Far-right Republicans in Montana, looking to end the party’s penchant for compromise, scored victories in some, but not all, key primaries on Tuesday over center-right legislators who had occasionally worked with Democrats.
Montana has long prided itself on straying from the nation’s conservative midsection on hot-button issues such as abortion. Some Republicans in the state legislature have teamed with the Democratic minority on issues such as expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. That bipartisan bloc has stymied conservative priorities such as making judicial elections more partisan and weakening labor unions.
So in Tuesday’s Montana statehouse primaries, an ascendant right tried to challenge that tradition, offering Republican voters a choice: stick with Montana’s maverick conservatism or embrace the Trumpian tides of national politics?
The results were a split decision.
In an open State Senate race, State Representative Ed Buttrey, an architect of the state’s Medicaid expansion last year, was routed by former State Representative Steven Galloway, the right-wing candidate. And in the House, another compromiser, State Representative John Fitzpatrick, was beaten badly by Trish Schreiber, a conservative school choice proponent.
Only one member of the moderate Republican bloc was up for re-election, and she lost. State Senator Shelley Vance, who represents a fast-growing suburb of Bozeman, was trounced by State Representative Caleb Hinkle, a hard-right legislator.
But traditional Republicans notched big wins, too.
In the most high-profile race, State Representative Llew Jones, who has been called the state’s most powerful legislator, edged a hard-right House colleague, Zack Wirth, to win an open Senate seat in a district which stretches 177 miles from Helena, the state capital, to the Canadian border.
In Great Falls, State Representative George Nikolakakos easily defeated Randy Pinocci, an ultraconservative member of the Public Service Commission, for an open Senate seat, while State Representative Melissa Nikolakakos, another voice of moderation, also fended off a primary challenge for re-election. The two are married.
And in a surprise, State Senator Barry Usher, a Freedom Caucus member who was slated to be the next president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, lost to Chris Rindal, a political newcomer who runs an oil business.
Art Wittich, the Montana Republican Party chairman and an advocate for a conservative takeover, called the results on early Wednesday morning “better than a draw.”
“We’re generally pleased,” he said.
Shannon O’Brien, chairwoman of the Montana Democratic Party, said “many of these newly elected Republicans have built campaigns around division instead of solutions, and that should concern anyone who wants a legislature that actually works.”
David W. Chen is a Times reporter focused on state legislatures, state level policymaking and the political forces behind them.
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