The simple version: 10 neighbors who decided to run together.

The LC4 is a group of Lewis & Clark County conservative candidates who got together with a straightforward idea — why run separately when we can coordinate, share resources, and present a unified front?

Most of us have never run a campaign before. But we know our community, we share similar values, and we figured out early that ten candidates working together are a lot harder to ignore than ten candidates working alone.

Here’s how it works in practice: we share a website, pool campaign materials, and show up for each other. If one of us has a booth at the Last Chance Stampede, we’re carrying literature for all ten. If a voter in HD-81 asks about the SD-42 race, we can point them to the right candidate and hand them a brochure. When one of us knocks a door and learns something useful, we share it with the group.

Every candidate runs their own independent campaign, controls their own finances, and answers to their own voters. There is no LC4 bank account, no LC4 fundraising, and no one telling anyone how to vote.

We’re a candidate cooperative — and our shared mission is simple: flip Lewis & Clark County red in 2026.

We get asked a lot of questions. Here are the straight answers.

Is the LC4 a PAC or political organization?
No. There is no LC4 bank account, no LC4 fundraising, and no LC4 expenditures. Every candidate files their own campaign finance reports independently with Montana COPP. We share a website and campaign materials — that’s it. We’re candidates who decided to work as a team, not a political money machine.

Is it a new caucus in the legislature?
No. A caucus is something that forms after you win. We’re candidates right now — and if we win, each of us represents their own district and votes their own conscience. We’re not a voting bloc, we’re not whipped by leadership, and nobody tells us how to vote. We just happen to share conservative values and a belief that Lewis & Clark County deserves better representation.

Are you trying to take over the Republican Central Committee?
Not even a little. We respect the LCCRCC and its role in the party. The LC4 exists entirely outside of party structure. We’re a candidate coalition, not a party organization, and we have no interest in internal party politics. Our focus is November.

Then what’s the point of doing it together?
First-time candidates running against incumbents with name recognition, party connections, and established donor networks are at a real disadvantage — unless they work together. By sharing resources, knowledge, and energy, we multiply what each of us can do alone. A voter who meets one of us at a county fair goes home with information about all ten. That’s how neighbors beat the political establishment.

Who’s behind it — is there a leader or an outside backer?
There’s no party boss, no out-of-state money, and no special interest funding this. The LC4 came together organically — candidates who live in this county, talked to each other, and decided to run as a team. When we share a cost — a booth at a county fair, printed materials, this website — each candidate pays their own portion out of their own campaign account and reports it on their own COPP filing. There’s no LC4 checkbook, no LC4 treasurer, and no pooled fund. Just ten campaigns splitting a bill.

Montana voters approved term limits in 1992 because they believed in the citizen legislature — regular people serving their community, then going home. But career politicians found the loophole: serve 8 years in the House, then jump to the Senate for 8 more. No waiting period. No cooling off. Just a seamless 16-year career in the legislature that voters never intended.

Here in Lewis & Clark County, we’ve watched it play out in real time. Lobbyists have become legislators — spending decades advocating for special interests at the Capitol, then simply moving to the other side of the table to write the laws themselves. Career politicians have rotated between chambers, treating Helena’s House and Senate seats like a revolving door designed to keep them in power.

Meanwhile, property taxes keep climbing. Housing costs push young families out. Government spending grows. And the same people who created these problems keep getting re-elected because nobody steps up to challenge them.

That changes in 2026. The LC4 candidates aren’t here to start political careers — we’re here to end the era of career politicians in Lewis & Clark County.

Most state legislative candidates run alone — isolated campaigns, duplicated effort, and no way to compete with the fundraising machines behind career politicians. The LC4 does it differently — because a candidate cooperative is stronger than ten candidates working in isolation. Our candidates pool resources, knock on doors together, and show voters that this isn’t about one race — it’s about changing the direction of the entire county.