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 Vanceweren’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.”
Bipartisan is a bad word now.
Delay, Deny, Defend, Obstruct