The 1982 United States Senate election in Montana took place on November 2, 1982. Incumbent United States Senator
John Melcher, who was first elected to the Senate in
1976, opted to run for re-election. He won the
Democratic primary after he faced a tough intraparty challenger, and advanced to the general election, where he faced
Larry R. Williams, an author and the
Republican nominee, and
Larry Dodge, the
Libertarian nominee. Though his margin was reduced significantly from his initial election, Melcher still comfortably won re-election to his second and final term in the Senate.
During his first term in the Senate, Melcher's relative conservatism for a Democrat prompted a primary challenger in Michael Bond, a housing contractor who campaigned on his opposition to nuclear war. Bond attacked Melcher for voting to increase spending on nuclear arms, and pledged to reduce military spending to $60 billion and to use the savings to reduce interest rates.[1] During the campaign, Bond came under fire from the state branches of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars and the
Disabled American Veterans for turning in his draft card in 1967 to protest the
Vietnam War, who put out a statement, saying, "There is no place in the U.S. Senate for any draft dodger, draft card burner or draft protester of any kind."[2]
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