Three candidates are campaigning on the promise of a new direction in the race to represent central and eastern Montana in the U.S. House.
Only Republican leadership has been elected to the U.S. House over the last three decades. The state split into two districts following population increases in the 2020 U.S. census, and current Congressman Troy Downing is the second Republican to hold the seat since then.
"Something that is incredibly important to me is making sure that we're showing up for our constituents," said Downing.
The second congressional district includes half a million people in eastern Montana and as far west as Helena, Great Falls and Livingston.
Challenging Downing to represent the district is cardiologist Michael Eisenhauer, an Independent, attorney Brian Miller, a Democrat, and precious metals salesman Patrick McCracken, a Libertarian.
While all candidates report hearing frustration from voters, they have different ideas about how to address it, and Downing's challengers frame their candidacies as a new direction during a time of political and economic dissatisfaction.
Independent Michael Eisenhauer says a small group of representatives willing to meet across the aisle could help address ongoing cost-of-living issues.
"The affordability question is so complex that no one person can solve this in congress, not one vote out of 435, but what one or two independent-minded folks can do is go in there and open the door to discussions," said Eisenhauer.
Eisenhauer is a cardiologist based in Great Falls and says he believes in lowering healthcare costs for patients by funding Medicaid, Medicare and premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, while capping payouts to insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
Democratic candidate Brian Miller also supports cracking down on the healthcare industry and taking it a step further by moving healthcare to a nonprofit model.
"That's got to take a lot of work to fight for that, because those are some of the most powerful special interests in D.C. and in America, so I'm gonna start out by just fighting like crazy to get the greed out of the system," said Miller.
Miller supports withdrawing from the conflict with Iran to bring down gas prices and pursuing more family programs to help solve the wealth gap in the United States.
Libertarian Patrick McCracken also advocates withdrawing resources from conflict abroad and instead focusing on investment domestically in the United States. To address inflation, he suggests ending the Federal Reserve.
"Inflation is a choice by the monetary authorities," said McCracken. "They print money and the cost of goods goes up. The benefit of that printed money is that they can go to war and do things that benefit DC over the American people, and the American people are left with the bill."
Sitting representative Troy Downing prioritizes cutting red tape to increase housing affordability, and he touts a new law called the 21st Century Road to Housing Act, which aims to cut down on building costs and increase housing inventory.
"As we start to see that start to affect the housing supply and the ability to build housing, I think that that starts to trickle down because what that does is it creates housing for small businesses, for schools, for hospitals, for farms, for ranches, for people to live," said Downing.
Downing is wrapping up his two-year term and outpaces other candidates in fundraising. According to Federal Election Commission filings, Downing has received over $2 million dollars, about 7 times more than Independent Michael Eisenhauer and 100 times more than Democrat Brian Miller. Libertarian Patrick McCracken has not raised the $5,000 that requires filing with the FEC.
Mail-in ballots are being sent out on October 9 and polls close at 8pm on November 3.
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