In Montana Senate, term limits affect more Republicans than Democrats

August 10, 2010

Aubyn Curtiss, who is ineligible to run for Montana State Senate District 1 because of term limits. Curtiss has held the seat since 2003.

By Melissa Garcia

Montana enacted state legislative term limits in 1992. In 2010, the effects of the term limits that Montana voters approved when they enacted CI-64 in 1992 on the November 3, 1992 ballot will affect more Republicans than Democrats.

Republican state senators Aubyn Curtiss, Daniel McGee, Gary Perry, Gregory Barkus, Jerry Black, John Esp, Keith Bales, Kelly Gebhardt, Rick Laible and Robert Story are ineligible to run for re-election to the Montana legislature in 2010, along with five Democrats, Carolyn Squires, Joseph Tropila, Kenneth Hansen, Mike Cooney, and Trudi Schmidt.

Republicans hold a 5-seat advantage over Democrats going into the November 2 election, but their prospects of holding onto their state senate majority are in jeopardy by the fact that they are losing ten senators, while the Democratic Party is losing five senators.

Louis Jacobson, a staff writer for PolitiFact, conducted an analysis of the state legislatures in which he predicts that the Montana Senate leans Republican. Despite the loss of ten senators, the Republicans are expected to maintain their lead as the majority in the Senate.

See also

• Impact of term limits on state legislative elections in 2010#Montana
• Montana State Senate elections, 2010
• State senate elections, 2010
• State legislatures with term limits