[[link removed]]

MONTANA HAS AN AMBITIOUS PLAN TO END DARK MONEY IN ELECTIONS  
[[link removed]]


 

Sonali Kolhatkar
November 14, 2025
Truthout
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ Montana’s amendment doesn’t aim to overturn the Citizens United
ruling. If passed, it would merely render the ruling ineffective
within Montana because businesses operating in the state would have to
abide by its definition of corporations. _

,

 

Fifteen years after a landmark Supreme Court case turbocharged
corporate spending in the political process, a group hopes it may have
a way to finally rein in some of the outsized influence of the
ultrawealthy. The 2010 ruling on _Citizens United v. FEC_
[[link removed]]
opened the floodgates of political spending in elections. Every year
since then, untraceable financial political contributions, largely
from corporations and wealthy individuals, have increased dramatically
[[link removed]].
Now, the state of Montana is on the verge of being the first in the
nation to counter the impact of _Citizens United_ via a 2026 ballot
measure using an innovative legal maneuver that other states could
adopt.

The idea is the brainchild of Tom Moore
[[link removed]], a senior fellow
at the Center for American Progress. Moore, who laid out his reasoning
in a white paper
[[link removed]]
on September 15, 2025, is arguing that states have the legal authority
to define corporate charters and therefore can redefine them at any
time. When I interviewed Moore for my weekly radio show, he explained
[[link removed]]:
“The states’ authority is absolute in terms of how they define
their corporations and which powers they decide to give their
corporations.” This is considered “basic foundational corporation
law,” and all states have essentially given corporations the same,
extremely broad charters.

Until 2023, Moore worked as chief of staff for Commissioner Ellen
Weintraub at the Federal Election Commission (FEC). During that time,
he met and collaborated with Montana Commissioner of Political
Practices Jeff Mangan. Moore remained friends with Mangan even after
he left the FEC. “I sent a draft of the paper,” said Moore, “and
he called back that night and said, ‘We are doing this in
Montana.’”

That was in fall 2024. Almost immediately the wheels began turning,
and in April 2025, Mangan launched the Transparent Election Initiative
[[link removed]] to put Moore’s theory into
practice. In June
[[link removed]],
the “The Montana Plan
[[link removed]],” based on a draft of
Moore’s paper, was born. That plan is the basis of the Transparent
Election Initiative’s constitutional amendment
[[link removed]] as
a ballot measure to be put before Montana voters in 2026. The measure
asks voters whether or not their state should redefine corporate
charters to disallow spending in elections.

It’s notable that Montana’s amendment doesn’t aim to overturn
the _Citizens United_ ruling. If passed, it would merely render the
ruling ineffective within Montana because businesses operating in the
state would have to abide by its definition of corporations. This
makes it immune to national legal challenges and the whims of a
Supreme Court that’s even more conservative than its 2010 iteration.
“This isn’t a regulation,” said Mangan, “it’s a different
way of looking at transparency under First Amendment grounds.”

In order for the Supreme Court to override the desires of Montana
voters, it would have to rule that states do not have the right to
define corporations. “This is foundational corporation law,” said
Moore. “If you start pulling the foundation blocks out from the
building, it could really destabilize American business. I don’t
think they want to do that.”

Moreover, even a single state passing such an amendment can have a big
impact nationally. Moore explained that in almost every state, “no
out-of-state corporation can exercise any power in the state that a
domestic corporation can’t exercise. So, what that means is, if
you’re in Montana and you pass this, your corporations are out [of
political spending] everywhere. But it also means that 49 states worth
of out-of-state corporations also can’t spend in your politics.
Because if you no longer give the power to your domestic guys, then
out-of-state corporations don’t have that power either.”

Montana’s effort hit an early and predictable snag however, when the
state’s Attorney General Austin Knudsen blocked
[[link removed]]
the ballot measure. Knudsen’s reasoning was that the redefinition of
corporate charters was too big for a single vote and that each
component of the ballot initiative would have to be voted on
separately.

The Montana Plan is wildly popular. An October 2025 poll by the
pro-democracy group Issue One found that 74 percent of voters
[[link removed]]
in the state, including majorities of Republicans and independents,
support the ballot initiative.

“It’s a red state, which is useful, I think,” said Moore,
explaining that the plan’s popularity there enables “the country
to see that it’s not just lefty liberals who don’t like dark and
corporate money in their politics.”

Montana has a history of fighting corporate spending and is a fitting
state to spearhead the beginning of the end of _Citizens United_.
Since 1912, corporations were banned from spending money to influence
elections under the state’s Corrupt Practices Act
[[link removed]].
A hundred years later, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned
[[link removed]]
that act to ensure compliance with _Citizens United._

“The people of Montana have not forgotten that,” said Moore.
“They are fiercely independent. They don’t like other people
coming in and telling them what to think.”

Mangan, who expected such a response, doesn’t buy it. “It
wouldn’t make sense to have a separate vote on each of those
components,” he said, for they only make sense when viewed as a
whole. The Transparent Election Initiative is suing
[[link removed]]
the attorney general’s office and expects the Montana Supreme Court
to rule in its favor in time to begin gathering signatures. “We’re
very confident that we’ll prevail at the Supreme Court,” said
Mangan.

While he awaits the Montana Supreme Court’s ruling on its legal
challenge to the attorney general’s office, Mangan is spending his
time educating Montana voters
[[link removed]]
and generating excitement about the ballot initiative.

The Transparent Election Initiative expects to oversee a massive
statewide signature-gathering effort from January to June 2026 to get
the initiative on Montana’s ballot. In order to qualify for the
ballot, the organization needs just over 60,000 signatures
[[link removed]]
from active voters across 40 legislative districts.

To be on the safe side, Mangan is aiming for 100,000 signatures across
50 districts, in an effort that will be largely volunteer-run.
“It’s going to take a lot of work,” said Mangan. “We’re
looking for a lot of volunteers, a lot of grassroots organizational
efforts.”

Rina Moore worked as the election administrator in Cascade County,
Montana, for 16 years and said, “I watched firsthand as thousands of
voters complained about the vast amounts of mailings and the
commercials and were clear that they wanted it all to stop.”

Moore is among an early cohort of volunteers lining up to ensure the
Montana Plan makes it onto the 2026 ballot. “I am excited about
gathering signatures because this is something that the voters on both
sides agree with,” she said.

It’s not just Montanans who are disgusted with the way in which
corporate spending has taken over the nation’s elections.
Increasingly, political candidates are eschewing corporate money as a
mark of pride and authenticity, and proof that they are unbought by
special interests.

Take the high-profile election of New York City’s new mayor, Zohran
Mamdani, who made it a point to raise small-dollar donations
[[link removed]]
directly from supporters. In that November 2025 race, outside spending
was a liability
[[link removed]],
not an asset. Mamdani’s opposition included more than 20
billionaires
[[link removed]]
who, in spite of pouring millions of dollars into anti-Mamdani super
PACs, were unable to convince enough New Yorkers to vote against the
democratic socialist.

The 2010_ Citizens United _ruling remains hugely unpopular. Issue
One’s poll found nearly 80 percent of Americans
[[link removed]]
believe that outside spending on elections is corrupting or gives the
appearance of corruption. That includes a majority of Republicans and
independent voters.

Tom Moore said he was working with numerous states on ballot
initiatives and legislation in line with Montana’s efforts. “I
think it’s gonna end up moving in a number of states very
quickly,” he said. “If it gets on the ballot anywhere in the
country, it will pass. This is wildly popular.”

“It’s one of the few issues that … truly unites Americans these
days,” he added. “They’d really like to get their politics back
… This actually gives people some hope. It gives them some
agency.”

 

_Sonali Kolhatkar is a monthly contributor to Truthout. She is an
award winning multimedia journalist and author. She is the host and
executive producer of __Rising Up With Sonali_
[[link removed]]_, a nationally syndicated weekly
television and radio program airing on Pacifica stations and Free
Speech TV. She was most recently Senior Editor at __YES! Media_
[[link removed]]_ covering race, economy, and democracy,
and is currently Senior Correspondent for the Economy for All Project
at the Independent Media Institute, and a monthly columnist for
OtherWords, a project of the Institute for Policy Studies._

 

_Truthout is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to providing
independent reporting and commentary on a diverse range of social
justice issues. Since our founding in 2001, we have anchored our work
in principles of accuracy, transparency, and independence from the
influence of corporate and political forces._

_Truthout works to spark action by revealing systemic social, racial,
economic and environmental injustice and providing a platform for
progressive and transformative ideas, through in-depth investigative
reporting and critical analysis. With a powerful, independent voice,
we spur transformations in consciousness and inspire both policy
change and direct action. For more on our editorial approach, please
read “__Remaking Media in the Pursuit of Justice_
[[link removed]]_”
and “__A Call to the Media: Let’s Go Beyond ‘Preserving
Democracy.’_
[[link removed]]_”_

 

* Citizens United
[[link removed]]
* Dark Money
[[link removed]]
* campaign finance reform
[[link removed]]
* Montana
[[link removed]]
* Corporations
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Bluesky [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]