Sweeney’s name will still appear on primary ballot

With the first of Montana’s primary ballots already sent to those active military duty service members overseas and the state set to send registered absentee ballots on Friday, there is not enough time to remove a Congressional candidate who died last weekend, the Montana Secretary of State’s office confirmed.

Mark Sweeney of Philipsburg, a former Deer Lodge County Commissioner and state lawmaker, died at 62. He was seeking the Democratic nomination for Montana’s second Congressional district which reaches from Philipsburg east to the North Dakota border. The second Congressional seat was re-allocated to Montana based on the 2020 Census.

Sweeney’s name will still appear on the Democrat ballot along with Penny Ronning of Billings and Skylar Williams also of Billings.