Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen speaks at a rally featuring former President Donald Trump in Bozeman on Aug. 9, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan)
Montana Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen jumped ahead of Democratic challenger Ben Alke in the Attorney General’s Office race around 10 p.m., as he leads the Bozeman attorney 64% to 35% with about 10% of votes counted.
Knudsen, a former lawmaker from Culbertson who served a term as House Speaker in the Montana Legislature, is so far outperforming his 2020 election performance, when he beat Democrat Raph Graybill by 17 percentage points. However, a couple of Montana’s largest and more liberal counties have yet to report, with voters still waiting in line to register.
As attorney general, Knudsen has largely embraced policies and the ethos of MAGA Republicanism advanced by former President Donald Trump, opposing transgender Americans, clean energy efforts, attempts to address climate change, COVID-19 restrictions, and abortion access while consistently attacking the Biden administration over energy policies, the border and immigration, and a number of other policies. His office often touts the number of times it has either sued, or joined lawsuits against, the Biden administration – now up to at least 40.
His staunch defense of that ethos has gotten him in hot water, however. In October, a commission that considers attorney ethics complaints recommended to the Montana Supreme Court that Knudsen be suspended from practicing law for three months after finding he had violated five rules of professional attorney conduct through his and his office’s statements and actions during a 2021 fight between the Legislature, which he was representing, and the Supreme Court. He has said he would appeal the recommendation.
Knudsen has also faced broad and high-profile criticism from the former head of the Montana Highway Patrol, accused of trying to bury an internal survey of troopers who submitted widespread criticism of his handling of MHP as head of the Department of Justice, then threatening legal action when the Daily Montanan reported on the survey.
Alke, a Bozeman-based attorney, campaigned as a centrist but criticized Knudsen throughout the campaign as “the worst attorney general” in Montana history. He said Knudsen was working only for Republicans and not all of Montana, something he said he would change should he win the race.
Should Knudsen win re-election, his attorney conduct issues would not go away. While his office said it will appeal the Commission on Practice’s recommendation he be suspended to the Supreme Court, the court will ultimately decide what punishment, if any, Knudsen will face for the alleged rule violations. Those could range from an admonishment, to censure, suspension, and up to disbarment.
Montana’s attorney general must be an attorney in good standing with the State Bar of Montana, so if the Supreme Court decides to suspend his law license or disbar him entirely, he would not be able to serve in his elected role during that time.