Montana GOP chair: Republican National Convention feels safe, unified

HELENA — The chair of the Montana Republican Party says he hasn’t noticed significantly different security at the Republican National Convention this year, in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Trump – but he feels there is a greater feeling of unity than in previous conventions.

“There’s really zero division,” said “Don K” Kaltschmidt. “Everybody is on board with President Trump, everybody is unifying. We have different sections of America that are now coming on to the Republican Party and the Republican movement, the conservative movement, and it’s really refreshing to see.”

Montana has 31 voting delegates at the convention in Milwaukee. Kaltschmidt said they also have roughly 30 alternates and another 10 or so delegation guests.

The delegation is staying at a hotel in Racine, about 45 minutes away from Milwaukee. Kaltschmidt said his members have all felt very safe, both at the hotel and at the main event.

“When we went through the line, they were very thorough of checking everything we have,” he said. “Everybody’s going in with clear bags, etc., if you’re wearing a suit jacket, they go through the whole thing – they went through my little wallet and everything. So they’re very, very protective of what’s going on inside that convention center.”

Kaltschmidt, an auto dealer from Flathead County, has been chair of the Montana GOP since 2019. In that capacity, he attended the 2020 RNC – a small-scale event largely held remotely during COVID – and he had previously gone to the 2012 convention. He said the atmosphere this year is much more “fired up.”

“We feel very, very confident going into the fall elections,” he said.

Kaltschmidt praised Trump’s selection of Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate, saying he saw parallels between the 39-year-old Marine veteran Vance and Montana U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy – a 38-year-old Navy veteran.