Press Release

HELENA – Spenser Merwin, a former senior staff member for Montana’s United States Senator Steve Daines, has been named the new Executive Director of the Montana Republican Party.

Spenser joins the Montana GOP after serving as Director of Coalitions and Outreach for Senator Steve Daines since 2015. In the 2014 election cycle, Spenser was the Deputy Political Director for the Daines for Montana U.S. Senate campaign and before that was a Regional Political Director in the 2012 cycle.

Spenser brings a unique wealth of political and management experience to the MTGOP where he will be responsible for overseeing the organization, managing staff, and implementing Chairman Don “K” Kaltschmidt’s vision to support our Republican candidates and win our races in 2020.

“I am pleased Spenser will serve the Montana Republican Party as its next Executive Director, ” said Chairman Kaltschmidt. “Spenser is well-known in Republican politics and has the experience to help us build a great organization. We are excited to get to work and ensure the Montana Republican Party has the resources it needs to support Republican candidates up and down the ticket in 2020.”

“I am honored the Chairman entrusted me to serve the Montana Republican Party as its next Executive Director,” said Merwin. “I look forward to working with the party’s candidates and ensuring that the organization is well positioned to win back the Governor’s seat, retain the U.S. Senate and House seat, and protect our Republican majorities in the Legislature as well as the other statewide offices on the ballot in 2020.”

Spenser graduated from Colby College in 2012 and received a Master of Business Administration Degree in 2018 from the University of Montana. He lives in Missoula, MT with his fiancé, Morgan, and can most often be found on the weekends in the mountains of Western Montana with his four-year-old black lab, Granite.

Chairman of the Montana Republican Party, Don “K,” released the following statement today after Lt. Governor Mike Cooney announced he will run for Governor in 2020:

“Mike Cooney is the very definition of a bureaucrat and career politician, having been born in Washington D.C. and spending over 43 years of his life fighting for big government and even a sales tax in Montana. As we watch Gov. Bullock march further to the left by embracing universal background checks, gun bans, sanctuary cities and open borders, and job-killing policies that will shut down Colstrip, Mike Cooney faces the following choice: Will he follow in Bullock’s newfound liberal positions or run away from these far-left radical beliefs that threaten our liberties and Montana way of life.”

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Governor Bullock has blown over $300,000 of our hard-earned tax-dollars to pay for his campaign, fundraising, and electioneering activity.

That’s right – our tax dollars are being spent by Bullock in his campaign to be President.

Montana taxpayers shouldn’t be footing the bill to pay for Bullock’s security detail while he attends campaign events and fundraisers in Iowa, New Hampshire, and elsewhere. Don’t you agree?

Bullock’s security detail is there to provide protection for official state business – not campaign business.

If Bullock wants to ditch Montana, then Bullock is the one who should be paying the bill – not Montana taxpayers.

Join us and sign the petition to tell Governor Bullock that he should pay back Montanans for the over $300,000 he’s spent of our tax dollars to attend campaign events and raise money from lobbyists and special interest groups.

He’s not doing his job as Governor, and he’s sending us the bill to cover his campaign security costs.

It’s wrong. It’s illegal. And, Montanans deserve their money back.

HELENA, Montana – The Montana Republican Party today announced that over the weekend at the State Officers’ Convention, Don “K” Kaltschmidt was elected as Chairman of the Montana Republican Party and Representative Lola Sheldon-Galloway was elected as Vice Chairman.

“I’m honored to serve as the next Chairman of the Montana Republican Party. All my life, I’ve been supporting the conservative cause in Montana – and I’m looking forward to continuing to advance our cause as your next Chairman.”

“With seven out of eight federal and statewide offices on the ballot next year, we have one goal to achieve: win every single one of our races. We’ll take the time to invest, recruit, and build a winning team so we’re ready to hit the ground running and win next November. By working together, we will grow conservative leadership across Montana from the local, state, and federal level, protect our Montana way of life, and defend liberty and freedom for all Montanans.”

“I want to thank our outgoing Chairman, Debra Lamm, for the strong position she left the Party in. I appreciate her service and dedication to the Party over the last two years, and the great work she’s done to advance the conservative movement here in Montana.”

The Montana Republican Party’s State Officers’ Convention was held on Saturday, June 15th in Helena.

About Don K:

Don K is the owner of a car dealership in Whitefish, a U.S. marine, lifelong Republican, and a lifetime member of the NRA. Don has served as Finance Chair of the Flathead County Republican Central Committee (2016-present) and was a Montana Delegate to the 2012 Republican National Convention.

Don is a member of the Montana Auto Dealers Association (1990-present) and served as Director (2006-2013) and President (2009-2012). He’s also a member of the National Auto Dealers Association (1990-present) and served as a National Board member for Montana (2015-present).

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Bullock’s ego is so large that he has anointed himself the sole person in America who will not only be President Trump’s toughest challenger but the one who can defeat him in 2020.

We’re not exaggerating how high and mighty Bullock thinks of himself – just take a look at this headline…

The only problem: Bullock’s registering 0% in the latest Iowa poll!

While 20 other candidates will have a seat at the debate, Bullock’s doing such a poor job running for president (no surprise there), he was dropped from participating in the first debate altogether.

This is more than a set-back for Bullock. The fact that he can’t even meet the minimum debate requirement – to register 1% in the polls – shows just how pathetic his run for president is going.

But, Bullock has become quite skilled in one area: Jet-setting across the country campaigning and raising gobs of money from lobbyists and special interests – all with Montana taxpayers footing the bill!

Earlier last week he flew off to California to mingle with the Hollywood elites. For the last several days he’s been back in Iowa – his third trip since announcing for president a few weeks ago – and it’s Montanans who are paying for his campaign security costs.

The bottom line: Bullock has no business running for president. It’s a fool’s errand. A pipe-dream. He’s so far out of his league it’s laughable – and yet he continues to waste hundreds of thousands of our hard-earned tax dollars to do so. We deserve better.

Dear State Central Committee Members:

Our annual State Central Committee meeting will be held in conjunction with the Officers’ Convention as follows:

Saturday, June 15, 2019
Helena Great Northern Hotel
835 Great Northern Boulevard Helena, MT 59601
1:00 PM

A copy of the Agenda can be found here.

The Rules Committee has recommended amendments to the Bylaws for your consideration. A copy of the proposed changes with the rationale for them have been mailed and emailed to you.

A Credentials and Proxy form was included with your Call to Convention. If you have already submitted your credentials/proxy form, then you do not need to complete another one. It is good for both the Officers’ Convention and the State Central Committee meeting.

However, if you are attending only the State Central Committee meeting and have not yet provided your credentials, please complete the form and return it to the Montana Republican Party via email to Elections2019@mtgop.org.

As with prior conventions, we recommend you bring a copy of your completed credential/proxy form with you to Convention. Remember, you MUST have a paid registration and pick up your badge at the Convention prior to Saturday, June 15th at 9 AM to be fully credentialed.

We look forward to seeing you in Helena.

In Liberty,

Debra Lamm, Chairman
Montana Republican Party

8 days ago, Senator Tester promised Montanans he’d endorse a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate in the next week (while once again declining to endorse Gov. Bullock’s run for President).

When Tester was asked if he would endorse his home-state Governor he responded with: “I’m going to be endorsing. I’ll tell you this, Margaret: It’s going to happen in the next week.”

Well, last week has come and gone – and Tester has yet to utter a word about who he’s supporting for President in 2020.

Tester has so far shown little interest in backing Bullock’s long-shot presidential campaign. He even took a shot at Bullock for not having the fire in his belly nor the willingness to make the necessary sacrifices to run for the U.S. Senate seat.

Here’s what Tester had to say on Morning Joe a few weeks ago about Bullock’s run:

“Well I will tell you that we need good people to run and we will have a good person to run in Montana, somebody that has a fire in their belly and willing to do the sacrifice needed to do to win a Senate seat… Look, Steve Bullock is a very good friend… He’s been a long time friend – and a good one. I’ve got a lot of good friends in this race cause there’s so many people running for president. And I would just tell you that I want to let things move out.”

So, is Tester planning to snub Bullock on a presidential endorsement? We’ll just have to wait and see how much longer he drags this out…

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Welcome to Day 3! Our dedicated Governor Bullock arrives in Iowa today for a three-day swing through Des Moines, Newton, Independence, Dubuque, Maquoketa, Clinton, and Davenport.

You got that right – our Montana Governor arrives in Iowa today to chase his hopeless presidential dreams.

And while he jet-sets off to Iowa for his long-shot bid to challenge President Trump, many Montanans are asking (rightfully so) who exactly will govern Montana.

In addition to abandoning his job as Governor, he’s also leaving the Montana taxpayer to foot the bill for his executive protection while he’s out-of-state on the campaign trail.

Seriously – Every time Bullock leaves the state for a campaign event or fundraiser, or to rub shoulders and schmooze with lobbyists and liberal special interests at high-end dinners – the Montana taxpayer is picking up the tab for his executive protection.

And – it’s not a small amount either – we’ve already paid $309,420 in taxpayer dollars for Governor Bullock to campaign on our dime! And that number is only going to increase now that he’s officially running to defeat President Trump!

We deserve to know why the Montana taxpayer should have to swallow the cost of his executive protection when he’s out campaigning and not doing his job as Governor.

As Governor Bullock begins Day 2 of his pipe-dream to become President of the United States, he’s not off to a great start…

This morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Senator Jon Tester was asked about Gov. Bullock’s decision to take a pass on running for U.S. Senate, and whether he’d endorse Bullock for president.

First, Tester takes a swipe at Bullock for not running for the U.S. Senate and promises folks that they’d find a candidate who actually has ‘fire in their belly’ and was ‘willing to do the sacrifice needed to do to win a Senate seat.’ Ouch.

Sen. Tester: “Well I will tell you that we need good people to run and we will have a good person to run in Montana, somebody that has a fire in their belly and willing to do the sacrifice needed to do to win a Senate seat.”

Watch it all right here…

Things got even more awkward when Tester said Bullock was a very ‘good friend’ but expressed no interest in backing his presidential run.

Sen. Tester: “Look, Steve Bullock is a very good friend … He’s been a long time friend – and a good one. I’ve got a lot of good friends in this race cause there’s so many people running for president. And I would just tell you that I want to let things move out. We’re 18 months before the election and like I said I’ve got to work with all these folks so hopefully we’ll get some policy done over the next 6-8 months, next year and a half, and help move the country forward.”

Yikes… Gov. Bullock can’t even get an endorsement from his good friend and home-state Senator Jon Tester – and they’re already looking for a real candidate who has fire in the belly for the 2020 U.S. Senate race! Did they forget about Wilmot Collins already?

Better luck with Day 3, Gov!