The GOP primary race for the clerk of Montana’s Supreme Court remained in tight margins in ballot counts Tuesday evening.
Republican incumbent Bowen Greenwood led by 4,300 votes over Senate President Jason Ellsworth, a lead that held steady into the night.
With 21% of the ballots counted, Greenwood had 53% over Ellsworth’s 47%. Most precincts had at least partially reported results by nearly 11 p.m.
Both candidates campaigned on serving as a sort of conservative counterbalance to a Supreme Court they deem to be more liberal than Montana’s current electorate, which has increasingly elected Republicans to statewide offices.
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Senate President Jason Ellsworth addresses the Senate Select Committee on Judicial Oversight and Reform during a meeting in the Montana State Capitol on April 29.
However, the job is largely administrative: keeping records, swearing in new attorneys and ensuring public access to the courts. Greenwood has expanded the public information functions of the job, as well, with emailed digests of Supreme Court orders and a “Cases in the News” page on the Clerk’s website — both provide the public access to free court filings for their own review, and neither bears politically charged language.
Bowen Greenwood receive applause during a press conference at the Montana GOP headquarters in Helena in Nov. 2019.
Greenwood, first elected to the office in 2018, had endorsements from Attorney General Austin Knudsen and Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, both Republicans.
Helena attorney Erin Farris-Olsen cleared her
