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Censured, disenfranchised Republican lawmakers sue state GOP • Daily Montanan [1]

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Date: 2025-08-07

Three Montana Republican lawmakers have sued the state GOP, alleging their rights as voting members of the party were wrongly terminated and asking for the party to be forced to re-elect its officers.

The lawsuit, filed by Jason Ellsworth of Hamilton, Denley Loge of St. Regis and Shelley Vance of Belgrade, as “MT Republicans,” is the latest escalation of an ongoing fight between a group of nine Republican state senators and the majority of the party that saw the Republican lawmakers work with Democrats to pass major bills, including the state’s budget.

The party “divested MT Republicans from their vested voting rights in MT GOP in retaliation for and as punishment for their protected legislative activities,” the lawsuit states. “.. A party without representation from each of its elected Republicans ceases to act as a political party that reflects the views of the electorate. MT GOP’s ouster was substantively and procedurally fatally flawed.”

But the Montana GOP pushed back against the lawsuit filed in Lewis and Clark District Court.

“Frankly, we’re confused as to why they’re upset. You can’t quit the team, suit up for the other side, and then sue the coach for benching you,” said Tyler Newcombe, executive director of the Montana GOP in a statement. “By organizing with Democrats, The Nine removed themselves from the Republican Party. All we did was recognize what they had already made clear through their votes and their alliances.”

The intra party rift began with the first vote taken during the 2025 legislative session, when nine Republicans joined all Democrats in the chamber to buck their own leadership and change Senate rules, effectively leading to a bipartisan “working majority” for the duration of the session.

The GOP Executive Committee censured the Nine during the session, saying they no longer considered them to represent Republican values. Members of the Nine, however, have argued their views represent the true identity of the GOP.

Fallout continued into the summer when Republicans gathered in Helena for the party’s annual convention.

Before new party leadership elections began, Sen. Barry Usher, a member of the more conservative Montana Freedom Caucus, made a motion to remove the nine senators from the list of credentialed delegates allowed to vote.

Under the Montana Republican Party’s bylaws, all “Republican members of the Legislative Assembly” are entitled to vote at the officers’ convention.

Then-party Chairman Don Kaltschmidt ruled Usher’s motion out of order, but members of the Freedom Caucus successfully lobbied for a vote, and a majority of delegates voted to strip the nine of their voting rights.

The Montana Freedom Caucus publicly lists 21 members of the Legislature among its ranks, including eight Senators. However, the caucus does mention its members may include additional lawmakers who prefer to remain anonymous.

Pushing back against their ouster, the Nine lodged a protest with the party in early July, calling for a new election of officers, and subsequently filed the lawsuit seeking to reestablish their standing within the party and calling for the officers’ election to be held again, with their input.

“Just as they undermined the party and its leadership during the legislative session, the nine senators never reached out to set up a meeting or discuss their concerns with the party before filing their lawsuit,” Newcombe told the Daily Montanan. “It’s disappointing — but not surprising — that instead of working together as part of a team, they’ve once again chosen to attack the very conservative movement they falsely claim to represent.”

The lawsuit alleges the party’s “rebuke, censure and ouster” of the three senators conflicts with the National Republican Party rules, including allowing the “broadest possible participation” of voters within the party.

The plaintiffs are represented by Joan Mell, a lawyer who also represented Ellsworth throughout the Legislature when he was subject to an investigation over ethical and criminal misconduct allegations. Ellsworth was censured by the entire Senate, removed from committee assignments, and banned from the Senate floor.

In the court filing, the plaintiffs argue that their actions during the Legislature were constitutionally protected activities and helped push through priorities of Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte. They allege that the Freedom Caucus, and by extension the state party, sought to punish them and the governor.

“MT Freedom Caucus members and affiliates took offense when MT Republicans worked with Republican Governor Gianforte and his cabinet to garner majority votes on legislative measures in the best interests of Montanans during the 2025 Legislative session,” according to court documents. “MT Freedom Caucus members wanted MT Republicans to retaliate against Gianforte for his primary support of candidates who were not Freedom Caucus members. MT Republicans sought to expeditiously approve the Governor’s Cabinet appointments without retaliation consistent with their duties and devote their attention to passage of legislation through majority rule.”

Representatives from Gianforte’s office did not respond to questions about the party’s actions against the Nine and the subsequent lawsuit. Questions about whether the governor condones the actions of the party and his view on the continued division of the party also did not receive a response.

The plaintiffs further argued their actions achieved “majority rule, which did not necessitate abandonment of Republican values. Bipartisan support on Republican sponsored legislation is not prohibited by the Republican platform,” according to court documents.”

Ellsworth, in a declaration filed with the court, stated that the Freedom Caucus seeks “blind loyalty to their extremist thinking. The tactics it deploys violate core Republican values ensconced in National Republican Party Rules where rule by inclusion is the policy.”

At the June convention, voting delegates elected Art Wittich to serve a two-year term as party chair.

Wittich is an attorney and former state legislator who represented a portion of Gallatin County from 2011 to 2016 and served as Senate Majority Leader during the 2013 Legislature. That session saw a similar rift between the party leadership and a handful of “solution-minded Republicans” who often voted with Democrats.

Speaking to the party after his election as chair, Wittich called for party unity and moving forward “without dividing and subtracting.”

However, Wittich also told the Daily Montanan that one of his goals as chair would be to better educate voters during the primary season to ensure they know who the “conservative voices” are, and he called out the nine senators as not being Republicans.

While the three senators who filed the lawsuit argued that the actions taken to remove them violated party bylaws and national committee rules, officials with the state GOP maintain their actions were justified.

“These nine senators weren’t removed from the convention lightly — they were removed because they repeatedly acted in opposition to the values and priorities that Montana Republicans overwhelmingly supported at the ballot box,” Newcombe told the Daily Montanan. “We are obligated to inform those voters of this repeated failure by these nine senators.”

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[1] Url: https://dailymontanan.com/2025/08/07/censured-disenfranchised-republican-lawmakers-sue-state-gop/

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