2014 Montana Senate election

2014 Montana Senate election

← 2012 November 4, 2014 2016  →
25 out of 50 seats in the Montana Senate 26 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Jeff Essmann (term-limited) Jon Sesso Party Republican Democratic Leader since January 7, 2013 January 5, 2013 Leader's seat District 28 District 37 Last election 29 21 Seats after 29 21 Seat change
President before election Jeff Essmann Republican Elected President Debby Barrett Republican

The 2014 Montana Senate election was held on November 4, 2014, to determine which party would control the Montana Senate for the following two years in the 64th Montana legislature. Twentyfive out of 50 seats in the Montana Senate were up for election and the primary was held on June 3, 2014. Prior to the election, 29 seats were held by Republicans and 21 seats were held by Democrats. The general election saw neither party gain nor lose any seats, meaning Republicans maintained their majority in the State Senate. ^{[1] [2]}

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
Governing [3]	Likely R	October 20, 2014

Retirements

Democrats

1. District 8: Shannon Augare retired.
2. District 11: Anders Blewett retired.
3. District 12: Mitch Tropila was term-limited.
4. District 32: Larry Jent was term-limited.
5. District 49: David Wanzenried was term-limited.

Republicans

1. District 4: Jon Sonju retired.
2. District 5: Verdell Jackson was term-limited.
3. District 29: Edward Walker retired.
4. District 30: Jason Priest retired.
5. District 34: Art Wittich retired.
6. District 42: Dave Lewis was term-limited.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 49, 0.40%
2. District 13, 2.18%
3. District 11, 6.20%
4. District 12, 7.38%
5. District 42, 7.72% (gain)
6. District 24, 8.02% (gain)

Results

District 1

District 1 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Chas Vincent (incumbent)	5,583	77.02%
	Democratic	Terence Gill	1,666	22.98%
Total votes			7,249	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 4

District 4 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark Blasdel	3,960	68.32%
	Democratic	Diane Taylor	1,836	31.68%
Total votes			5,796	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 5

District 5 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bob Keenan	5,129	73.93%
	Democratic	Daniel King	1,809	26.07%
Total votes			6,938	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 8

District 8 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lea Whitford	2,713	67.69%
	Republican	Liane Johnson	1,295	32.31%
Total votes			4,008	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 9

District 9 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Llew Jones (incumbent)	5,647	75.82%
	Democratic	David Brownell	1,801	24.18%
Total votes			7,448	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 11

District 11 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Edward Buttrey (incumbent)	3,494	53.90%
	Democratic	Vonnie Brown	2,988	46.10%
Total votes			6,482	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 12

District 12 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mary Sheehy Moe	3,010	53.69%
	Republican	Sheridan Buck	2,596	46.31%
Total votes			5,606	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 13

District 13 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Hoven	2,385	51.09%
	Democratic	Carlie Boland	2,283	48.91%
Total votes			4,668	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 14

District 14 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kris Hansen	4,080	56.07%
	Democratic	Greg Jergeson (incumbent)	3,196	43.93%
Total votes			7,276	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 19

District 19 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Frederick Moore (incumbent)	5,222	68.17%
	Democratic	Bill McChesney	2,438	31.83%
Total votes			7,660	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 20

District 20 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Duane Ankney	6,279	81.27%
	Democratic	Hod O'Donnell	1,447	18.73%
Total votes			7,726	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 22

District 22 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Doug Kary	4,106	64.30%
	Democratic	Steven Fugate	2,280	35.70%
Total votes			6,386	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 24

District 24 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mary McNally	3,581	54.01%
	Republican	Tonya Shellnutt	3,049	45.99%
Total votes			6,630	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 27

District 27 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Cary Smith	6,351	71.71%
	Democratic	Eric Johnson	2,506	28.29%
Total votes			8,857	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 29

District 29 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Howard	5,605	66.06%
	Democratic	Elli Elliott	2,879	33.94%
Total votes			8,484	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 30

District 30 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Nels Swandal	5,861	68.59%
	Democratic	Mary Murphy	2,684	31.41%
Total votes			8,545	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 32

District 32 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jedediah Hinkle	3,840	55.89%
	Democratic	Franke Wilmer	3,030	44.11%
Total votes			6,870	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 33

District 33 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jennifer Pomnichowski	4,012	57.84%
	Republican	Bryan Rogan	2,474	35.66%
	Libertarian	Joan Stanley	451	6.50%
Total votes			6,937	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 34

District 34 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gordon Vance	4,518	69.71%
	Democratic	April Buonamici	1,963	30.29%
Total votes			6,481	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 41

District 41 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mary Caferro (incumbent)	5,888	100.0%
Total votes			5,888	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 42

District 42 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jill Cohenour	4,028	53.86%
	Republican	Joe Dooling	3,451	46.14%
Total votes			7,479	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 43

District 43 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pat Connell	5,929	70.80%
	Democratic	Robert Schumacher	2,445	29.20%
Total votes			8,374	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 48

District 48 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cynthia Wolken	3,528	57.67%
	Republican	Mike Hopkins	2,590	42.33%
Total votes			6,118	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 49

District 49 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Diane Sands	3,933	50.20%
	Republican	Dick Haines	3,902	49.80%
Total votes			7,835	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 50

District 50 election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tom Facey (incumbent)	6,020	100.0%
Total votes			6,020	100.0%
	Democratic hold

References

1. "Montana State Senate elections, 2014". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved December 2, 2025.
2. "MONTANA SECRETARY OF STATE LINDA McCULLOCH 2014 LEGISLATIVE GENERAL ELECTION CANVAS" (PDF). sosmt.gov. Retrieved December 2, 2025.
3. Luzer, Daniel (October 20, 2014). "Only a Few 2014 Legislative Races Are Competitive". Governing. Retrieved December 2, 2025.