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Republicans hold a 32-18 majority in the Montana Senate. Still, recently, nine Republicans betrayed their principles and their voters by siding with Democrats during a critical Senate rules vote on day one of the 2025 legislative session. Day two just concluded, and all that's been accomplished is the swearing-in ceremony followed by betrayal. The Senate and House have not held hearings, and the people's work is not getting done because of the nine Senators.

The nine who ignored the will of their voters are in yellow boxes below. At the end of this article, we will post pictures of each.

Here's what happened.

1. The Senate's Committee on Committees assigns members to legislative committees. In the House, this is done by the Speaker.
2. The Republican majority controls this committee.
3. Instead, nine Senators crossed over to help Democrats and liberal Republicans take over critical committees, compromising themselves and betraying the voters. Critical usually means something tied to a legislative priority or a funding stream dedicated to keeping the deep state churning.

Here are some of the consequences.

1. Democrat Susan Weber and RNOs Gregg Hunter and Denley Loge sit on the Business, Labor, and Economic Affairs.
2. Democrats Pat Flowers and Emma Kerr-Carpenter join RINOs Josh Kassmier, Russ Tempel, and Jason Ellsworth on Finance and Claims. Flowers and Kerr-Carpenter also join the Health and Human Services Subcommittee, where they will help push Medicaid expansion and, therefore, taxpayer-funded abortions.

But was dishonesty also at play in this vote? The following three pictures are from the Senate Rules documents on which the Senators vote. The first is Senate Resolution 1, a standard resolution number used each session in which the senators vote for the rules. The entire document is thirty pages. On the top right, you can see SR 1.1; in the middle, it emphasizes that this is only the Senate version, as there is a joint version on which both chambers vote. On the bottom are authorization markings.

The version below is the supposed amendment to the original above. The top right number should change to SR 1.2 because it's an amendment, and our sources say this version never went through the required Legislative Services Division review and posting, a rule the legislature must follow. Finally, on the right, lines 15 and 16 are a sample of what the author, whoever they are, used to attempt to stack committees. Bills and Resolutions cannot use individual names; therefore, lines 15 and 16 require a member representing Senate District 14 to be on the Finance and Claims Committee and Health and Human Services. Therefore, this amendment requires Senator Tempel to be on those committees as he is the only member from Senate District 14. Senator Tempel's name is on the RINO list. The rest of the page contains more examples of the same tactic.

The other way to know it is an amendment is because of the blue underlined language and the strikethrough of "The" in (2).

There is also no amendment to SR 1 on the Bill Explorer page.

Another question to ask is why the official vote record displays the names of eight of those who voted with Democrats but does not display the name of the person who led the charge, Senator Jason Ellsworth. Our sources in the Capitol informed us that Ellsworth led this effort in an attempt to exact "revenge" on the members of the Senate who instead elected Senator Matt Regier as President.

How rapidly this vote exposed the true colors of some of Montana's State Senators and why primary elections are so important. The primaries are where the chaff and wheat are separated. The pictures and contact information of the nine members are below, and at the end, some proposed language for those who wish to engage with these Senators.

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Dear "so-called Republican Officials",

I am writing to express my profound disappointment and outrage regarding your actions during the opening of the 2025 legislative session. Your decision to collaborate with Democrats and undermine the Republican Party has left many of us, your constituents, feeling betrayed.

On Day 1 of the session, you and eight other so-called Republicans handed control of the Montana Senate to the Democrats, effectively nullifying the GOP's nominal majority. This is not only a strategic failure, but a betrayal of the trust and values of those who elected you. Despite the Montana Senate being in the hands of Republicans with a 32-18 majority, your actions, along with those of your colleagues, created a de facto 27-23 Democrat advantage by allowing them to hijack key committees.

To make matters worse, your betrayal didn’t stop there. You enabled Democrats to secure critical positions on vital committees, including:

Democrat Susan Weber, alongside you and fellow Republicans Gregg Hunter and Denley Loge, now control the Business, Labor & Economic Affairs Committee.
You, along with Josh Kassmier, Russ Tempel, and Jason Ellsworth, are now working with Democrats Pat Flowers and Emma Kerr-Carpenter on the Finance & Claims Committee.
Flowers and Kerr-Carpenter have also joined the Joint Appropriation Subcommittee for Health and Human Services, further solidifying policies like Medicaid expansion.
Your actions have ensured that these important legislative priorities will be controlled by those who do not share the conservative values that we, the people of Montana, hold dear. What’s worse is that this isn’t the first time the Montana Republican Party has faced a collapse due to weak leadership and betrayal. In 2015, House Republicans made similar compromises, leading to the evisceration of the conservative agenda. Now, the same thing is happening in the Senate under your watch.

This is not just a minor mistake; this is a catastrophic blow to Montana conservatives. The Republican Party is supposed to stand for limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the protection of our values—values that you have now helped to undermine.

I demand that you take immediate responsibility for your actions. You have handed over the Senate to the Democrats and severely weakened the Republican Party in Montana. The damage you’ve caused must be addressed, and you must do everything within your power to reverse this betrayal before the 2025 session progresses any further.

We, the constituents, are watching. We demand that you answer for your actions. Will you continue to enable this Democrat-RINO coalition, or will you take a stand for Montana’s future and its conservative principles?

Your failure to act in line with the party’s platform will not be forgotten. The question now is whether you will finally live up to your oath of office and fight for the values you promised to uphold—or whether you will continue to betray the people who trusted you to represent them.

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• Montana's Freedom Caucus Announces Legislative Priorities And Welcomes New Leadership
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