With Tuesday's primary results certified, Montana's three congressional races are set for the fall, and at least one political scientist says the real messaging battle is only just beginning.

In the race for Montana's western U.S. House seat — the one that includes Helena and Lewis and Clark County — Republican Aaron Flint and Democrat Sam Forstag emerged as their parties' nominees. Flint, widely known as a conservative radio voice in Montana, and Forstag will now spend the next several months drawing contrasts with each other rather than fighting within their own parties.

A political science professor weighing in the day after the primary noted that the shift from intraparty to interparty competition typically changes the tone and the terrain. Arguments that worked to win a Republican primary in Montana don't always translate directly to a general electorate that includes unaffiliated voters and the small but organized Democratic base that Helena tends to produce at higher rates than most of the state.

For Helena voters, the western House seat is the most directly relevant of the three congressional races on the November ballot. The seat has been competitive in some cycles and not in others — how Flint and Forstag position themselves over the summer will tell a lot about which kind of race this turns out to be.