Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate will remain on November ballot

Green Party candidate Robert Barb will remain in Montana’s U.S. Senate race following a court’s rejection of Democratic Party efforts to keep Barb off the ballot.

District Court Judge Mike McMahon on Tuesday denied the state Democratic Party’s attempt to block Montana’s secretary of state from certifying Barb for the ballot, which means Barb’s name will appear beside candidates Sid Daoud, a Libertarian, Republican Tim Sheehy, and Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester.

After McMahon’s ruling in Lewis and Clark County District Court, Secretary of State Christie Jacobsen, a Republican, said the Democrats are playing “bogus political games.”

“This lawsuit was nothing more than bogus political games meant to undermine Montana law with complete disrespect to county election officials during one of their busiest stretches of an important election year,” Jacobsen said in a press release. “The Montana Elections Team will continue its work preparing to serve Montana voters this fall.”

Jacobsen had certified Barb for the ballot Aug. 22, prior to the Montana Democratic Party’s lawsuit. Barb, who ran in the Green Party primary for U.S. Senate, was the Green’s selected replacement for Michael Downey, who won the June primary but withdrew from the race Aug. 12, the last day a candidate could drop out and not appear on the general election ballot.

In the spring, Barb and Downey traded jabs over who was a true Green, each accusing the other of being a decoy for one of the major political parties, Barb for the Republicans, Downey for the Democrats.

Downey attacked Barb for un-Green social media posts, including Instagram posts making fun of conservation beliefs. Barb also has a short record of small donations to the Republican National Committee. 

“Today’s ruling does not reflect what we know to be true: Robert Barb’s placement on the ballot was done in violation of Montana law, and no Green Party candidate should appear on the ballot as a U.S. Senate candidate,” Democratic Party Chair Robyn Driscoll said in a prepared statement. “Robert Barb is a Republican, with a history of donating to Republicans, promoting right-wing conspiracy theories, and calling climate change a ‘B.S. fake narrative.’ The Montana Democratic Party is appealing this decision.”

Green Party candidates across the country have been sued this election cycle by the Democratic Party, which argues that at best the Greens were improperly registered to run and at worst were Republican plants intended to siphon votes from Democratic candidates.

Montana Democrats have successfully sued to have Green Party candidates removed from the ballot in two previous elections.

Barb had filed a lawsuit against the Greens ahead of his appointment, arguing that he had a right to be Downey’s replacement, but there turned out to be no need. Green leader and spokesperson Steve Kelly said the party was willing to submit Barb as a replacement candidate as soon it became known that Barb was interested.

Before Montana Democrats were denied a restraining order, there were a few judicial twists. District Judge Kathy Seeley, the first judge to receive the case before substitutions resulted in McMahon overseeing the matter, granted the Democrats a restraining order. But Jacobsen had already certified Barb before the Seeley decision was known.

Then, at the request of parties in the case, the Democratic Party’s lawsuit was handed off to Judge Mike Menahan, who declined, resulting in McMahon acquiring the case.

McMahon, in ruling against the Democrats, recognized that Montana law for granting preliminary restraining orders recently changed. The 2023 Legislature created a new law requiring that temporary restraining orders be issued only when the party seeking the order is judged likely to succeed on the merits of the case. Also, parties seeking temporary restraining orders must now prove a likelihood of suffering irreparable harm if the order is denied.

Democrats weren’t likely to succeed on the merits of their case, McMahon wrote, because the party bypassed the legal process for contesting Barb’s nomination. 

Montana’s smaller political parties have repeatedly been targeted by outside forces attempting to either amplify or scuttle the influence of small-party candidates, particularly in U.S. Senate races.

Earlier this month, Republicans flew Libertarian Senate candidate Sid Daoud from Kalispell to a Donald Trump rally for Tim Sheehy in Bozeman, Daoud said he was pressured to drop out of the race, which he declined to do.

Tom Lutey is a reporter for the Montana Free Press, a nonprofit newsroom, and can be reached at tlutey@montanafreepress.org.