# Marc Racicot Two-term Republican **governor of Montana (1993–2001)**, previously state attorney general, then **chair of the Republican National Committee (2002–2003)** and chair of the Bush–Cheney 2004 re-election campaign. Few living Republicans have held a more central party-institutional résumé. He broke with the party's Trump-era direction well before 2026 — he supported Joe Biden in 2020 and has been a consistent public critic of Donald Trump. ## Endorsement of Sam Forstag, September 2026 Racicot endorsed **[[Sam Forstag]]**, the Democratic nominee in **[[MT-01-2026]]** — the western Montana seat left open by [[Ryan Zinke]]'s retirement — giving Forstag a crossover endorsement from the most institutionally credentialed Republican in the state. > [!quote] Marc Racicot, September 2026 > "It's not even a close call for me to stand in Sam's corner." He is one of several prominent Republicans who endorsed Democrats in red and red-leaning states in September 2026, alongside [[Bill Graves]] in Kansas and [[Karl Rove]] in Texas. ## See Also - [[MT-01-2026]] · [[Sam Forstag]] · [[Ryan Zinke]] - [[Bill Graves]] · [[Karl Rove]]