HELENA, Mont. – The Montana Republican Party (MTGOP) continues to advance the conservative agenda mandated by hundreds of thousands of Montana voters, despite distractions from a small group of self-identified Republican state senators, whom the party censured earlier this year for joining Democrats to undermine Republican efforts at the 2025 legislative session.

In April, the MTGOP Executive Board passed a resolution revoking recognition of nine senators as Republicans and censuring them for their “collective, willful, and continual alignment” with Democrat lawmakers on critical issues. In June, a majority of Republican delegates at the state party convention voted to restrict the nine senators from voting during the convention.

Now, three of the nine senators — Jason Ellsworth, Denley Loge, and Shelley Vance — are suing the MTGOP and demanding the party hold a new convention where they can vote. The MTGOP and its Executive Board are standing strongly behind our delegates’ decision and defending the party in court.

“Republicans from across the state agreed that the nine senators’ betrayal of Montana voters during the 2025 legislative session warrants consequences,” MTGOP Chairman Art Wittich said. “We are defending Republicans who work to lead Montana and our party forward, because that is what our voters want.”

The MTGOP calls on the three senators to cease their continued schemes to undermine the will of Republican lawmakers, volunteers, and voters alike — the sorts of schemes that led Montana Republicans to restrict their voting privileges at the convention.

“We are open to principled policy debates, not plotting to derail the conservative agenda mandated by Montanans by ceding control to Democrats,” Wittich added. “If the nine senators run for reelection, they should do so as Democrats or independents, clearing the way for genuine Republican candidates.”

The MTGOP will self-govern in accordance with its own bylaws and processes, prioritizing the will of its voters instead of caving in to legal threats.

Press Contact:
Ethan Holmes
(406) 459-1240