2025 Capitol Tracker

The lawmakers, bills and votes of the 69th Montana Legislature

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Last update: 9:47 AM Feb 5, 2025
🗂 All bills🔎 Find a bill🔎 Find a lawmaker🏡 Your district
🏛 House
GOP-held 58-42
🏛 Senate
GOP-held 32-18
🖋 Governor
Greg Gianforte (R)
Sen. Jason Ellsworth, SD 43

Sen. Jason Ellsworth

Fourth-session Republican from Hamilton
Representing Senate District 43
Hamilton and southern Bitterroot Valley

Jason Ellsworth previously served in the Montana Senate in 2019, 2021 and 2023.

Committee assignments

Senate Finance and Claims
Senate Local Government
Senate Fish and Game
Senate Executive Review Committee - Chair 🪑
Senate Rules
Joint Appropriations Section A — General Government

Bills sponsored

📋 SB 20: Prohibit retired judges from hearing constitutional cases
1st Cmte.
✴️Senate
⚪️House
⚪️Gov.
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Capitolized newsletter
Expert reporting and insight from the Montana Capitol, emailed Thursdays.

Floor vote statistics

Calculations based on 152 Senate floor votes in 2025 involving bills.
🥇 94%
of votes cast on winning side
Average for Senate Republicans is 89%.
🔴 88%
of votes cast on side taken by most Republicans
Average for Senate Republicans is 92%.
🔵 68%
of votes cast on side taken by most Democrats
Average for Senate Republicans is 62%.
Ellsworth has been marked absent or excused for 0 votes. Average for Senate lawmakers is 0.8.

SD 43 election results

Last in-cycle for Senate election in 2022. House seats are elected every two years, Senate seats every four.

General election vote, 2022

(R) JASON W ELLSWORTH(R) 68%(D) 32%
Won by 35% (4,102 votes)

Party primary vote, 2022

(R) JASON W ELLSWORTH(R) 68%(R) 32%
Won by 36% (1,831 votes)

Governor vote in district, 2024

(R) GREG GIANFORTE(R) 69%(D) 29%
Won by 40% (5,888 votes)
Senators elected in 2022 were assigned new districts during the 2023 redistricting cycle.

Montana Free Press coverage

📰 Podcast
The Session: Week 4 | An everything bagel of chaos
Feb 3, 2025MTFP Staff
📰 Capitolized
Declining decorum in Senate Judiciary
Jan 30, 2025Tom Lutey
📰 2025 Legislature
Private contractor says he’s the one who split controversial contract, not former Senate president
Jan 29, 2025Tom Lutey
📰 2025 Legislature
Montana Senate convening Ethics Committee to investigate its former president 
Jan 27, 2025Tom Lutey
📰 2025 Legislature
Audit says Ellsworth’s actions ‘constitute an abuse of his government position’
Jan 24, 2025Tom Lutey
📰 Capitolized
From president to persona non grata
Jan 24, 2025Tom Lutey
📰 Politics
Montana state senator backs off controversial contract
Jan 20, 2025Tom Lutey
📰 2025 Legislature
Montana House hears trans bathroom bill as Senate stalls out
Jan 10, 2025Tom Lutey
📰 Capitolized
Regier’s not fine with The Nine
Jan 10, 2025Tom Lutey

About the 2025 Montana Free Press Capitol Tracker

This guide is an effort to make the quantifiable aspects of the Montana Legislature more accessible to the public by compiling information about lawmakers, proposed bills and the legislative process. This is a project of Montana Free Press, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit newsroom that aims to provide Montanans with in-depth, nonpartisan news coverage.

The information presented here is collected from a variety of sources including the Montana Legislature's public roster and its official bill-tracking system. Reporting and web design were done by Jacob Olness and Eric Dietrich. Please contact them at jolness@montanafreepress.org and edietrich@montanafreepress.org with bug reports, questions or suggestions.

Think there's a potential news story to be done about a bill or lawmaker you see here? Tell us at tips@montanafreepress.org.