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In the less than three months since the race began to fill the vacancy in Montanas at-large U.S. House seat, political groups have spent millions of dollars in television ads portraying the Republican and Democratic hopefuls as beholden to out-of-state interests or out of touch with Montana values. Against that largely negative backdrop, Libertarian candidate Mark Wicks is presenting himself as an outlet to what he sees as growing disillusionment with the two dominant parties in American politics.

Most people just want to be left alone, to live their life, and thats the Libertarian principle. If youre not hurting me, youre not hurting anybody else, go ahead and do it and thats fine, Wicks said Saturday. People should be happy to do whatever they want, so long as theyre not hurting anybody else.

The 47-year-old rancher and Army veteran from Inverness was speaking during an interview at his Ugly Truck Contest campaign stop in Whitefish, an event built around his closing statement during the special elections only debate last month. He compared Republican candidate and Bozeman businessman Greg Gianforte to a luxury car that is only comfortable when hes parked at the country club with other luxury cars, and Democratic candidate Rob Quist to a little, half-ton pickup that breaks down easily despite having a great sound system.

Wicks sees himself as a work truck candidate, running reliably on small-government ideals and equipped with the tools needed to get the job done in Congress.

When I really started thinking about doing it was right after Trumps election, and we were seeing rioting in the streets. The country started looking like it was tearing itself apart, he said. It was getting very obvious that we need some change in Washington.

Hailing from a remote, rural community on the Hi-Line, Wicks said that his political philosophy entered his life from an early age. Following a violent Memorial Day storm that knocked out power to most of his agricultural community on the outskirts of Havre, he said the farmers banded together to prop up telephone poles and reconnect electrical wiring, so that the electric company had only to flip the breakers to restore power to a town that had been without electricity for five days.

They were just amazed that we went out and did that, Wicks recalled. But thats how people work together out there. They didnt need people from the outside.

Wicks describes himself as a Constitutional Libertarian, meaning his fiscal conservatism and liberal stances on social issues (pro-choice and favoring marijuana legalization) are focused through a constitutional lens that questions the federal governments right to regulate.

Notably, he feels that health care falls outside the purview of federal jurisdiction. But he also acknowledged that its a complicated issue.

Were gonna have to keep some Medicaid. Were going to have to work on that make sure its viable and protect these people, he said. ... One way or another, were gonna pay for this, whether theyre walking in and getting in the door and not paying their bill in the hope were gonna pick it up on part of our bill, or were gonna pay an insurance program to help them.

Wicks faces a steep uphill climb against the other two candidates on the ballot a Republican who narrowly lost a hard-fought campaign for governor last year and a Democrat who has campaigned aggressively across the Treasure State since his March nomination.

While Montana voters are historically more receptive to Libertarian candidates for federal office than the national average, U.S. House and presidential candidates still only attract 3 to 5 percent of the states vote. Last November, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson received 5.7 percent of the vote in Montana, improving over the 2.9 percent he captured in 2012. And longtime Libertarian Mike Fellows averaged around 4 percent in his recent bids for Montanas U.S. House seat, peaking at 5.7 percent in 2010.

But Flathead Countys chapter of the Libertarian Party believes the states electorate feels increasingly under-represented by the two major parties, and that the appetite to take politics in a new direction is growing, despite the arguments that third-parties act as spoilers by siphoning votes away from voters second-choice candidates.

You kind of gotta bite the bullet and realize that your vote isnt for the opposition. If you vote Libertarian, youre voting for a Libertarian future, Flathead Libertarian Party Vice-Chairman Sid Daoud said Friday during the groups Liberty Think Bash event.

Both he and Wicks saw the outsider candidates inclusion in the April 29 televised debate, hosted by KTVH in Great Falls, as a victory in itself.

If theres two podiums there, you get one guy standing up and saying Im not him, so you should vote for me, Daoud said. If you get a third podium up there, then you have to actually stand for something.

While only about a dozen supporters milled around the Firebrand Hotels parking lot for Wicks Ugly Truck campaign rally, Larry Seydell represented the type of disillusioned voter with whom Wicks is hoping to connect.

Im just tired of it. The millions of dollars they spend on bullsh--, they could have done a lot of good stuff with it, the Columbia Falls carpenter said of the largely negative campaign advertisements hes seen so far in the race.

Seydell happened to hear Wicks during a talk-radio interview on Friday, and said he was struck by the message the third guy presented and decided to drop in on Saturdays event to meet him in person.

I was impressed. I think Im going to vote after all, Seydell said. ... Here we have a real guy with a real job and real problems like we all have.

Although early forecasts gave Gianforte a substantial lead over Quist, recent polls indicate the race is narrowing to single digits.

Some Flathead Libertarians at Fridays and Saturdays events worried that support for Wicks could erode as Election Day nears, with voters increasingly worried that a third-party vote will throw the election to what they see as the worse of two evils.

Longtime Libertarian and Bigfork resident Angie Killian said during Saturdays rally that her friends both Republican and Libertarian have pleaded with her to not throw her vote away on a third-party candidate.

I would rather see the Quist people vote for Wicks, and then maybe he could have a chance against Gianforte, Killian said.

Since casting her ballot for President Ronald Reagan in 1984, she was mostly a Republican voter until supporting Libertarian Gary Johnsons bid for the nations top office in 2012. For Killian, Republican stances on gay marriage, medical marijuana and abortion rights ultimately moved her to support the third party.

Id love to see a Libertarian in Congress. I think we need to start making breakthroughs to get away from the two-party system, she said. If we all voted for who we believe in, we might have a chance here.

Montanas special election for its statewide U.S. House district takes place May 25.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.

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Libertarian Mark Wicks stumps in the Flathead - Daily Inter Lake