general and his allies in the Legislature characterized the conduct allegations against Knudsen as politically motivated. 

Alke, a Helena native who practices law in Bozeman, campaigned on restoring order at the Department of Justice.

Knudsen ran as a defender of women and children and a hands-on prosecutor, though at his conduct hearing he described the attorney general’s office as more of a management position. 

“I’m the administrator of the Montana Department of Justice. So, within the Montana Department of Justice, there are a number of bureaus and agencies that I oversee. People typically think it’s lawyers, but honestly, it’s much more so other duties,” Knudsen told a lawyer review panel for the Commission on Practice.

Alke similarly described the attorney general’s duties as managerial, but said Knudsen had strayed from impartiality and had lost staff experienced at civil litigation. Alke pointed to Knudsen’s low marks as a manager by the Montana Highway Patrol, which the attorney general oversees. 

The attorney general office has been a political stepping stone to other state offices in recent decades. Three of the five attorneys general immediately preceding Knudsen went on to higher office. Republican Marc Racicot and Democrat Steve Bullock became governors. Democrat Mike McGrath is currently Chief Justice of the Montana Supreme Court.

Knudsen’s political rise has been swift. He was first elected to the Montana Legislature in 2010, became House speaker in 2015, and was elected Roosevelt County attorney in 2018 before launching his AG campaign the following year.