HELENA — On the first day of the Montana Legislature’s 2025 session, nine Republican senators voted with Democrats to change the temporary rules the Senate was operating under. It was only the start of what became a session-long storyline, as that group of nine went on to vote against GOP leadership on numerous procedural motions and some key legislation.

“That vote that was taken on Day 1 was important,” said Sen. Wendy McKamey, R-Great Falls, one of the nine. “It was important to take a stand.”

(Watch the video to hear more from two of the group of nine senators.)

In addition to McKamey, the group of nine included Sens. Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton; Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton; Butch Gillespie, R-Ethridge; Gregg Hunter, R-Glasgow; Gayle Lammers, R-Hardin; Denley Loge, R-St. Regis; Russ Tempel, R-Chester; and Shelley Vance, R-Belgrade.

Over the 85-day session, the nine voted along with the 18 Senate Democrats to rearrange senators’ committee assignments, move bills to different committees and “blast” bills that didn’t make it out of committee to the floor.

Kassmier told MTN one of the causes of the split was the nine’s belief that Senate leaders had “isolated” them by placing them on a less influential committee. Five of the nine were assigned to the newly created Executive Review Committee, intended to hear legislation from state agencies – but members questioned whether the committee was necessary.

“I think that this kind of got us off to a rough start, when we actually changed the rules and made sure everybody was placed on committees that was fairly based on experience, knowledge,” said Kassmier.

McKamey says there were also policy differences. She said she believed other Republican senators were undermining Gov. Greg Gianforte’s policy goals.

“I did not work closely with the governor at all, but what I really felt was that the Republican caucus should support the Republican governor,” she said. “When I saw the lack of support, and even opposition to our governor, that was an issue for me. And I wasn't opposed to taking a stand stating that.”

Nine Republican senators broke repeatedly with their party leadership during the Montana Legislature's 2025 session. (Left to right, top row: Sens. Wendy McKamey, R-Great Falls; Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, Shelley Vance, R-Belgrade; Gayle Lammers, R-Hardin. Left to right, bottom row: Sens. Russ Tempel, R-Chester; Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton; Gregg Hunter, R-Glasgow; Denley Loge, R-St. Regis; Butch Gillespie, R-Ethridge.)

The group of nine didn’t always vote as a bloc, but there were areas where they appeared clearly separated from most of their caucus. Most of the nine supported the final version of House Bill 2, the main state budget bill; the pair of property tax reform bills establishing “homestead tax rates;” and the renewal of Montana’s Medicaid expansion program.

However, on other pieces of legislation, the entire Senate GOP remained largely united – including a bill to cut income tax rates and a number of bills on social issues like gender transition.

“We’re all conservative Republicans at the end of the day,” Kassmier said.

One of the most contentious divides between the nine and other Republicans surfaced around the ethics investigation and disciplinary action against Ellsworth, a former Senate president. Last month, the Senate voted by a large margin to remove Ellsworth from committees and bar him from the floor after an investigation focused on whether he had violated ethical obligations in his handling of a state contract. However, that vote came only after attempts to expel him from the Senate failed, with the nine and most Democrats in opposition.

McKamey told MTN Friday that, while there were legitimate questions about Ellsworth’s actions, she believed he hadn’t gotten equal treatment and that the handling of his case was inappropriate.

Sen. Wendy McKamey, R-Great Falls, speaks on the Senate floor, April 8, 2025.

The nine’s actions throughout the session led to sharp criticism from some Republicans. The Montana Republican Party’s executive committee issued statements of censure against the senators for breaking with party leadership and cooperating with Democrats. Eventually, in April, they said the state party would withdraw support from the senators’ future campaigns and that they would “no longer see the nine Senators as Republicans.”

“These Senators have undermined the Republican majority leadership and disregarded the will of Montana Republican voters,” the news release said.

Kassmier said the board had inserted themselves in the legislative process, and he saw that as unfortunate.

“I try to stay focused, on delivering on property tax, income tax, investing in Montana – that's what I was focused on, that's what I was elected to do,” he said. “It was just distraction. It was noise on the outside.”

Sen. Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, watches the vote board on the Montana Senate floor, April 8, 2025.

McKamey said the state party hadn’t given her financial support or other support in the past.

During an end-of-session news conference, Senate President Sen. Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, and his allies expressed frustration about how the session went and accused the nine of essentially handing control of the chamber to Democrats.

“We should have done better work; we should have had a working Senate Finance and Claims Committee, which we did not – and that happened on Day 1, when that committee got, hijacked, basically, by the nine and the Democrats,” said Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila.

Throughout the session, some Republicans who backed Senate leadership began referring to the group as “the Nasty Nine.” Regier said he didn’t think their constituents would approve of what they did during the session, and he alluded to possible future primary elections.

“I do believe the voters sent the Republican Party here to be in control, and from Day 1, it was not – and I don't see that’s sustainable,” he said. “I think that in the future, the voters are going to speak their mind.”

Senate President Sen. Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, spoke at a news conference after adjournment of the Montana Legislature's 69th session, April 30, 2025.

Kassmier and McKamey denied that they gave Democrats control of the Senate. They said, when going back to their constituents, they’d stand on what they got done during the session.

“I think we did a lot of good things and accomplished a lot for the state of Montana,” said Kassmier. “Once this all settles and once Montanans start seeing what we did, I think they should be pretty happy.”

As the session ended, the two sides of the split each argued the other hadn’t given them the consideration they were due. Regier said at his news conference that the nine’s cooperation with Democrats had essentially left the remaining 23 Republican senators without a voice as issues were negotiated. McKamey said she believed the split in the caucus could have been resolved sooner, but she didn’t think leaders made a serious attempt at doing it.

“I'm probably not going to look back on that,” Regier said Wednesday in response to a reporter who asked if Senate leaders could have done more to heal the split. “Like I just told a lot of my senators, I made all the right choices, for sure, in all of that. But going forward, I do believe that everybody should have a seat at the table.”

“I think that some actually didn't want to have reconciliation; they really wanted to have this, for whatever reason, I’m not sure – but I didn’t,” said McKamey. “I can guarantee that I did not, and I would say most of the nine did not. Now we all have our own personalities in the nine – we can call them the ‘Noble Nine,’ we can call them whatever, but I'll own it: We’ll be the nine.”