Republican Senators Demand Revote for Party Leadership
Freedom Caucus members, who make up a majority of the Republican Senate caucus, persuaded MTGOP delegates to disenfranchise the lawmakers
By Tom Lutey, Montana Free Press
Members of the Montana Senate denied a chance to vote for state Republican Party leadership at a June convention are demanding a do-over.
The nine Republican lawmakers are caught up in a months-long festering feud for breaking with the Freedom Caucus at the start of the 2025 Legislature. Freedom Caucus members, who make up a majority of the Republican Senate caucus, persuaded MTGOP delegates to not recognize the nine senators.
The Republican senators asking that the votes be redone are Jason Ellsworth, of Hamilton; Bruce Gillespie, of Etheridge; Gregg Hunter, of Glasgow; Josh Kassmier, of Fort Benton; Gayle Lammers, of Hardin; Denley Loge, of St. Regis; Wendy McKamey, of Great Falls; Russ Tempel, of Chester; and Shelley Vance, of Belgrade.
Montana Republican bylaws state that each GOP senator gets to vote for party leadership and that only the party’s rules committee can change convention rules. That’s not what took place at the Montana State Central Committee Officers’ Convention on June 28.
Freedom Caucus member and state Senator Barry Usher, of Molt, led a vote from the convention floor to not recognize the senators. It passed by a strong majority, despite an attempt by party Chair Don “K” Kaltschmidt to rule Usher out of order. Republican Representative Jane Gillette, of Three Forks, led central committee members in a vote to override Kaltschmidt, who was in his final hours as party chair.
“Participation in the deliberative process is fundamental to effectuating a valid and meaningful vote that allows duly elected officials and convention delegates to make well informed decisions rather than react knee jerk to bullying by the Freedom Caucus PAC faction who wish to overthrow the will of the majority,” wrote attorney Joan Mell in a letter to party leadership. “Their exclusionary tactics through subterfuge, surprise, and intimidation are a disservice to uniting a party of strong Republican Montanans.”
Speaking on behalf of party leadership, MTGOP Director Tyler Newcombe said “It’s clear these nine senators represent a minority within our party. The Montana Republican Party remains focused on empowering conservative voters and advancing the principles Montanans elected us to uphold. The letter has been referred to our legal counsel and rules committee for review. We’ll have more to say soon — stay tuned.”
Art Wittich, the party’s newly elected chair, promised at the convention to create a vetting committee to screen Republican primary election candidates to determine which are “good for the party.”
Montana law doesn’t require voters to register by party, nor is there a requirement that candidates be party-endorsed to qualify for the ballot. However, as MTGOP has increased its majority control of state government, members of the Montana Republican Party executive board have begun censuring and, in some cases, excommunicating former and current Republican officeholders.
All nine Republicans disenfranchised at the convention were censured by the party’s executive board this spring. Previously the board excommunicated former Republican governor and past Republican National Committee chair Marc Racicot, who has publicly accused MTGOP leadership of a “frontal assault on the Constitution” of the United States and expressed concern about his party’s “absolutist ideology.”
At the convention, Republican Governor Greg Gianforte reminded members that only five years ago Republicans retook the governor’s office after a 16-year absence and did so, in Gianforte’s opinion, through inclusion, not exclusion.
State senators targeted at the convention were strong supporters of Gianforte’s priorities during the 2025 legislative session, including property tax cuts for primary residences and small businesses, which hardliners in the Senate opposed because they said it would hit people who owned second homes too hard and burden large businesses, specifically oil refineries.
To the dismay of the Freedom Caucus, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans passed property tax cuts, the state budget and Medicaid expansion in the 2025 session that adjourned in April. In the House, where Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick, of Great Falls, and Speaker Brandon Ler, of Savage, were part of 20 to 25 Republican members of the bipartisan coalition, backlash from Republican hardliners and MTGOP leaders has been muted.
At the June convention, delegates voted 140 to 94 to appoint Wittich chair. The Republican National Committee member and former state lawmaker has a history of advocating for the conservative candidates in Republican primaries.
Wittich was fined $68,232.58 in 2016 for illegally coordinating with third-party groups to influence Republican primaries in 2010. One Republican moderate, Debra Bonogofsky, of Billings, filed a complaint over the coordination in her 2010 race, leading to a years-long investigation that revealed the undisclosed involvement of the National Right to Work Committee, American Tradition Partnership and other groups.
Montana’s Commissioner of Political Practices successfully sued, even though Wittich argued that he never had contact with the National Right to Work Committee.