MTPR is airing interviews with candidates running for federal office in 2026. MTPR’s Austin Amestoy spoke with Kyle Austin, who’s a Libertarian running for the U.S. Senate.
Austin Amestoy: Why are you the best person for this job?
Kyle Austin: Well, I'm a fourth generation Montanan, okay? I appeal to all Montanans across the board. And so when it comes to people voting for person over party, I'm that person that would represent all Montanans. I was born and raised on the Hi Line; farmer, rancher background, University of Montana graduate, where I graduated from the School of Pharmacy right here in Montana, and I'm a small business owner. I'm a pharmacist — I own Pharm406 out of Billings, Montana. And so, I really appeal to everybody across the board as an all-in-one candidate.
Austin Amestoy: And how will your previous experience — your experience working in the pharmacy world, your education — how will that inform what you bring to this job?
Kyle Austin: Well, think about it. I mean, what is the biggest platform that everybody across the board– honestly, I mean it's healthcare. And you see the Democrats trying to lead the way in healthcare and they've failed. They failed miserably with Obamacare. But you got Republicans out there that they need healthcare and they stand behind the Medicare plans. And so being a pharmacist, but also a conservative, I can be a leading edge on knowing where the problems are with healthcare and how we innovate that; how we build that for the future and how we make it better for future generations. And that's my plan. It's called "Healthcare 2.0."
Austin Amestoy: Let's talk a little bit about that. Actually, it's very fitting — that was the next thing I was going to ask you. Obviously, we saw a stalemate in Congress last year over addressing the cost of health care. That's one factual matter that is true is that health care is very expensive in this country. And there's a lot of debate over how to address that. So how do you feel Congress should address the cost of health care?
Kyle Austin: Well, I mean, anytime the government gets involved, costs go up, and same thing with health care. Anytime our government gets involved with regulations, costs go up, anytime that government subsidizes insurance plans, costs go up. The best thing to do is overhaul it, and that's my plan called "Healthcare 2.0," where we can overhaul the entire health care industry. Because not only is it expensive, but by overhauling how we do healthcare– so like, for instance, every doctor, every dentist, every nurse, every pharmacist is licensed in every state. That's a cost burden. It also prevents people from coming to Montana to practice healthcare in rural communities where we need them the most.
So if we had a national licensing database where everybody can license and have the freedom to go from state to state to practice healthcare, that's a win. If we can stop subsidizing the insurance companies, that's a win. If we bring in all of the government funding like Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, VA, we consolidate that and we allow it to be more efficient, there's going to be less wasted money. It's going to be more available to more people, and we can have that quality healthcare.
Austin Amestoy: Let me pivot to a different topic of conversation in political circles recently. We've heard a lot of discussion at the federal level about adding new voting requirements and perhaps giving the federal government more oversight of elections. What do you make of those proposals?
Kyle Austin: Well, the proposal is more REAL ID, or showing an ID when you vote, and I agree with that. Why should we allow people that are non-citizens of the United States to influence our politics or our government in any which way, shape, or form? And so to show an ID is very simple. And there's people out there, the Democrats, they're saying, "Well, that's going to prohibit people from voting." Well, it doesn't prohibit you from driving. You go down the road, you have your driver's license with you. If you're a Native American, you have a tribal ID. It's very simple just to show up and show your ID, and I don't see why anybody would fight that.
Austin Amestoy: Looking now back into Montana, as you've begun your campaign here, what do you feel is a top priority for your potential future constituents?
Kyle Austin: You know, my top priority is basically small government. Our government has gotten so big and it has gotten so costly to the Montana families. And you hear it every day: our taxes are out of control. Our cost of living is out of control. That is because our government has gotten so big. The number-one priority is: we need to DOGE. I mean, we need to DOGE the government on a federal level and even on the state level; to cut government spending so we can lower taxes and create a more costly– or less costly cost of living.
