Guest opinion: People who know trust Judge Amy Eddy

My successful reelection campaign to the Montana Supreme Court focused on earning the votes and support of all Montanans, regardless of political party affiliation, education, employment or location. I won 55 out of 56 Montana counties by focusing on protecting, defending and effectively applying the 1972 Montana State Constitution.

That’s the right way for a candidate to run for our highest court, and that’s exactly the campaign that Montana Supreme Court candidate District Judge Amy Eddy is running in the 2026 election.

Throughout her campaign for the Montana Supreme Court, Eddy has refused to seek endorsements from any political party. She does not attend any political party gatherings and refuses invitations to do so. Eddy does not rely on political parties for campaign assistance, and most important of all, she does not accept one dime of political party money.

The exact opposite is true of Eddy’s opponent: District Judge Dan Wilson. 

Two years ago, Wilson ran a hyper-partisan (and unsuccessful) campaign against now Supreme Court Justice Katherine Bidegaray. Undeterred, Wilson is doubling down on his penchant for injecting hyper-partisan extreme politics into Montana’s courtrooms, making a political party platform a regular staple of his campaign diet. He has attended dozens of political party conventions and meetings. Time after time, he has headlined such events as that party’s “keynote speaker,” and he has accepted the endorsement of that same political party.

Sadly, Wilson has padded his campaign coffers by accepting more than $40,000 of political party money, something no Montana judicial candidate in nearly a century has been able – or willing – to do. This, in an election in which the very most any one of us can contribute is $830.

An extreme political party loyalist recently shared the observation that Eddy received contributions “from 236 donors, more than half of it from attorneys.”

It’s an important point, well worth noting.

During the months since Eddy began her campaign, contributions have continued to pour in from attorneys across Montana. These are lawyers of every stripe, point of view and persuasion — attorneys from large and small law firm, attorneys who primarily represent individuals, attorneys who appear regularly on behalf of corporations, attorneys who do family law, business planning and every other sort of legal work.

In total, 315 Montana lawyers have contributed to Eddy’s campaign, many of whom have contributed the maximum amount allowed by Montana law. More impressive still, no fewer than eight sitting and retired justices of the Montana Supreme Court and district court judges from 30 Montana counties have endorsed Eddy’s campaign.

Colleagues on the bench and lawyers who appear before these two candidates, day in and day out, are your knowledgeable industry professionals. These are the people who know. And the people who know trust Eddy.

You are about to complete your ballot in the upcoming 2026 election. Please vote in the Montana Supreme Court race for the person whose values are reflected in the 1972 Montana State Constitution and who will apply the law accordingly: District Judge Amy Eddy.

Mike Wheat is a retired Montana Supreme Court Justice and former Montana state senator who practiced law in Montana for 30 years prior to his role in public service. He and his wife Debby live in Bozeman.