Republican Brad Molnar held a lead over Republican Tom Richmond with 2,314 votes over Richmond's 1,298 for Senate District 28 by 11 p.m. Tuesday.
Richmond has represented Senate District 28 since 2017, which encompasses the Billings and Laurel area. He is a former Republican member of the Montana House of Representatives.
Molnar served in the Montana House of Representatives in the Laurel area from 1993 to 1999 and was twice the vice chairman for the Public Service Commission from 2005 to 2011.
The odds looked good for Molnar as results came in Tuesday, and he said he wants to focus on options to fund the environmental remediation of the Colstrip ash ponds that do not burden NorthWestern Energy ratepayers or taxpayers. The move would protect ratepayers and allow for future investment in the area, he said.
Molnar also wants to look at the state's tax structure, saying that it's too reliant on property taxes.Â
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"People are getting taxed out of their homes," Molnar said. "If they're elderly and the valuation goes up because a suburb is built nearby, they can't take the hits."
Both Molnar and Richmond are strong advocates for the oil and gas industry, with Molnar heavily campaigning with 2019's House Bill 22Â in mind, saying the bill by Richmond would have shut down Colstrip in 10 years.
Richmond said Tuesday that Molnar made up "conspiracy theories" and that what's been said about the bill isn't true.
Richmond said he was disappointed in the results so far in the night, and said that because of COVID-19, not being able to knock on voter's doors was a problem in his campaign.Â
"Life goes on," Richmond said.
He noted that he's worried about seeing the state budget suffer if natural resource industries, like Colstrip, aren't focused on. Many natural resource jobs are in rural parts of the state where other jobs aren't available, he said.
"As time goes on, I think we'll see a real hole in the state budget," Richmond said.