Several hundred Montana Republican Party members are gathering in Billings starting tonight to select the state’s delegation for the National GOP Convention, in July.
Montana GOP chair Jeff Essmann says some of the excitement of this year's state convention fizzled when Ted Cruz dropped his bid for the presidency, and Donald Trump became the party’s presumed nominee.
Essmann had previously predicted a close race between Trump and Cruz in the Montana primary, on June 7.
"I had been hoping up until a couple, you know, last week, that we were going to have Mr. Cruz here. Either Mr. Trump or Mr. Kasich here has well. But, after the Indiana results and Cruz and Kasich dropping out it will be a much lower-key event."
Instead, the GOP convention will headline some of the local party candidates. Corey Stapleton, running for Secretary of State, Elsie Arntzen, running for Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Chairman of Crow Tribe Dana Wilson.
By the end of the weekend, 24 delegates will be voted in as the Montana GOP representation at the National Republican Convention this summer in Cleveland Ohio.
Correction: The audio version of this story incorrectly states that Jason Day is speaking at the convention tonight. In fact, Chairman of Crow Tribe Dana Wilson will be the speaker, not Day. We regret the error.