GOP Majority Undermined in the Montana Senate? 9 R’s Vote with D’s

For those of us trying to wrap our arms around why 9 Republicans would vote with the Democrats when it comes to the rules in the Montana State Senate, the Montana Family Foundation's Jeff Laszloffy summed up what's happening.

In his daily legislative update that aired Thursday morning, Laszloffy- a former Speaker Pro Tempore in the Montana House of Representatives- asked why the House moved forward with 21 bills, while the Montana Senate was still at a standstill.

Jeff Laszloffy: "Time's being wasted because nine Republicans joined all 18 Democrats earlier this week in a soft coup. In an attempt to get more powerful committee assignments, they downgraded a newly formed executive review committee to an on call committee, and then reassigned the committee members to much more powerful committees like finance and business and labor. That brought the entire Senate to a screeching halt as members of leadership scrambled to mitigate the damage. So far, not a single bill has been heard, and with the exception of judiciary, no Senate committees are scheduled to meet. It's a frustrating train wreck, to be sure, but it's not without precedent."

Laszloffy says he predicts this will be "just a bump in the road" and that eventually a solution will be found.

As of Thursday afternoon, Lee Newspapers' capitol reporter Seaborn Larson said the issue still hadn't been resolved. Here's what he shared via X: "The Senate GOP’s decisive vote on SR1 delayed: After an emotional caucus meeting, Republican leadership asked members for a few more hours to make committee assignments that could bring the party together again. Committee on committees meets at 3 Senate floor vote at 6."

Freedom Caucus Senator Barry Usher (R-Billings) asked this question on X, "Will the Montana State Senate "nasty 9" tran-partisans continue to vote with democrats? Sen Loge, Sen McKamey, Sen Kassmier, Sen Temple, Sen Gellespie, Sen Hunter, Sen Vance, Sen Lammers and Sen Ellsworth."