Two Republicans turn to the Democratic ticket in Great Falls, conspiracy theories follow

For years, Cascade County voters tipped further into the Republican column and elected officials followed. The sheriff and county attorney have both shed their Democratic titles and rebranded as Republicans, as did the county clerk of district court, a job with little room for any political discretion.

This year, however, two Great Falls Republicans have filed to run state legislative races as Democrats, running against the conventional grain and raising suspicions in local political circles.

Mark Winters and James Whitaker, both of whom have recent ties to the Cascade County Republican Central Committee, entered state Senate district races last week as Democrats. Some describe the move as a form of political subterfuge.

“In my opinion, some of these people are trying to destroy the Republican party, and I just think if you want to win elections, do a better job of organizing your campaign, connecting with constituents and build it grassroots so you can win,” said Eric Hinebauch, county commissioner and chair of the Cascade County GOP. “But they don’t want to do that. They want to play games.”

At least one of the new Democrats contend they are fed up with what he described as gatekeeping within the county GOP.

“There’s an illusion that the people get a choice, but in reality, the choice has already been made,” Winters said.

Cascade County’s GOP divide mirrors the same fracture between centrist and hardline candidates that has come to define the Montana Republican Party on the heels of a contentious 2025 Legislature.

Strife in local politics is hardly a new issue. Zoom out, however, and these two legislative races have higher stakes than most of the 125 legislative contests across Montana.

The candidates

The Democratic party’s new members have jumped into two open races where well-known Republicans are facing off.

In Senate District 11 — which wraps in Great Falls’ north side neighborhood, Black Eagle and Malmstrom Air Force Base — longtime legislator and a torchbearer for Medicaid expansion Rep. Ed Buttrey will duke it out against former lawmaker Steven Galloway, a founding member of the Montana Freedom Caucus who lost in the 2024 GOP primary by a mere 36 votes to a moderate opponent.

The same week that Winters declared his candidacy for the seat as a Democrat, he was also a precinct committee member on the county’s Republican Central Committee. He turned in his resignation two days after filing to run for office and sent an email to local GOP members saying he was formally leaving the party.

“I’m done with them,” Winters said in a phone interview. “The more and more time I spent with them the more and more frustrated I got because, at least in Cascade County, the Republican Party is corrupt, it is closed. My opinion is they are not doing anything to help the people of the county or the state.”

Senate District 12 incumbent Sen. Wendy McKamey recently announced she wouldn’t seek reelection following a stroke, creating a second open district in Great Falls. McKamey, who was a stalwart member of the 2025 Montana Senate Republican contingent that allied with Democrats, tapped fellow moderate Rep. George Nikolakakos to jump chambers and run for her seat.

He’s challenged by Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci, who has declared himself a senior RINO, or “Republicans In Name Only,” hunter.

Whitaker, now filed as a Democrat in the race, has run for the Legislature as a Republican in at least six election cycles dating back to 2000, and on Feb. 19 he submitted paperwork to represent his precinct on the local central committee, a role that would have given him a vote for the county party’s leadership, platform and bylaws.

Whitaker did not respond to multiple calls seeking comment for this story.

Nikolakakos and Whitaker are familiar political foes. Whitaker ran and lost to Nikolakakos in a 2024 primary for a House seat before trying again in the general election as a write-in candidate.

During that election, Nikolakakos said he caught Whitaker on camera slapping stickers that said “RINO” on his campaign signs around town.

“It’s silly and desperate, but it is what it is,” Nikolakakos said.

The plot

There are a few theories, and at least one conspiracy, swirling among local Republicans about the reasons for the partisan shuffle.

Hinebauch believes it’s part of an elaborate plan. If there’s a Republican masquerading as a Democrat, he offered, those “D” voters will be compelled to vote against them on the Democratic ballot rather than participating in the GOP primary, where they’d likely support the moderate candidate.

“This is just a game they’re playing,” Hinebauch said.

Winters flatly rejected any suggestion that his departure from the Republican party is part of a scheme, but he didn’t deny that it’s at least partly motivated by personal grudges.

When he moved back from Illinois to his hometown of Great Falls four years ago, Winters said he encountered a “cabal” of Cascade County Republicans who pull strings to decide which candidates get to run where, and what kind of support they’ll receive from the establishment.

Cascade County Democrats, though, aren’t buying it.

Party chair Matt Pipinich said neither Winters nor Whitaker reached out to the central committee ahead of filing as Democrats. Next week, party members will vote to endorse the other Democrats on the ticket, an unusual move as the committee tends to steer clear of primary endorsements.

“It’s something where voters need to know that these are people who, up until this announcement, were Republicans,” Pipinich said.

RINOs and DINOs

If there were such a plot, Pinocci and Galloway, the candidates in these races who theoretically would benefit from the maneuver, insist they’ve never heard of it.

Both told the Montana State News Bureau that they have never spoken to either Whitaker or Winters.

“I have no knowledge about it,” Galloway said.

Pinocci said Whitaker called him recently “but I haven’t had a chance to return it.”

When asked why a Cascade County Republican would run on the Democratic ticket, Pinocci repeatedly invoked a local controversy from 2023 when Sandra Merchant, a Republican elected to the county’s top election officer in 2022, was stripped of her duties by the Republican county commission. Reports from that episode chronicled repeated errors in local elections in 2023 and a general impression that the consequences of those errors would be magnified in the 2024 federal elections but Pinocci’s message here is that Republicans were untrustworthy.

He then moved to Republicans in power in Montana, namely Gov. Greg Gianforte and the moderates who partnered with him to muscle through major policies like tax reforms and spending bills, which he said did not lower taxes (the state revenue department reports 80% of homeowners saw lower property taxes as a result of those reforms).

Finally, Pinocci said a friend recently said he should run as a Democrat, (the friend told the Montana State News Bureau in a separate interview it was not a sincere suggestion, merely some loose talk over politics). Pinocci said he would consider it if Democrats were to arrange a meeting.

“In any race I’ve ever been in, I’ve never said a negative thing against the Democrat I was running against, I’ve never attacked a Democrat and no Democrat has attacked me,” he said. “However, I have had Republicans viciously attack me.”

Candidate filing has closed and it’s too late for Pinocci to switch parties this cycle.

The primary election is June 2.