376 Montana Candidates File to Run in 2014 Elections, 7 Race for U.S. Senate

All of the candidates who plan on running for office in the 2014 elections for major parties have officially filed as of 5 o'clock today. The final tabulations have 148 Democrats, 147 Republicans, 9 Libertarians and 1 Independent vying for the public's vote.

A total of seven candidates are running for the U.S. Senate, while the U.S. House race will see eight contending candidates

Secretary of State Linda McCulloch said the 5 o'clock deadline for filing culminated with a door-closing ceremony that included noisemakers and cookies. Most of the applause from McCulloch seemed to be for the way that candidates chose to file.

"Candidates and voters are plugged in and ready for another exciting election," Secretary McCulloch said. "A record 69 percent of candidates filed electronically in 2014, which is up from 63 percent in 2012 and 59 percent in 2010. Voters are also online and checking in with us via their smartphones for polling place information, absentee ballot tracking, and more. Anyone who hasn't used "My Voter Page" should check it out before the Primary on June 3."

This week's deadline was just for Republicans, Democrats and Libertarian candidates. Other contenders who seek to run on minor party tickets will need to collect the requisite signatures and turn them in to their corresponding counties by May 22. The actual filling date at the Secretary of State's office will happen a few days later on June 2.

Mcculloch said the last few days have been “brisk” with many candidates choosing to sign up over the weekend. Here's a look at the final numbers with some statistics comparing

Total Candidate Filings (including withdrawn filings): 376 *Previous totals: 439 in 2012, 379 in 2010, 388 in 2008 Total Withdrawn Filings: 26 Total Web Filings: 260 Total Paper Filings: 116

Total Legislative Filings (including withdrawn filings): 337 *Previous totals: 325 in 2012, 337 in 2010, 322 in 2008 Total Withdrawn Legislative Filings: 26

Total Non-Legislative Filings (including withdrawn filings): 39 *Previous totals: 114 in 2012, 42 in 2010, 66 in 2008 Total Withdrawn Non-Legislative Filings: 0