Regier at the Helm
The Kalispell Republican is presiding over a state Senate mired in internal conflict as he attempts to pass a slate of conservative legislation
By Denali Sagner
On Jan. 17, a frigid Friday morning just two weeks into the 69th Montana Legislature, the state capitol was, again, buzzing with news out of the Senate.
That morning, the Montana State News Bureau had reported that Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, the former Senate president, had signed a $170,000 contract with a longtime business associate without undergoing the public bidding process or notifying legislative leadership. The funds, which were appropriated through the Senate Special Select Committee on Judicial Oversight and Reform, chaired by Ellsworth, were awarded to Agile Analytics, a newly-formed company owned by a former employee and collaborator of Ellsworth’s. By Monday, Ellsworth told reporters the contract with Agile Analytics had been terminated.
Sitting in his office as the first rays of sun crept into the valley, Senate President Matt Regier said the news left more questions than answers.
“We’re still in the process of looking at what exactly transpired here. I mean, it leaves question marks of what transpired over the last two years,” Regier told the Beacon.
“It’s very concerning,” he said.
This was not the first time Ellsworth had run into potential legal trouble. The lawmaker in 2021 pleaded guilty to obstruction of a peace officer during a traffic stop. In 2009, he was ordered to pay $600,000 to the Federal Trade Commission following alleged violation of federal laws in relation to his magazine telemarketing company.
It was also not the first time Ellsworth had been at loggerheads with Regier, a powerful Kalispell Republican and the current Senate president. Regier last year finished four terms in the House, the most recent as House Speaker, before moving to the upper chamber. In an unprecedented turn of events, he was elected Senate president at the beginning of his first term in the Senate, beating out both Ellsworth and six-term Polson legislator Sen. Greg Hertz. Born and raised in Kalispell, Regier is the son of former state Sen. Keith Regier and the brother of current Kalispell Republican Rep. Amy Regier.
As his first month in the Senate sets in, Regier’s tenure in Republican leadership has been marked by political challenges — first from the left and, more recently, from members of his own caucus.

As House speaker, Regier in 2023 drew national media attention when he censured Rep. Zooey Zephyr, D-Missoula, for her comments on the House floor warning Republicans they would “see the blood on [their] hands” for supporting a ban on healthcare procedures for transgender minors. Regier’s censure of the Missoula Democrat prompted protests in the House gallery, which culminated in seven arrests and Zephyr being barred from the floor.
As he prepared to take the reins of the Senate this session, plans to form a full-time committee to review the executive branch were thwarted when nine Republicans, including Ellsworth, voted with Democrats against a proposed rules package, stalling all work in the Senate. Senate committees canceled their meetings, and Republicans took to social media and the capitol hallways to criticize “The Nine,” the nickname given to the small group of Republicans who voted with Democrats to strike down the rules.
Republican leadership described the committee as a helpful check on executive power. Members of “The Nine,” many of whom are more moderate than their GOP colleagues, said it was a “parking spot” aimed to solidify leadership’s conservative agenda by pulling moderates off of traditional committees.
Discussing the Senate’s rocky start, Regier said the executive review committee “made sense” and would have “allowed for committee work to be more thorough,” but conceded that there were questions about the new proposal.
Yet even as the rules skirmish is put to rest, the rift in the Republican caucus, he said, may cause larger problems if “The Nine” work to dilute what he described as a mandate from voters to pass a conservative agenda.
Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, said that “the Senate is rolling” and that he’s not concerned about the initial procedural hiccups.
“Herding cats is a very simplistic metaphor for what goes on in a political arena like this,” he said.
“I think there’s still opportunity for Republicans to get behind their own caucus,” he said. “I think that door is always open, at least for me. But as long as nine Republicans and Democrat Pat Flowers, minority leader, are running the Senate floor, that’s going to be really tough for the majority caucus to not have angst over that.”
For his part, Flowers told the Beacon on Wednesday, “Democrats are ready to go to work. I can tell you that much.”
Flowers, the Senate minority leader, said the executive review committee was “an attempt to just pigeonhole a bunch of votes or voices that they didn’t want to hear” and added that Democrats are “willing to work with any Republican to get our priorities met.”

Per Regier, property tax reform is at the top of mind for leadership, as the state attempts to bring down tax rates that have ballooned in recent years. He lauded Senate Bill 90, introduced by Kila Republican Sen. Carl Glimm, which would use lodging and rental car revenue to give primary homeowners owners a tax break. The bill received overwhelming opposition during a committee hearing this week.
On a homestead exemption proposed by Gov. Greg Gianforte, which would raise taxes on second homes to lower them on primary residences, Regier said he has “some question marks on that” and does not know “administratively how that would roll out.”
Gianforte and Regier have a history of political differences.
The governor last spring declined to endorse Regier, who faced an expensive primary challenge from security company executive Marquis Laude.
During leadership elections in November, Regier said, “We can work with the executive branch, but we do not work for the executive branch. And certainly, I believe the executive branch cannot be picking our leadership.”
As the Legislature prepares to hear another slate of bills restricting access to services for transgender Montanans, Regier said he is prepared to talk “about the issues that are relevant” to Montanans “even if you get to the point of having to get police in riot gear here,” referencing last session’s protests.
“We’re still going to move forward with the legislation and get our campaign promises done for our constituents back home.”