The Montana Republican Party formally censured nine Republican state senators for repeatedly aligning with Democrat lawmakers during the 2025 legislative session, which undermined the elected Republican majority in the state Senate, just as some Republican lawmakers have done in Alaska.
According to a statement released by the Montana Republican Party, the party’s executive committee voted unanimously to censure Sens. Jason Ellsworth, Butch Gillespie, Gregg Hunter, Joshua Kassmier, Gayle Lammers, Denley Loge, Wendy McKamey, Russel Tempel, and Shelley Vance. The censure vote took place during a meeting on March 27.
The rogue Republicans had had advance warning. The party issued a press release on March 13 criticizing the nine, stating that the senators “frequently aligned with Democrats, creating obstacles for the Republican majority in the Senate.” The release referenced actions beginning on Jan. 6, the first day of the 69th Legislative Session, when the senators joined Democrats to overrule Republican leadership and create a coalition government.
“The MTGOP calls on these senators to cease obstructing key Republican priorities and return to the faithful representation of their constituents and the Republican platform. If their actions continue to damage the integrity of the Republican majority, the party will consider additional steps to address the situation,” Montana GOP wrote in its warning. The nine ignored the warning.
As a result of the censure, the party said it would no longer recognize the senators as Republicans and would not provide them with political funding in future campaigns.
In response, eight of the nine censured senators — all except Sen. Jason Ellsworth — issued an open letter to the citizens of Montana, which said, in part, “We were elected to serve you, not to follow orders from political insiders… Let’s be clear: this censure is nothing more than a distraction — meant to cover up the fact that party leaders have failed to deliver on the core priorities you sent us here to address… This censure changes nothing. We’ll keep showing up. We’ll keep delivering. And we’ll keep putting Montana first.”
The coalition in Montana mirrors Alaska Legislature’s problems. Although Alaskans elect a majority of Republicans, since 2023, the Alaska Senate has been governed by a majority-democrat coalition, with a few Republicans joining in — Sen. Cathy Giessel, Sen. Bert Stedman, and Sen. Gary Stevens, and Sen. James Kaufman, who eventually left the Democrat coalition and rejoined the Republicans.
In the Alaska House, a couple of rogue Republicans joined with the Democrats to create a majority. They are Rep. Louise Stutes and Rep. Chuck Kopp.
