Really, Brad? Representative Barker’s recent rambling manifesto attacks the very people who have allowed him to win at the ballot box.

Montana voters made it clear last election: they want Republicans in charge. An overwhelming majority supported the conservative platform Republicans pledged during their campaigns. This came as no surprise, given the Democrats’ disastrous policies. What is surprising is that some self-declared Republican candidates like Barker are now attacking the Montana Republican Party.

The MTGOP’s new Conservative Governance Committee, which I chair, issued the questionnaire. We want to know why candidates choose to run as Republicans and how they intend to govern. Is it to satisfy voter expectations and the party’s platform, or are they just using our brand to gain votes to pursue their own agenda once in office?

Barker could have provided straightforward answers to this simple questionnaire, but instead chose to publicly attack me and other Republican colleagues by name. To paraphrase Shakespeare: Brad doth protest too much. Most Republican candidates have no issue answering basic campaign questions and clarifying their political stances for voters.

Barker would have you believe that our Founding Fathers disliked political parties, but that misrepresents American history. The Founding Fathers were also the founders of our two-party system: James Madison and Thomas Jefferson founded a party in order to campaign against the Federalist party, whose members included John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay.

What the Founders truly warned against, as Madison wrote in Federalist 10, was factions: groups driven by narrow interests that undermine the common good or the will of the people. Montana Republicans are fighting against unprincipled politicians and special interests that put their narrow agendas above Montanans. This is no “purity test,” as Barker alleges. The questionnaire offers candidates a chance to be honest with Republican voters. If a candidate doesn’t share our principles or priorities, they shouldn’t share our label. It’s not about loyalty to party leadership, but honesty to Republican voters.

The party platform unites local interests into a common campaign message that voters can support and lets candidates know the policy agenda they are expected to enact once in office. Voters support the Republican party because of a shared commitment to limited government and fiscal responsibility. The party wants to ensure that our candidates share those commitments too. That is how a party maintains its integrity and continues to earn voters’ trust.

If Representative Barker refuses to stand with the Republican majority chosen by Montana voters, perhaps he should run as a Democrat instead.

Keith Regier

Chair, MTGOP Conservative Governance Committee

Retired GOP State Senator and Representative

Published in the Carbon County News, September 11, 2025
https://www.carboncountynews.com/commentary/republican-voters-deserve-to-know-where-republican-candidates-stand/article_f2814763-00c0-422a-a641-902ed7230d73.html