This year’s Republican State Convention featured what could only be described as a “Walk of Shame” for the nine former Republican Senators who voted with the Democrats in the Senate throughout the 2025 legislative session. Shortly after the credentialing report was shared with the entire state central committee, members of the Montana Senate and House stood to advocate for removing the nine Senators from the floor so they could not vote on the Montana GOP’s future leadership. The result was the nine having to walk out of the convention in front of the delegates and media.

The purpose of this year’s convention was to elect a new Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Assistant Treasurer. The results were initially announced by the Montana Freedom Caucus, which emphasized its leadership role in removing the nine Senators.

The nine Senators were afforded due process, as they were able to vote on the motion to remove them from the floor. However, the remainder of the convention’s delegates voted overwhelmingly to remove them, a decision well within their rights as a private organization.

Here are the nine Senators whose votes were removed.

On February 24, 2024, the Montana GOP rebuked the nine for voting with Democrats.

On April 4, 2025, the Montana GOP removed its recognition of the nine as members of the Republican Party.

Democrat Senator Cora Neumann admitted to working with the nine to circumvent the will of the voters.

The Montana Freedom Caucus stated that it intends to provide a House list similar to the nine to ensure voters know who in the House voted with Democrats to vastly expand the state’s budget.