HELENA - Divisions in the Montana Republican Party have boiled over publicly, both in the Montana Legislature and at the Montana Republican Party's 2025 Officers' Convention this summer.
The disagreement between some Republican senators and the Montana GOP came to a head on Wednesday, with both sides making their case in Lewis and Clark County District Court.
Watch to see more from inside the hearing:
"There was a motion to remove nine senators from voting," said Sen. Shelley Vance, R-Belgrade.
She is one of the three senators suing the Montana GOP for being removed from the convention in June, preventing them from voting on party leadership.
As MTN previously reported, a major reason behind their exclusion, along with six other senators, is that the Montana GOP does not consider them Republicans, given their votes with Democrats on key pieces of legislation.
The other two senators who are suing the GOP are former Senate President Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, and Sen. Denley Loge, R-St. Regis.
Emily Jones, the GOP's attorney, asked, "Would you agree with me that you repeatedly voted with Democrats during the 2025 legislative session?"
"If I can add to that statement, I repeatedly voted with Democrats and Republicans," said Sen. Loge.
The chair of the Montana GOP at the time of the convention, who presided over it, "Don K" Kaltschmidt, made a ruling to allow them to be included in voting; however, delegates voted on whether or not to uphold it.
One hundred thirty-six delegates voted to overrule Kaltschmidt, 97 sustained his ruling, and three abstained from voting.
"I was quite shocked, to be quite honest with you," said Sen. Vance. "I believe everything was kind of a surprise. Nothing was forthcoming, and it was kind of a 'gotcha'."
Lawyers defending the Montana GOP asked both Sen. Vance and Sen. Loge about whether or not they made motions or a point of order after the exclusion motion.
Vance said she did not, and Loge said from what he understood, there would be no more discussion on the topic after the vote.
Another witness who gave testimony during the hearing is former House Representative Lola Galloway, who was previously the vice chair and is currently the secretary of the GOP.
"I represent people, too, and people were asking me for that vote in that executive board meeting," said Galloway.
She attended a meeting in February, hosted by the GOP, to discuss what was going on in the legislature.
The three senators' attorney asked, "After you heard the discussion, was it your intent to punish the nine for their votes in the legislature?"
"Yes," Galloway said.
Now, Sen. Ellsworth's testimony will be submitted electronically along with post-hearing briefs from both sides.
Those must be submitted by September 12th, and Judge Abbott will then later make his decision.
