Opposition to Trump Administration policies draws thousands of Montanans to protests. The state Republican party tries to excommunicate nine legislators from the party. Bills aimed at making judicial races overtly partisan appear to be failing. And members of the Blackfeet Nation sue over Canadian tariffs.
Capitol Talk is MTPR's weekly legislative news and analysis program. MTPR's Sally Mauk is joined by Montana Free Press State Editor Holly Michels and Lee Banville, Director of the University of Montana School of Journalism and Professor of Political Reporting.
Sally Mauk: Lee, thousands of Montanans turned out for rallies last weekend to protest the Trump administration policies and Elon Musk's federal cuts. And it wasn't in just the college towns. This was part of a national day of protest organized by both national and local groups. What do you think the large turnout in Montana signifies? Is it Democrats getting their opposition galvanized, or is it more than that?
Lee Banville: Well, that, I think, is the thousand-dollar question here in Montana, because what you saw last week was an enormous outpouring of frustration about a lot of different policies, right? I think one of the things that was remarkable looking at the protests around the state was it covered everything from immigration to diversity and equity to the firing of federal workers. And so, what it does is it says that there are a lot groups that are truly activated and ready to do some kind of action to fight what they see as federal policies that are hurting them. And are a lot of those constituencies potentially Democrats? Yes. But the question is, are we also starting to see an erosion of support in some of those policies of the Trump administration that might start to chip away at moderate Republicans and independent voters, which would spell some real trouble both at the midterm elections in the next year, but also potentially some questions around how it may trickle down to the legislature and other votes. So, I think what it was was definitely an impressive turnout of a diverse array of organizations and groups that are frustrated by what the government is doing. And it could spell some real trouble if those groups organize around a central reaction and say this is what we're going to do about it.
Sally Mauk: We should also note that Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be in Missoula on Wednesday to rally the troops as part of a nationwide tour. So, we'll see what the turnout for that will be.
Holly, leaders of the Montana Republican Party recently tried to, basically, excommunicate nine Republican legislators for not toeing the party line. And they vowed never to support their campaigns. And they said no one should even call them Republicans anymore. And the nine, who they're targeting, basically said, 'Hold my beer.'
Holly Michels: They did, Sally. So yeah, the state GOP is rescinding the recognition of these nine senators who at times during this legislative session have voted with Democrats in the chamber to either advance or kill legislation, or to show the power that they have in that chamber in defiance of Senate President Matt Regier and other Republican Senate leadership. So, the state GOP says that that's obstructing Republican priorities. But these Senators responded saying that their votes and their actions are just representing their constituents.
This isn't the first time that the state's GOP has said they no longer deem someone a Republican. If you remember, the party did the same thing to former governor and former Chair of the Republican National Committee, Mark Racicot, back in 2023.
The party can't stop a politician or political candidate from saying they're a Republican or running as a Republican, but like you said, Sally, what they can do is not endorse them or more critically, endorse their opponent. They also can withhold financial support and instead back their opponents in primaries. It's probably worth pointing out here that these nine the state GOP is rebuking, generally ran in primaries in 2024, if they had a primary that year where they were supported by Governor Greg Gianforte, who lent his support in those primaries to what could be considered more moderate candidates. That includes Senator Josh Kassmier, who won a primary against the party's vice chair, Lola Sheldon-Galloway, and Gianforte also snubbed Senate President Regier by omitting him from his endorsements. In the party's executive board resolution, they cite actions the nine took this session to rebuke the leadership, and they talked about how they acted in this timeline that led to the censure of Senator Jason Ellsworth, who we've talked about a lot on this show. And also, these nine, their votes to refer an investigation into President Regier to the legislative auditor. Kassmier said that before the executive committee took the vote to rebuke them, they asked to meet with him. In advance of that, the party sent Kassmier a list of questions they wanted to ask him. Kassmier said those all focused on Regier and Ellsworth, not about if the senators were voting with or against GOP priorities. And Kassmier also pointed out there's division over which Republicans right now are backing some of the governor's big priorities, like his income and property tax bills, showing there's some tension there within the party. But we're in the closing weeks of the session now. The Senate and Republicans specifically have been trying to move past this all session, and right now they're trying to just get some of big major policies through the state budget. So, it'll be interesting to see how much this party action plays into things at the Legislature as we get near the end here.
Sally Mauk: Lee, we've talked a lot about the schism in the Republican caucus and how it's affecting action in the legislature, but what do you think the fallout of this infighting will be in the long term?
Lee Banville: Well, you know, I think one of the things that's interesting about it is — Holly mentioned when they did the same thing to former Governor Racicot — that was a lot about President Trump and whether Racicot was supportive enough or not supportive of the president. This is different, right? This is really a battle within the Republican party about both the leadership within the legislative branches, but also some of the policy questions that the state needs to address. It really feels, I think, a little bit different in the sense that this is not national politics playing out in some intraparty fighting here in Montana. This is really the Republican elected officials in the state of Montana going at each other. And so the big danger is, does this schism remain — these nine versus the rest — or do we start to see an erosion of the central Republican caucus in any way, where other people start to see what's happening here and are like, 'Well, is this about policy priorities or is this about who is Senate president?' because that could really have some ripple effects in future elections and next legislative session, as well as some of the statewide races that we might see coming down the pike. You know, it's early to tell, but it certainly is truly notable how much this split has hardened into something that isn't just a spat but really does seem to be something fairly fundamental and could be pretty long lasting.
Sally Mauk: Definitely something to keep an eye on in the future and, Holly, one of the top priorities for Republicans and the governor in this session was to pass new laws aimed at making judicial elections overtly partisan. At this point, it looks like none of those bills are going to become law.
Holly Michels: Yeah, Sally. So, Republican senators met through the interim between last session and this one through a special select committee that was focused entirely on what they call judicial reform. And that committee's end product was more than two dozen pieces of legislation and a decent chunk of those have died so far this session. And one of the bigger things that that committee sought to accomplish was to make judicial races partisan. Like you said, the bills that aim to do so have all been defeated at this point — though it is worth saying that nothing is truly done until lawmakers adjourn for good and leave town. But so far, a coalition of Democrats and Republicans have joined together to vote down these handful of bills that sought to make partisan judicial elections in some form. The last one to go down was from Speaker of the House, Brandon Ler. It would have allowed a Supreme Court justice candidate, if they wanted to, to indicate a political party but not require that. Republicans have argued that judges in the state, who in recent years have found several of the GOP's top priorities and newly passed laws unconstitutional, are partisan and they say voters should know what bucket they fall into, and Democrats have strongly opposed that, saying it flies in the face of an independent judiciary, and they found some Republicans to join with them in that this session. Practically speaking, judicial races can often be low-information races, so having a party affiliation on the ballot could be meaningful if someone is just voting a straight party ticket. In recent years, we've seen prominent Republicans in Montana make clear which judicial candidates they support as an attempt to try to make clear that party alignment, and they've pointed out when left-leaning groups are backing other judge candidates. And one bill from that select committee that has become law does allow political parties to donate directly to judicial candidates. But at least for now it looks like we're not going to see judges identified by political party on ballots in Montana.
Sally Mauk: Lee, the long-held notion that Montana's judiciary should remain neutral and impartial and nonpartisan, that appears to have bipartisan support at this point.
Lee Banville: Yeah, I mean, it really is remarkable how much effort was put into really studying this issue in the interim between these legislative sessions and really coming up with a game plan to really tackle this issue and to see most of those bills, at least apparently at this point, foundering is kind of striking because the Republicans do have clear majorities in both houses. The governor is supportive, but we've also seen some interesting developments. If we remember early in the session, the newly elected Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who was seen to be potentially someone who aligned with the Republican priorities, got up and told a joint session that they shouldn't pass this partisan election bill. So, at the core, I think most people are comfortable with the way the system is working. At least you don't want to be too aggressive in interpreting how the failure of these bills reflects the voters and really the view of the Legislature. but it's clear that the crisis that I think Republican leaders have pointed to isn't trickling down to the Legislature or to the voters yet. And so, it really does seem like, you're right, that there is this still bipartisan support that the system we have now is working OK.
Sally Mauk: Well lastly, Holly, [members of] the Blackfeet Tribe are suing the federal government over Canadian tariffs, and they're represented by attorney and former two-time congressional candidate Monica Tranel, who had this to say:
Monica Tranel: Congress has constitutional authority to do tariffs. The executive does not have the authority to impose tariffs in this way, either under the Constitution or under the statutes that were invoked, and it's unconstitutional, illegal, and it needs to stop.
Sally Mauk: And this also has to do with tribal sovereignty, Holly.
Holly Michels: Yeah, Sally, this is just one example of tribes across the country making a point of highlighting their sovereignty. And the Blackfeet are in a unique position because they do have this very close geographical tie to Canada. The Blackfeet Nation is one of four tribes in the Blackfoot Confederacy. The three others are actually headquartered in Canada. So, the plaintiffs in this case, like we heard Tranel say there, they include two tribal citizens, and they're arguing that only Congress and not the President can enact these tariffs. They're also saying that the tariffs violate the Jay Treaty that recognizes the rights for Native Americans to freely cross the border, which tribal citizens often do with a tribal ID card and not a passport. And they also make note that the Tribe and its members would be specifically harmed by these Canadian tariffs because of that geographical tie. So, we're watching this to see what kind of traction it gets and where it's able to go.
Sally Mauk: Lee, as Holly mentioned, it's unclear whether this suit will succeed or not, but it's bound to get some attention at the very least. It's bringing a national issue into a state conflict here.
Lee Banville: Yeah, I mean, the reality is that the tariffs, specifically on Canada, are going to have real effects here in Montana with our long international border along the north with the amount of trade that comes through that border and the amount trade that we send north, you know, that these tariffs are going have effects and there will be political fallout for that. What this lawsuit also does is it allows us to highlight that issue and allows former congressional candidate Monica Tranel to head this battle about how the Trump tariffs are hurting Montanans, which both can be a legal issue that she has outlined and Holly highlighted in this sovereignty question, but it's also a political issue that may be able to be used later as a springboard if she decides to continue that fight and once again enter the political fray. So, I think it does allow the political debate about the tariffs, but also the legal debate about they were imposed to be hashed out in a public way here in the state Montana.
Sally Mauk: Safe to say everyone is in the grip of spring fever at this point and anxious for the Legislature to wrap up, but there's still a lot of work to go and Holly and Lee, we will keep following that and I'll talk to you next week.
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