Despite Success, Are the Wheels About to Come Off the Montana GOP?

Don "K" has had a successful tenure as chairman of the Montana Republican Party. He helped raise $32 million, all statewide offices are held by Republicans, and the GOP finally knocked out liberal Senator Jon Tester (D-MT). But with Don K no longer running for party chair, could the wheels come off the GOP?

Let me start by saying that Republicans are strongly positioned heading into the 2026 midterm elections. President Trump is and will remain incredibly popular in Montana. Even though he isn't on the ballot, we can expect Trump to make a big showing on behalf of Trump ally Steve Daines- the Republican Senator from Montana who is up for re-election in 2026.

As for the congressional races, the Eastern seat is very safe Republican, while Ryan Zinke will continue to dominate whatever sacrificial lamb the Democrats try and throw at him again in the Western district.

Don K (Kaltschmidt) and the MT GOP spoke out against the moderate legislators who voted against their caucus this past legislative session in the state legislature, and he wasn't afraid to speak out on the race for party chair later this month either.

Here's part of what we talked about last week (full audio below).

Aaron Flint: I remember back in the 2000 elections, the GOP practically swept the statewide elections that year. We beat Brian Schweitzer (D) in the Senate race. The only race we didn't win that year was the OPI race. And now Republicans have won that for a few election cycles now...but then, of course, a few years later, the Republicans slowly started to lose it all. And so people, I think people, are saying, hey- that could happen again if the GOP falls apart. What's your thoughts?

Don K: "Well, I agree with that. We need somebody that can be a leader. We need somebody that can work with all different sides of the party, because we do have lots of factions. Anytime you have a majority, you're going to have different factions. We don't want to happen what happened in Alberta, for example, where the Conservative Party and the Wild Rose Party- which was more a further right part of the Conservative Party- broke apart, and then the Liberals got in, and they basically ruined Alberta. Now they they came back together and and got back in power, but the people I know from Alberta told me how much damage was done. So we don't want that to happen. We need to have a party chair that can be a unifier, to the best you can. There are always going to be infighting. It's probably the toughest part of the job. But you have to be fair to all sides. That being said, you know, what happened in this session has given credence to- hey, we need to purify the party. Well, that will hurt us electorally, I believe, because evidenced by what happened happened in Alberta. But we can't have people going roughshod and teaming up with Democrats either. So there needs to be a, you know, a balance there."

So who all is running for GOP party chair, so far?

Don K: "We've got four candidates running. You have Stacy Zinn- is a very good leader, and you guys know her over there in Yellowstone County. We have Troy Miller out of Gallatin County, an excellent fundraiser. We have Art Wittich, who has done a great job. You know, he was my committee man for quite a while, and he knows how the party works. He understands the whole setup, and, you know, would be a great leader as well. And then Tanner Smith, who wants to purify the party. And unfortunately, I have some very big concerns that he'll be able to raise any money for the party, because the checkbooks will probably close. So we've got him running as well. So it's going to be, it's going to depend basically on what the party wants to do. You know, the voters, the central committees and the legislators, and I would urge them all to show up and to vote their conscience. And whoever they choose, whether it be any of the four that I mentioned, and there may be another one that jumps in that I don't know about, but those are the four that's indicated that they want to run- any of them we need to get behind and support."