Waiting to vote tested the willpower of hundreds of people in an hourslong line that stretched outside a county courthouse in a Montana town.

Montana voters opted overwhelmingly to support abortion access, but they elected a whole slate of anti-abortion Republican candidates into office. How did it happen?

Montana Rep. Zooey Zephyr has been reelected. In 2023, she told her colleagues who supported an anti-trans bill they would have blood on their hands.

Former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy has beaten three-term Democrat Sen. Jon Tester in Montana, flipping a key race as Republicans are set to take back control of the Senate, the Associated Press projects.

Montana state Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D) won reelection Tuesday, assuring her return to the state Capitol in January nearly two years after her Republican colleagues censured her over language she used

Montana not only went enthusiastically for Trump for a third time, but took the last statewide seat held by a Democrat. Senator Jon Tester's defeat caps a years-long quest to erase purple from Montana's map.

The state was one of 10 that voted on abortion-related ballot measures in the 2024 election. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the landmark Dobbs decision two years ago, a growing number of states have responded by passing their own laws codifying the right to abortion.

Montana voters have passed a ballot measure to amend the state’s constitution to include the right to an abortion, cementing access to abortion services in the state.  Constitutional Initiative

Republican Tim Sheehy has flipped the closely watched U.S. Senate seat in Montana, the Associated Press projects, defeating Democrat and three-term incumbent Jon Tester. With 85 percent of votes counted, Sheehy led 52.9 percent to 45.4 percent, according to the AP, which called the race for the Trump-supporting Navy SEAL at 6:26 a.m. ET.

Tim Sheehy won Montana's Senate race on Wednesday, unseating the state's Democratic incumbent, Sen. Jon Tester, and flipping the seat Republican. Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL new to politics, took home a victory with 53% of the vote to Tester's 45.