Libertarians Nominate Rancher to Run for Zinke's Seat

In a Helena nominating convention on March 12, attended by roughly three dozen people, the Montana Libertarian Party nominated Mark Wicks, a 46-year-old cattle rancher and writer from Inverness, Mont. Wicks received a degree in aviation mechanics from Bozeman, but instead became a third-generation rancher taking over the family ranch in Eastern Montana.

Despite being on the third party ticket Wicks exhumed confidence saying, “My party is not fighting with anybody. The other parties are fighting back and forth. I’m going to stand up and show that Montana can send somebody back to Washington who can stand up for Montana.”

Much of Wicks’ political opinions are unknown with almost no votes on record, and no political platform to speak of. Wicks did offer insight into his views stating that “Nobody is saying ‘no.’ They get a dollar and spend it twice.” He also added, “I’m tired of both sides fighting. There needs to be somebody in the middle who can stand up without strings attached and say what needs to be said.”

The Montana Libertarian Party recently lost Mike Fellows, their chair and nominee for U.S. House in last year’s election, to a car accident. This will be one of the first elections to occur fully without Fellows’ leadership. Fellows represented the Libertarian Party in Montana in elections from 1996 to 2016 running for U.S. House, Secretary of State and even Montana Supreme Court. Highlighting Wicks uphill climb was the fact that Fellows never won a statewide election.