Great Falls, MT
Watching television, the other night I’m suddenly seeing ads for several Republican legislative candidates. Why are they spending this kind of money for a state legislative seat?? Where is their money coming from?
How can a person find out about money in Montana politics?
Well for those in the know (which now includes you!), you can look up certain information about a state candidate’s funding and their spending through the Office of Political Practices in the Campaign Electronic Reporting System. The Campaign Electronic Reporting System, also known as CERS, is the online reporting platform required to be used for all candidates and committees to track money in politics. You can check it out here: https://cers-ext.mt.gov/CampaignTracker/dashboard.
What are the Great Falls legislative candidates up to?
I went through CERS so you don’t have to! I looked at how much personal money candidates are throwing at the primaries. My findings are in the table below for your viewing pleasure. As you can see, Republican candidates in particular are loaning themselves or donating, thousands of dollars to their campaigns. Candidates can payback some or all of their personal loans to their campaigns if they raise enough money from donors and political action committees (PACs).
But……DO GEORGE AND MELISSA NIKOLAKAKOS EXPECT TO PAY THEMSELVES BACK $125,000?!? That is a lot of money to dump into state legislative races. Several other Republican candidates are also lending themselves thousands too. Steven Galloway at $11k, Ed Buttrey at $20k, Mark Winters (one of the fake Dems, we wrote about before) at $10k. That’s a lot of money. So why are they doing it?
Great Falls Area Legislative Candidates Loans/Self Donation as of April 2026
SD = Montana Senate District. HD = Montana House District. D = Democratic. R = Republican. “D” means the fake Democrats we wrote about before that are primarying actual Democrats.
Why are Republicans spending so much money to get elected?
The rich get richer because they can afford to either get elected themselves or they can help elect stooges to pass legislation they like. And the legislation they pass legislation benefits them instead of the working class. That is why we see insane income inequality in America.
Money in politics really does screw over the working class. On top of that, having to listen to more stupid TV ads? We’re already suffering in this economy, do they have to add torture to the mix? 