Loge among Republican lawmakers to sue state party

Republican legislators disenfranchised at the June Montana GOP officers’ convention are asking a judge to restore their voting privileges and force a new election for party leadership.

State senators Jason Ellsworth, Denley Loge and Shelley Vance weren’t allowed to vote for Montana Republican Party leadership at the June 28 convention in Helena, where a new party Chair Art Wittich and Vice Chair Stacy Zinn were elected. 

Ellsworth, of Hamilton; Loge, of St. Regis; and Vance, of Belgrade; say they’re being canceled for supporting policies endorsed by Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte. All three lawmakers belonged to a minority of Senate Republicans who led an effort to, among other things, renew the state’s expanded Medicaid program and back Gianforte’s preferred approach to lowering property taxes on primary residences instead of other options supported by hardline Republicans. 

At the convention, members of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, a political action committee, called for the three senators to not be recognized. Caucus member Sen. Barry Usher, R-Molt, made the motion, which then-MTGOP Chair Don Kaltschmidt called out of order. Then, Freedom Caucus member Rep. Jane Gillette, R-Three Forks, called on convention delegates to disregard the party chair’s ruling, which they did.

Ellsworth, Loge and Vance, who were invited to the convention as Republican legislators and paid for admission, were told to leave. The lawmakers’ work with the governor didn’t get a mention by either the Montana Republican Party or Freedom Caucus members during the convention. 

Usher took to social media early in the 2025 legislative session to characterize the lawmakers as collaborating with minority Democrats, disparagingly labeling them the “Nasty Nine,” a reference to the three plaintiffs and six other Republican senators who frequently voted en bloc during the session. The name stuck. Capitol press lopped off the “Nasty” and published stories about “The Nine” for the next four months.

“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, MTGOP director, in a text. “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.”

Ellsworth said Wednesday that the bills passed through the Legislature weren’t authored by Democrats. He said the legislation was sponsored by Republicans who collaborated with Gianforte’s administration on shared priorities.

“They weren’t Democrat bills; they were Republican bills that were in the governor’s budget. He budgeted for Medicaid expansion,”  Ellsworth said. “He didn’t veto it. He didn’t change anything. That’s a Republican bill.”

Ellsworth said that by not being recognized at the convention, the lawmakers were unable to make arguments for who should be party chair. Wittich won the chairmanship by a large margin. A former state legislator and longtime political operative, Wittich told delegates that Montana lacked the feeling of a deep-red conservative state. He suggested a “conservative governance committee” to hand out party endorsements in primaries. The Montana Republican Party has mostly avoided advocating for one Republican over another in primary races. Gianforte notably put his thumb on the scale in 2024.

“That’s something you can bring up, a debate when you’re voting for these people,” Ellsworth said. MTGOP “has always managed to stay out of the fray and now it’s being sunk completely into the fray. Ultimately, I think we will end up losing some seats. That’s what even Art said, ‘We may not have as many members, but we’re going to have red members.’ Well, define red.” 

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in Lewis and Clark District Court asks for a legal determination of what the lawmakers’ rights are. The Montana Constitution grants legislators absolute immunity for legislative actions, which the plaintiffs argue should have prevented their disenfranchisement and earlier censuring by the Montana Republican Party executive board.

The censure issued in April said the lawmakers weren’t upholding Republican values, though questions submitted to one lawmaker, Sen. Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, focused more on his interactions with Senate President Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, who lost control of his caucus on the session’s first day.

There’s been no censuring of House Republicans who collaborated with the disenfranchised senators to build a bipartisan working majority that included Democrats from both chambers. In the House, the coalition included Speaker Brandon Ler, R-Savage, and Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls.

Republican members of the working majority have said that during the session they advanced the priorities of their constituents, not “party bosses.” 

At the convention, state Republican Party rules should have prevented the lawmakers from being excluded, Ellsworth said.

Ellsworth is a past president of the Montana Senate who was censured during the 2025 legislative session for attempting to award up to $170,100 in government work to a longtime business associate without disclosing the relationship and not putting the work out for bid.

The work was to involve monitoring Montana courts as they put into effect 27 new “judicial reform” laws proposed by Republicans during the 2025 Montana Legislature. Only seven of the bills passed. 

Ellsworth maintains his innocence, but the Senate consensus was that he violated Senate ethics. Senators banned Ellsworth from in-person participation in legislative functions. He finished the Legislature participating remotely, capable of voting but not debating or asking questions about legislation.

Separately, lawmakers referred Ellsworth to the Department of Justice for alleged official misconduct, a misdemeanor, stemming from the contracts.