Montana GOP Cuts Off Funding and Support for “Out of Line Nine” Republican Senators

Helena, Mont. — The Montana Republican Party has formally severed ties with nine sitting state senators, escalating internal party tensions and deepening a months-long rift over loyalty, leadership, and legislative control.

The Montana Sentinel Press first reported the announcement Friday, based on a press release issued by the MTGOP Executive Committee.

In a press release issued Friday, the party’s Executive Committee announced it will no longer support or identify Senators Jason Ellsworth, Wendy McKamey, Gayle Lammers, Josh Kassmier, Butch Gillespie, Gregg Hunter, Denley Loge, Russ Tempel, and Shelley Vance as Republicans. The MTGOP accused the lawmakers of repeatedly aligning with Democrats and undermining Republican priorities in the 69th Legislative Session.

“These Senators have undermined the Republican majority leadership and disregarded the will of Montana Republican voters,” the statement said, citing procedural votes, opposition to rule changes, and resistance to disciplinary action following an ethics investigation involving Sen. Ellsworth.

The party emphasized that it will withhold financial and organizational support and urged media outlets and the public to stop referring to the group as Republicans.

Western Montana News asked MTGOP Executive Board member Brad Tschida whether this amounted to a formal expulsion. Tschida said it did not. “No. There is no mechanism for expelling them from the party. We cannot prevent them from attending, or voting at, our state conventions,” Tschida said. “However, we can informally and formally confront them about their traitorous and duplicitous actions while carrying the mantra of a Republican.”

The decision follows a formal rebuke issued in March, when the MTGOP criticized the same group of lawmakers for repeatedly siding with Democrats and obstructing Republican leadership. The group earned the nickname the “Out of Line Nine” among grassroots conservatives and Republican lawmakers frustrated by the group’s actions. The party warned that continued defiance could result in further consequences.

Days later, Republican central committees in Gallatin and Missoula counties issued their own censures of the nine senators. A prominent pro-life organization also endorsed efforts to recall members of the group and called for them to be barred from party events and conventions.

While the party cannot formally remove the senators from their seats or bar them from Republican events, leadership has framed this move as a final repudiation. With financial support and organizational backing now cut off, the MTGOP is signaling to voters that the path forward—through primaries, recalls, or grassroots organizing—is now theirs to lead.

Despite earlier warnings and mounting grassroots pressure, Friday’s announcement marks the party’s most sweeping disciplinary move to date, signaling a hardening stance ahead of Montana’s 2025 election cycle.