Helena attorney Brian Miller and former federal prosecutor Kurt Alme both won their respective party primaries Tuesday, setting up a November contest in Montana's eastern U.S. House district. On the Senate side, Republican Kurt Alme and Democrat Alani Bankhead emerged from their fields to face each other in the fall race for the seat vacated by Sen. Steve Daines, who dropped his reelection bid earlier this year.

Alme, who served twice as Montana's U.S. District Attorney under President Donald Trump, was called by the Associated Press less than an hour after polls closed at 8 p.m. He took 77% of the early vote in the Republican primary, a margin he held through the night. Bankhead topped a five-candidate Democratic field that had originally assembled expecting to run against Daines. With Daines out, that crowded field — including runner-up Reilly Neill — competed for a race that suddenly looked more winnable for Democrats. The AP called it for Bankhead after she built a lead that Neill could not close.

In the eastern congressional district, Miller — who practices law in Helena and has made his dog Walter something of a campaign fixture — held off state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy to win the Democratic nomination. Windy Boy, a longtime legislator, had been considered a formidable challenger, but Miller's campaign gained enough traction to pull ahead as returns came in.

The western congressional district remained unsettled as of late Tuesday night. Former gubernatorial candidate Ryan Busse held a narrow lead in a four-way Democratic primary for Montana's MT-01 seat, with Sam Forstag in close pursuit and 64% of ballots tabulated as of 10 p.m. That race had not been called. All primary winners advance to the November general election.