The Nasty Nine

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Senator Mark Noland, SD6 Monday, January 12th, 2026  10:48am  

During the legislative session, the Montana state GOP called out 9 “Republican” senators deemed the Nasty Nine and rightfully stated they are not recognized by the Republican Party based on their voting records that supported the liberal agenda. The Nine included Senator Shelly Vance and Wendy McKamey, both from conservative senate districts. When the conservative legislators tried to work with the Nasty 9, they ignored us. Representative Llew Jones, head of the Solutions Caucus, and the Nasty Nine, told us that if we won’t do things their way, the liberal way, they will just negotiate with the Democrats. That is exactly what the Nine did. The Republican Party wants smaller government, less intrusive government mandates, less power to government and more power to the people. Nine senators made those ideas irrelevant this last session. 

During the summer of 2025 in a CBS news broadcast, the Nasty Nine and a few of the most liberal Democrats honestly admitted they worked together to grow the state government budget. The Nasty Nine promoted a terrible and unnecessary property tax shift bill, HB231. The state had a two-billion-dollar surplus going into the 2025 session but the Nasty Nine chose rather to increase the property tax for many senior homeowners, Montanans with family cabins, business properties as well as agriculture land. Some citizens had their property tax go up 100% or more. Many senior homeowners are being taxed out of their homes, homes they worked their entire lives to acquire. These are homes they planned to live in for the remainder of their lives and then pass on to their children. This high tax burden they now face makes that almost impossible, especially as they retire. These homeowners are not out of state property owners. They are normal Montanans who are trying to save their legacy. It is apparent that the Nasty Nine are ok with taxing normal Montanans out of their homes and their legacy. The state of Montana started this last session with a two-billion-dollar surplus. Why was this tax shift necessary? The Nasty Nine voted with 17 Democrats to pass this bill.

What makes matters worse is that there was a great bill for permanent property tax relief for primary residence while keeping all other property taxpayers whole. Senate Bill 90 sponsored by Senator Carl Glimm would have provided a yearly credit to homeowners by using lodging tax, paid by tourists, instead of going to the bloated state general fund. Also, Senator Hertz had two great property tax relief bills. One would have limited property tax increases by having a fairer voted levy threshold, so the minority does not vote to increase the tax on the majority. His second bill would have taken property tax expenditure periodically back to the voter for approval, leaving more property tax decisions in the hands of the voter. All three of these property tax relief bills failed at the hands of the Nasty Nine. To have a hope of a small efficient state government we need a few more conservative senators in 2027. 

Sincerely, Senator Mark Noland, SD6