State reference

How does government work in Montana?

Montana’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

150

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: Constitution of the State of Montana source

What may surprise you here

Montana’s term limits are enforced at the ballot: the secretary of state cannot certify or print the name of a candidate who would pass the limit. source
Montana has no intermediate appellate court. Appeals from district courts go straight to the Montana Supreme Court. source
Anaconda-Deer Lodge and Butte-Silver Bow are consolidated city-county governments. source

Legislature

Name: Montana Legislature source
Senate: seats: 50 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
House of Representatives: seats: 100 source
House of Representatives: term in years: 2 source
Term limits: 8 years in any 16-year period in each chamber source

Structure set by: Montana Constitution, Article V, Sections 1 to 3.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: No more than 8 years in any 16-year period source
Next regular election: 2028 source
Lieutenant governor: joint ticket source
Attorney general: elected source
Attorney general’s term in years: 4 source
Secretary of state: elected source
Secretary of state’s term in years: 4 source

Courts

Highest court: Montana Supreme Court source
Intermediate appeals court: None source
Main trial court: District Courts source
How high-court judges reach the bench: mixed: governor nominates and the Senate confirms to fill vacancies, and voters then decide whether to keep the incumbent or elect a successor source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 56 source
Cities and towns: Two of the 56 counties, Anaconda-Deer Lodge and Butte-Silver Bow, have consolidated their functions with a city, and the other 54 are governed by county commissions. source
Schools: The Census Bureau counts 310 independent school district governments in Montana. source

Elections

Chief election official: Secretary of State source
Who runs elections locally: Local election administrators source
Primary type: open source
Regular governor elections fall in: even source
Citizen initiatives: yes source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Greg Gianforte Republican, in office since January 4, 2021. source

US senators for Montana
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
Steve Daines	Republican	Class 2	January 6, 2015	January 3, 2027
Tim Sheehy	Republican	Class 1	January 3, 2025	January 3, 2031

Members of the House for Montana
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	Ryan K. Zinke	Republican	January 3, 2023
District 2	Troy Downing	Republican	January 3, 2025

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 1