Montana held its primary on June 3. Six candidates were running for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator. The surprise winner is Bob Kelleher, who apparently had not even raised or spent as much as $5,000, since he has not filed any campaign finance report with the Federal Election Commission. Kelleher defeated a former Republican Majority Leader of the state house, Michael Lange, and a wealthy businessman, Kirk Bushman. The vote (not yet official) is: Kelleher 26,789; Lange 16,986; Bushman 15,427; Patty Lovaas 7,607; Anton Pearson 4,220; Shay Garnett 2,775.

Kelleher is an attorney who sued the Montana University System in 2004, when it sponsored a gubernatorial debate and excluded the Libertarian and Green nominees. The case lost in Montana Supreme Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear it. Kelleher was the Green Party nominee in that election, but he modestly named the lawsuit Jones v Montana University System, placing the Libertarian nominee first in the caption. Kelleher polled 1.88% of the vote for Governor as the Green nominee in 2004. He had been the Green nominee for U.S. Senate in 2002, polling 2.34%.

Montana does not have registration by party, so it is impossible to know when Kelleher left the Green Party and became a Republican. The Green Party went off the ballot in Montana in November 2004 and it has not managed to requalify. However, it seems Kelleher has not changed his political views; he is still a fierce opponent of U.S. policy regarding Iraq.