Montana

Montana GOP elects new chair, after rules fight over legislative party split

Published

6 months ago

June 28, 2025

Montana GOP elects new chair, after rules fight over legislative party split

HELENA — Delegates of the Montana Republican Party gathered in Helena Saturday to choose the party’s next chair – a process that took several hours and rules battles to complete.

The party picked Art Wittich, an attorney and former state lawmaker from Gallatin County, to lead them for the next two years.

(Watch the video to see the debates during Saturday’s party convention.)

Montana GOP elects new chair, after rules fight over legislative party split

Wittich will replace “Don K” Kaltschmidt, who chaired the Montana GOP for the last six years. Over that time, Republicans won all the statewide elections in Montana and held firm control of the state Legislature – but Wittich said Saturday that he doesn’t believe that’s translated into the kind of conservative policy victories they’ve been hoping for.

“We’re not delivering on the full results the voters expect,” he told delegates in a speech before Saturday’s vote. “We are a 55% red state. We did not get 55% ideas out of the Legislature.”

Initially, 241 delegates participated in the party’s officer’s convention. However, almost immediately, there was a rules fight over whether the group of state senators known as “the Nine” should be allowed to vote.

Jonathon Ambarian

At the Montana Republican Party’s 2025 officer’s convention in Helena, June 28, 2025, Sen. Barry Usher, Rep. Jane Gillette and Sen. Theresa Manzella (standing, left to right) backed a vote to remove credentials from nine state senators who broke with the party during this year’s session, including Sens. Jason Ellsworth, Denley Loge and Russ Tempel (seated center and right in dark suits, left to right).

The nine senators drew criticism from other Republicans during this year’s legislative session, when they broke with party leadership and sided with Democrats on a series of key procedural votes. In April, the state party’s executive committee released a statement saying they were “no longer considered by the MTGOP as Republicans.”

While Republican elected officials are entitled to vote at the state convention, some delegates challenged the Nine, arguing the April statement meant they were no longer eligible to represent the party.

“It is us who decides who is Republican,” said Rep. Jane Gillette, R-Three Forks. “Our executive board, through the powers vested to them through us electing those leaders, voted to declare the Nine not recognized Republicans in our private association, GOP.”

Kaltschmidt said, regardless of what he thought of the Nine, he didn’t believe party rules allowed him to remove their credentials.

“While the Executive Committee has expressed a clear belief about the senators, the Executive Committee does not have the ability to amend the party’s bylaws unilaterally,” he said. “The nine senators are elected Republicans, and our rules make them members of this convention.”

But delegates forced a roll-call vote on whether to uphold Kaltschmidt’s ruling.

"Don K" Kaltschmidt — “Don K” Kaltschmidt, the outgoing chair of the Montana Republican Party, presided over the party’s 2025 officer’s convention in Helena, June 28, 2025.

Some in attendance said those seeking to remove the Nine were trying to change rules that people had already agreed on.

“Imagine if you were in one of these counties with ‘the Evil Nine,’ and you show up, and you’re not getting that vote for your county, for the representatives that we are to vote on,” said Jason Stephenson, chair of the Big Horn County Republican Central Committee. “So I’m asking you guys, think about fairness.”

But, after 20 minutes of roll-call voting, Kaltschmidt announced 136 delegates had voted to reopen the issue of credentials, with 97 voting to sustain his decision and 3 abstaining. A majority of the body then took a second vote to accept all the delegates except the Nine. The senators – along with proxy voters representing several of them – were asked to give up their seats at the event.

After the rules issues, leaders opened voting for the next party chair. There were four candidates for the position. In addition to Wittich, they included:

Stacy Zinn, a former state supervisor for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and a 2024 U.S. House candidate for Montana’s eastern district.
Troy Miller, a financial planner and finance chair for the Gallatin County Republican Party.
Tanner Smith, an excavation company owner, former state lawmaker and 2024 gubernatorial candidate.

Delegates voted by ballot. No candidate received a majority after the first round, so Wittich and Zinn, the top-two finishers, moved on to a second round.

Montana GOP Delegates Voting — Delegates at the Montana Republican Party’s 2025 officer’s convention placed their ballots for party chair into a flag-patterned box, June 28, 2025.

Wittich was backed by some of the most conservative members of the party, including an endorsement from the Montana Freedom Caucus. During his speech before the vote, he criticized the property tax legislation passed during this year’s session, and he said lawmakers haven’t done enough to promote judicial transparency and election integrity. He also said he would establish a “conservative governance committee” that would vet and endorse candidates for office.

“I think that, if we show that conservative governance works – we’re a red state, we could become a bright red state,” he told delegates after his election.

Kaltschmidt told MTN he thought the delegates had made the right selection, and that their actions Saturday signaled that they wanted the party “to unify in the Legislature as well as the voting booth.”

Wittich will be party chair for a two-year term, continuing through the 2026 elections and the 2027 legislative session.

Source link

Montana

Live Updates: Montana State leads SFA 7-0 in the first quarter

Published

1 hour ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Live Updates: Montana State leads SFA 7-0 in the first quarter

We recognize you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which
enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore access cannot be granted at this time.

For any issues, contact sports@nonstoplocal.com or call 509-448-4656.

Source link

Montana

Frigid Friday – several inches of snow in parts of the area

Published

13 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Frigid Friday – several inches of snow in parts of the area

A band of moderate snow has formed from the Cut Bank area, extending southeast across Chouteau, Fergus, and Judith Basin Counties. Be alert for low visibility and slick road conditions. Icy conditions continue in Lewis & Clark and Broadwater counties, where snow fell on top of ice after some freezing rain overnight. Up to a 1/4″ of ice has been reported on cars and sidewalks. Freezing rain may mix in again this morning as milder air begins to move back in.

Today’s Forecast:

Frigid Friday, several inches of snowfall in parts of the area-Friday, December 12

It will be a frigid today, with high temperatures in the 0s and lower 10s across central and eastern Montana, and mid to upper 30s in Helena.

The snow band will continue throughout the day, bringing several inches of snow to areas east of I-15. The band of snow will gradually push east tonight, impacting Blaine, Phillips, and Valley counties overnight. Snow showers taper off by Saturday morning.

MTN News

Expect difficult driving conditions through Saturday morning, especially east of I-15 and into the mountains.

Arctic air slowly retreats north on Saturday. Temperatures start off in the -10s to near 0 on the Hi-Line and in the 0s for central Montana, then climb to the 0s and 10s for the Hi-Line and 10s to 20s in central Montana by Saturday evening.

Meanwhile, it will be a pleasant weekend in Helena with temperatures in the low 40s. A gusty breeze develops on Sunday, as temperatures warm nicely into the low to mid 40s in central Montana and into the 30s in northeast Montana.

Looking ahead to next week, mild and windy conditions kick off the workweek, followed by active weather returning midweek.

Source link

Montana

Atmospheric river drives flooding in northwest Montana

Published

1 day ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Atmospheric river drives flooding in northwest Montana

Warm temperatures and an “atmospheric river” of precipitation that flowed into northwestern Montana this week have generated a state of emergency in Montana’s northwesternmost county, Lincoln, as local waterways run unseasonably high.

Around 12 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service started issuing flooding watches as area snowpack sites reported 24-hour precipitation totals that were approaching record levels. NWS meteorologist Dan Borsum told Montana Free Press Thursday that the “rain-on-snow” nature of the recent precipitation has led to widespread flooding.

Borsum called the weather pattern “unusual” for mid-December, instead likening it to a warm April.

Zach Sherbo, the public health manager for the Lincoln County Health Department, said in a Thursday afternoon phone call that additional precipitation is expected through Thursday evening, so rivers could continue rising into Friday.

The Lincoln County communities of Libby and Troy have been hit the hardest by the deluge, which prompted emergency services personnel to issue a state of emergency Thursday afternoon. Residents are cautioned against unnecessary travel and those served by the Libby city water supply are under a boil-water order as a precaution in the event of water supply contamination. School has also been canceled for students in Libby and Troy, Sherbo said.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department has identified a handful of bridges that have been compromised or are washed out as a result of flooding. It suggests residents looking for information on road closures and bridge conditions review an interactive map that is available online and linked in a press release posted to the Lincoln County Health Department’s Facebook page.

“It’s going to take a long time to recoup from this, just structurally, just with the bridges we’ve lost already and the condition that they’re in and going toward,” Sherbo said. “It’s a pretty big combined local effort right now.”

Justun Juelfs, the Kalispell-area maintenance chief with the Montana Department of Transportation said three stretches of state-managed roadways were closed or under monitoring status as of 4 p.m. Thursday.

An approximately 80-foot section of the Farm to Market Road south of Libby has washed out as Libby Creek carved a new channel. MDT is also monitoring erosion that is occurring along a U.S. Highway 2 bridge southeast of Libby and along a section of Highway 56 near Bull Lake. Juelfs encouraged motorists to review MDT’s road conditions report for up-to-date information on impacts to state highways.

The Army Corps of Engineers is assisting with sandbag-filling and distributing efforts and the Red Cross has set up a shelter for those in need at the Assembly of God Church in Libby, according to Sherbo.

The Montana Disaster and Emergency Services agency is also lending a hand with the flood response. In an email to MTFP, Anette Ordahl with DES wrote that a district field officer and a recovery coordinator are on the ground in Libby to offer assistance.

In a Thursday afternoon press release, Gov. Greg Gianforte noted that Sanders and Flathead counties have also recognized the flooding by issuing emergency or disaster declarations. Up to four inches of additional rainfall are expected across western and south-central Montana, according to a disaster declaration Gianforte’s office included in a 3 p.m. press release.

The National Weather Service reported Thursday morning that the Bear Mountain snowpack monitoring site, located just across the border in Idaho, received 6.5 inches of precipitation as of this morning, making it the third-wettest 24-hour period for the site in its 44-year monitoring history. The six-day precipitation total for Dec. 6-11 is 13 inches.

Borsum, with the National Weather Service, said the recent, unseasonable warm spell in western Montana combined with the “super strong” atmospheric river to melt early season snowpack and drive flooding. A similar rain-on-snow event in early June of 2022 led to widespread flooding in parts of south-central Montana that required extensive repairs to roadways and bridges.

Thursday, the Yaak River near Troy surpassed its official flood stage, running at more than 7,500 cubic feet per second. Its usual volume for this time of the year is about 200 cfs.

The Fisher River near Libby was also nearing flood stage. As of Thursday afternoon, it was running at nearly 4,000 cfs, more than 20 times its usual volume for mid-December.

Zeke Lloyd and Jacob Olness contributed to this reporting.

Source link