Montana is moving toward a significant test of whether states can curb the political influence of corporations without challenging the Supreme Court directly. Fifteen years after Citizens United v. FEC opened the door for virtually unlimited corporate election spending, a 2026 ballot initiative in Montana is designed to make that ruling ineffective within the state. The approach depends on a legal strategy that argues states have full authority over the powers granted to corporate entities they create.
The idea comes from Tom Moore, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and a former chief of staff to Federal Election Commission Commissioner Ellen Weintraub. In a white paper released on September 15, 2025, Moore explained that “The states’ authority is absolute in terms of how they define their corporations and which powers they decide to give their corporations.” He described this as “basic foundational corporation law,” noting that most states have historically issued very broad charters to corporations but are not required to do so.
Moore’s proposal found an early champion in Montana Commissioner of Political Practices Jeff Mangan. Moore said, “I sent [Mangan] a draft of the [white] paper, and he called back that night and said, ‘We are doing this in Montana.’” That conversation took place in fall 2024 and triggered months of planning. By April 2025, Mangan launched the Transparent Election Initiative to translate Moore’s theory into a statewide reform effort. In June, the framework became the foundation for “The Montana Plan,” which now sits at the center of a proposed constitutional amendment asking voters whether Montana should redefine corporate charters to prohibit corporate spending in elections.
The initiative has broad support. An October 2025 poll by Issue One found that 74 percent of Montana voters support the measure, including majorities of Republicans and independents. Moore pointed to the significance of this political setting, stating, “It’s a red state, which is useful, I think,” because it shows that “it’s not just lefty liberals who don’t like dark and corporate money in their politics.”
Montana’s history makes it a fitting place for this experiment. In 1912, voters passed the Corrupt Practices Act, which banned corporate spending in state elections. The law remained intact for a century. In 2012 the Supreme Court struck down Montana’s attempt to preserve the law, ruling that the state could not exempt itself from the requirements of Citizens United. According to Moore, “The people of Montana have not forgotten that. They are fiercely independent. They don’t like other people coming in and telling them what to think.”
Supporters emphasize that the amendment does not try to overturn Citizens United. Instead, it is designed to eliminate corporate political spending by narrowing the powers that corporations have under Montana law. Mangan described the strategy by saying, “This isn’t a regulation, it’s a different way of looking at transparency under First Amendment grounds.”
Moore argues that undoing state authority over corporate charters would be legally unthinkable for the Supreme Court. As he put it, “This is foundational corporation law. If you start pulling the foundation blocks out from the building, it could really destabilize American business. I don’t think they want to do that.”
Moore also outlined the potential national implications. He noted that “no out-of-state corporation can exercise any power in the state that a domestic corporation can’t exercise.” He continued, “So, what that means is, if you’re in Montana and you pass this, your corporations are out [of political spending] everywhere. But it also means that 49 states worth of out-of-state corporations also can’t spend in your politics. Because if you no longer give the power to your domestic guys, then out-of-state corporations don’t have that power either.”
The initiative has already run into legal resistance. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen blocked the measure, claiming it contains too many components for a single ballot vote. Mangan disagrees. He said, “It wouldn’t make sense to have a separate vote on each of those components,” because the parts of the plan only function when taken together. The Transparent Election Initiative has filed suit, and Mangan said, “We’re very confident that we’ll prevail at the [state] Supreme Court.”
If the measure survives the legal challenge, the group intends to run a statewide signature gathering effort between January and June 2026. The initiative needs just over 60,000 signatures from active voters across 40 legislative districts to qualify for the ballot. To ensure success, Mangan plans to collect about 100,000 signatures from 50 districts. “It’s going to take a lot of work,” Mangan said. “We’re looking for a lot of volunteers, a lot of grassroots organizational efforts.”
Residents have long expressed frustration with the volume of political influence flooding the state. Rina Moore, who worked as election administrator in Cascade County for 16 years, said, “I watched firsthand as thousands of voters complained about the vast amounts of mailings and the commercials and were clear that they wanted it all to stop.” She is among the first volunteers preparing to gather signatures. “I am excited about gathering signatures because this is something that the voters on both sides agree with,” she said.
Public dissatisfaction with corporate political spending is not limited to Montana. Issue One polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans believe that outside spending on elections is corrupting or appears corrupt. Recent races have reflected that sentiment. In the 2025 New York City mayoral race, incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani relied on small dollar donations, while opponents backed by more than 20 billionaires struggled to shift voter opinion despite large financial support.
Moore believes similar initiatives will spread. “I think it’s gonna end up moving in a number of states very quickly,” he said. “If it gets on the ballot anywhere in the country, it will pass. This is wildly popular.” He added, “It’s one of the few issues that … truly unites Americans these days. They’d really like to get their politics back … This actually gives people some hope. It gives them some agency.”
Former Senator Jon Tester also sees the potential for a broader movement. “By harnessing our sovereign power over corporate charters, we can lead a state-by-state march that finally sidelines dark money everywhere,” he said. “The Montana Plan is the spark; other states can carry the torch.”
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