Kalispell's Matt Regier elected Senate president

Senate and House Republicans, selecting leaders who will preside over the 2025 Legislature, chose Senator-elect Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, as Senate president and Rep. Brandon Ler, R-Savage, as speaker of the House in caucuses Tuesday.

The GOP holds the majorities in both chambers for the eighth-straight session of the biennial Legislature. Democrats chose Sen. Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, and Rep. Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, as minority leaders of their respective caucuses.

The full chambers will formally vote on those leaders when the session begins Jan. 6. Caucus votes are conducted by secret ballot.

In the Senate, Regier, who was the House speaker during the 2023 Legislature, prevailed over current President Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, and Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson.

In remarks to senate Republicans, Regier stressed working with House lawmakers and the governor, a different focus than Ellsworth, who said the caucus should have prioritized its own legislation over bills advocated by Gov. Greg Gianforte during the 2023 session.

“I think this session, we must take every opportunity to work with anyone. If there’s a good idea in the house, there’s a good idea on the second floor (governor), if there’s a good idea from an organization outside, let’s take it and run with it, amend it if we have to,” Regier told the caucus. “I believe the only people we should work for are our constituents.”

Hertz was eliminated in an initial round of voting before Regier was selected over Ellsworth in a final vote.

Regier’s father, Keith, ran for Senate president in 2023 but lost to Ellsworth. The elder Regier, who faced term limits, is now out of office. The younger Regier was also Speaker of the House in 2023 when a decorum dispute with transgender Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, escalated into a vote that resulted in Zephyr being barred from the House floor for the closing weeks of the session. 

House Republicans chose Rep. Brandon Ler, R-Savage, as speaker, over Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings. 

Ler told House Republicans he wants to focus on reducing state spending, cutting taxes and protecting Montana families. He also indicated he won’t shy away from continuing the Legislature’s ongoing feud with the judicial branch, which has struck down many Republican-backed laws in recent years. 

“With the radical overreach of the judicial branch, as Speaker, I will not be afraid to flex the muscle of the power we hold,” Ler told his caucus before the vote. “The judicial branch has nothing over me.”

Sen. Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, was voted Senate majority leader and longtime lawmaker Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, was voted House majority leader.

Senate Minority Leader Flowers said Democrats will focus on property taxes, housing, childcare, education and renewing the state’s expanded Medicaid health coverage program. 

“These priorities are not ours alone, they’re shared across the aisle,” Flowers said. “I think our challenge is just to figure solutions we both agree on that actually solve problems.”

Senate Democrats added two seats in the 2024 election, which featured districts redrawn following the 2020 Census. 

House Democrats were emboldened by adding at least nine seats to their caucus, depending on the final outcome of a close Bozeman-area race. Minority Leader elect Rep. Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, was chosen by the caucus over Rep. Mark Thane, D-Missoula. 

Sullivan replaces House Minority Leader Kim Abbott, who has left the Legislature after running into term limits in the House. Sullivan told the caucus that she could effectively negotiate with Republicans to advance Democratic priorities while working to amend or kill bills Democrats don’t like.

“We should be able, with the power in this room, to do more,” she said.

Legislators in all four caucuses also selected lawmakers for down-roster leadership roles:

Senate Republicans unanimously accepted Sen. Ken Bogner, R-Miles City, as Speaker Pro Tempore. Sens. Dennis Lenz, R-Billings, Daniel Zolnikov, R-Roundup, and Barry Usher, R-Billings, and Senator-elect Sue Vinton, R-Lockwood, were selected as majority whips to shepherd Republican votes. 

Senate Democrats selected three minority whips: Sens. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, Laura Smith, D-Helena and Susan Weber, D-Browning.

House Republicans selected Rep. Katie Zolnikov, R-Billings, as Speaker Pro Tempore over Reps. Jodee Etchart, R-Billings, and Brad Barker, R-Red Lodge. Reps. Marta Bertoglio, R-Montana City, Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, Steve Gist, R-Cascade, Jedediah Hinkle, R-Belgrade, and Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, were elected House majority whips.

House Democrats elected a chair to run caucus meetings, Rep. Jennifer Lynch, D-Butte, and four minority whips: Reps. SJ Howell, D-Missoula, Rep. Melissa Romano, D-Helena, Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning and Jonathan Karlen, D-Missoula.

Mara Silvers, Zeke Lloyd and Eric Dietrich contributed reporting.