Montana lawmakers heard more than a dozen bills last week aimed at regulating the state’s courts and judges. They included one of the top priorities for Republicans: to make judicial elections partisan.

On Thursday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on one of the most prominent in a Republican-sponsored suite of bills that would overhaul Montana’s judicial branch.

Fox News calls Montana Senate Seat 1 for Tim Sheehy. Nov 6 • 6:28 AM ET AP calls Montana House District 1 for Ryan Zinke. Nov 6 • 1:02 AM ET AP calls Montana House District 2 for Troy Downing.

Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras reiterated the administration’s “full support” of the measure, which would force judicial candidates to declare a party for the first time in Montana since 1935.

Republican bills would change how Montana’s courts operate, after lawmakers accused judges of overstepping their authority.

Senate Bill 42 would require candidates for Supreme Court, district court and justice of the peace to run with a party label.

Less than a week into his new job, Montana Republican Tim Sheehy is finding plenty of use for his previous experience as an aerial firefighter and wildfire entrepreneur as he pushes for new legislation to address the new reality of a fire season that never ends.

Montana voters safeguarded the right to abortion in the state’s constitution. They also elected a new chief justice to the Montana Supreme Court who was endorsed by anti-abortion advocates.

Montana’s House is has endorsed a ban on transgender people using bathrooms in public buildings that don’t align with their sex assigned at birth

As the Montana Legislature meets again, a handful of Republicans are promoting bills to change the way that Montanans elect our judges. These Republicans want to change judicial elections from non-partisan to partisan because they don’t like the way judges across Montana have struck down a handful of previously passed bills as unconstitutional.

President-elect Donald J. Trump was the first Republican to win the popular vote in two decades, but by only a 1.5-point margin, the narrowest since 2000.