Welcome! Here are the topics for today’s independent commentary:

• Primary Election Observations
• Katie Lane Confirmed
• Janicki Industries
• One More Thing

PRIMARY ELECTION OBSERVATIONS:

The results started coming in a little after 8:00 p.m. for the Montana primary. Is this a great country or what? 

Here are some observations, with a complete wrap coming on Thursday: 

• Republican Kurt Alme won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate. The Associated Press (AP) called the race at 8:23 p.m. 
• On the U.S. Senate Democratic ticket, Alani Bankhead took an early lead over Reilly Neill.
• In the race for MT-01, Aaron Flint took a big early lead over Christi Jacobsen on the GOP side. Ryan Busse took a small early lead over Sam Forstag on the Democratic ticket.
• In the race for MT-02, Republican Troy Downing was uncontested. On the Democratic ticket, Brian Miller was up early over Sam Lux. 
• At 8:46 p.m., the AP called the GOP MT-01 race for Aaron Flint. I am impressed that Flint won the contest so early against two well-known opponents. 
• In the Cascade County races, preliminary results show Jesse Slaughter with a large lead over Mindy Kahle for Cascade County Sheriff. The GOP race for Cascade County Commission shows Tom Lynch leading Rick Wolke and Pete Anderson. Republican Lynn Deroche leads Desarea Valentine in the GOP Clerk and Recorder race.
• At 9:41 p.m., the AP announced that Brian Miller won the Democratic nomination for U.S. House in Montana’s 2nd Congressional District. 
• At 9:49 p.m., the AP announced that Alani Bankhead won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in Montana.
• At 10:00 p.m., the race for the Democratic nomination for MT-01 was very close. Ryan Busse leads Sam Forstag by about 800 votes. There’s still a long way to go. 
• The non-partisan State Supreme Court Justice #4 race was just a trial run, as both candidates will move on to the general election. If you are Amy Eddy, you have to be liking the early results, as she was beating Dan Wilson by about 9,000 votes. 
• As for many of the state legislative races, the results were coming in slowly, and some were too close to call. We’ll see if any of the so-called RINOs get beaten in their contested primaries. 

KATIE LANE CONFIRMED:

If you follow me on X, you were among the first to know that Kathleen S. Lane was confirmed as a U.S. District Judge for the District of Montana.

The vote was 52-46-2. (Source)

There was talk that Lane wasn’t qualified. Yet, she won 52 of 53 Republican votes (one senator didn’t vote). Elections have consequences.

JANICKI INDUSTRIES:

In a press release, Janicki Industries, a privately owned engineering and manufacturing company, announced Tuesday that it has selected Great Falls, Montana, as the site of its next manufacturing campus. The $800 million investment will add 2 million square feet of production space over the next decade. Janicki expects to create 1,000 new jobs within the first five years, with total employment exceeding 2,000 jobs once campus construction is complete. 

Founded in 1993, Janicki has built more than three decades of experience in advanced composites, precision machining, and metal fabrication. The company currently operates over 1 million square feet of facilities across Washington and Utah and employs more than 2,000 people. 

Janicki is a privately owned engineering and manufacturing company that designs and builds composite and metallic tooling, parts, prototypes, and assembled structures for customers across aerospace, defense, space, marine, and other industries. As one of the largest privately owned Tier 1 aerospace suppliers in the United States, Janicki brings full-scale production capabilities to programs of any scope. 

Congratulations to the leaders in Great Falls who worked on this project. 

ONE MORE THING:

Of course, I’m an organ donor. Who wouldn’t want a piece of this? 

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