Flathead County Republicans Select New Leadership, Closing the Curtain on Internal Strife
A new faction of central committee members elected Giuseppe Caltabiano, a Whitefish city councilman, to replace former chair Al Olszewski and lead one of the state's most influential local central committees
By Mariah Thomas
The conflict that has rankled the Flathead County Republican Central Committee (FCRCC) over ousting its leader came to a close Thursday night as Al “Doc” Olszewski’s tenure ended and the group elected a new slate of executive committee members with little fanfare.
“I think we saw a settling tonight,” Olszewski said after the meeting. “When there was good order and clearly defined rules, a quorum of 70 out of 86 members did good work tonight.”
Topping the list of new leaders was Giuseppe “GMan” Caltabiano, a Republican sitting on the Whitefish city council who defeated state GOP chair Art Wittich for his seat on the central committee. Caltabiano won election as the FCRCC’s chair-elect, besting Tanner Smith, a former gubernatorial candidate and the state GOP’s national committeeman, for the role.
Caltabiano was part of a slate of candidates put up for the FCRCC’s executive roles — which include a chair, vice chair, finance chair, secretary, treasurer and representatives to the state party — by a faction of Republicans who are new to the body.
Several of those new members ran for their precinct captain positions following Kalispell’s 2025 mayoral race. In that nonpartisan contest, Republican-aligned candidate Kisa Davison lost to Ryan Hunter, a more left-leaning candidate who is now mayor. The outcome frustrated a swath of local Republicans who saw the FCRCC as lacking in its support of Davison during the contest.
Olszewski, the now-former chair, previously said state law prohibited the FCRCC from making an outright endorsement in a nonpartisan race. Nonetheless, what they saw as an abandonment of one of their own spurred a slew of new members to action.
Following a summer in which those new members used their majority to effectively kneecap the body’s activities, their showing was dominant at the county convention. Candidates nominated by the new faction bested members of the FCRCC more aligned with the old guard for each executive role. Some, like Caltabiano and Davison, who will serve as the FCRCC’s new state committeewoman, referenced the body’s decisions not to back some Republican candidates in their candidacy pitches. Still others simply spoke to Republican principles they hoped everybody in the room shared.
Their elections represent the turning of a new leaf for one of the state’s most influential local central committees, as the FCRCC has led the state on contentious topics like primary endorsements and the Flathead is home to some of the state legislature’s heaviest hitters, many of whom serve on the central committee. How, exactly, the body’s activities will shift as the new leadership steps into their roles remains to be seen.
The leadership team Caltabiano will serve with during his two-year tenure as the chair includes vice chair Catherine Potter; finance chair Skylar Rieke; state committeewoman Davison; state committeeman Bill Moseley; secretary Jakoby Isles; treasurer Tyron Byers; congressional committeewoman Julie Perchy; and congressional committeeman John Thomas. Of the group, only Isles, an 18-year-old Glacier High graduate, previously served in FCRCC leadership. Perchy has long been on the central committee, but not in a leadership role. Caltabiano, Potter, Davison and Moseley were all elected as precinct captains this June.
As for the former leadership team, some will continue serving in their roles as precinct captains on the FCRCC. Olszewski, the former chair, is not among them. While he said he’d be around if the new FCRCC leadership needed him, for now, he’ll be stepping away from the body in an effort not to crowd them. After taking some time with his family, he said he plans to look for new ways to serve his community.
As he steps away from the FCRCC, Olszewski said he leaves behind a “deliberative” body where people weren’t afraid to speak their minds.
“My hope is that they see success at the primary mission, which is to get Republicans elected in November,” he said.
That’s a mission Caltabiano agrees with. He sees the FCRCC’s main goal as fielding strong Republican candidates and helping to get them into office, though he acknowledged there’s a role he’ll likely have to play in helping to repair divisions among the FCRCC’s membership.
“As a leader, I believe in living by service,” Caltabiano said. “I don’t believe in living by authority. So, I’d love for people to follow their principles, which are the principles of freedom, liberty, community, family, opportunity. And I believe if I challenge anyone in this room, they won’t argue with those principles. So, I’m not asking anybody to follow me. I’m asking them to follow those principles, because I follow the same principles, and respect is one of those … I will not tolerate disrespectful behaviors, simple as that. And then we can deal with everything with stability.”
Beyond those tasks, though, Caltabiano has another vision he hopes to fulfill.
“[I want to] project this group as a joyous, shining light to attract a high number of young — and less young — new, conservatively-minded Republicans,” Caltabiano said.