In Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, and South Carolina, obstructionists who are part of the State Freedom Caucus Network (SFCN) have fielded Republican primary candidates to oppose not just state legislative leaders, but also the candidates they backed.
Three of the Republican governors in these states threw their weight behind moderates in contested legislative primaries, but in three states, GOP establishment leaders — a majority whip, a president pro tem, and an assistant majority leader — lost to these right-wing insurgents.
Freedom caucuses in these and the seven other states SFCN lists among its members represent an extreme Right faction of the largely MAGA-dominated Republican Party that uses procedural measures in state legislatures to advance their culture war agenda, as the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) recently reported.
These caucuses vary somewhat state by state, but in terms of policy they usually oppose gender-affirming care, Medicaid expansion, most taxation, and allowing public schools to teach about the history of racism in the U.S. Most favor increasing voting restrictions. They oppose Republicans working with Democrats on any issue, and label any legislators who do as “RINOs” (Republicans in Name Only). In 2022, the Freedom Caucus in Tennessee went so far as to publish what it calls The RINO Report, calling out six legislators in each chamber — along with the governor and the education commissioner — for being “beholden to special interest money” and for having “actively worked with left-leaning corporations and interest groups to kill Conservative legislation for their own political benefit, voting with and governing like Democrats….”
“In every state where they appear, Freedom caucuses cause headaches for the so-called establishment Republicans in charge,” according to a recent piece in Governing.
Idaho
During the 2024 legislative session, the Idaho Freedom Caucus (IFC) won tough budget reforms that the Republican leadership and Democrats initially opposed. The IFC voted against leadership’s plan to restrict conditions for amnesty because they said it was too weak and called on Congress to pass tougher restrictions on immigration, and in the state Senate. The caucus also wanted the legislature to require hospitals to provide abortion records, and fought to eliminate funding for libraries that offer books or speakers representing views the group opposes.
Senate President Pro Tem Chuck Winder removed two IFC members from their positions as vice chairs of their committees due to their personal attacks on social media accusing other Republican state senators of being in the pockets of special interests.
The more moderate Republican leadership also retaliated by fielding candidates to run against current IFC members. The Idaho Liberty PAC, supported by Republican Governor Brad Little and business groups, spent the most — $941,000 — mostly on largely negative ads against four far-right senate incumbents, including the two Winder had removed from their committee positions. But the three who were IFC members successfully defended their seats and the only one of these senators who lost was not formally a Freedom Caucus member.
Winder lost his own primary race against far-right candidate Josh Keyser, a former Marine and Boise policeman who accused the president pro tem of wanting to make child pornography available in public libraries, among other issues. Megan Blanksma, who had already been ousted from her position as speaker of the House by the IFC, also lost her seat in the primary.
On May 30, SFCN President Andy Roth sent a message to members titled “RINOs Go Down in Idaho” predicting that many of the new Republicans who won primaries in safe districts will soon join the group. “While the dust is still settling, last Tuesday’s primaries will absolutely result in net growth in the Idaho Freedom Caucus,” he wrote.
Montana
Montana’s legislature meets every odd-numbered year and in 2021, Greg Gianforte, the first Republican governor in 16 years, led an agenda that resulted in new restrictions on abortion, tax cuts, and an expansion of the right to carry a gun without a permit. In preparation for the 2023 legislative session, 14 legislators announced the formation of the Montana Freedom Caucus (MFC), saying that the governor and his faction of the GOP had not pushed the state far enough to the right.
This election cycle, Governor Gianforte and other establishment Republican leaders have been using a political action committee known as Conservatives4MT to take on these MFC incumbents. By the end of May, the PAC had spent more than $277,000, mostly on “mailers intended to sway voters in a series of bitterly contested Republican legislative primary elections that reveal the fissures in Montana’s dominant political party,” according to Montana Free Press.
Leading up to the June 4 primary, the governor and the PAC endorsed 24 moderate Republicans throughout the state. Six of the 10 endorsed incumbents held on to their seats, while four lost to more right-wing challengers. In 14 races where the PAC backed new candidates, 10 won and four lost. As in Idaho, the Montana Freedom Caucus expects to gain new members from among the eight GOP winners who successfully challenged the governor’s chosen candidates.
Medicaid expansion is one major issue dividing the party in Montana, with the governor and his legislative supporters favoring expansion by raising the income level for people to qualify for assistance and members of the Freedom Caucus opposing it. The Montana Hospital Association, which supports expansion, gave $75,000 to Conservatives4MT.
South Dakota
Leading up to the June 4 primary in South Dakota, the Freedom Caucus endorsed or took out ads on behalf of 10 candidates. Its candidates beat two incumbents and won five of the seven endorsed races in the state House. In the state Senate, one Freedom Caucus candidate won and another lost, with the outcomes of one race still pending. The biggest victory for the caucus came when former Speaker of the House Spencer Gosch beat out an incumbent, House Majority Whip James Wangsness, for one of two seats that automatically go to Republicans since no Democratic or independent candidates are running in that district.
Rick Weible, a challenger backed by the Freedom Caucus, soundly lost to the state Senate’s Majority Leader Casey Crabtree. Weible was a leading advocate of resolutions in three counties to replace voting machines with mandated hand counting of all ballots in future elections. The resolution was defeated in all three counties, with voters showing confidence in the current administration of elections in their state.
The South Dakota Freedom Caucus has been slow to grow compared to caucuses in other states because of a competitive right-wing faction. Organized by Representative Scott Odenbach, this faction also has a PAC — known as Liberty Tree — which delivered wins for 27 of its 37 endorsed candidates. South Dakota’s House has a multi-member state district structure, meaning that endorsements in certain districts went to more than one candidate.
South Carolina
In South Carolina, state Freedom Caucus members who backed 2022 primary candidates running to unseat incumbent Republican legislators have been excluded from key decision-making gatherings of the House GOP. “Few states have experienced as much intraparty turmoil as South Carolina, where state Freedom Caucus members and more mainstream GOP leaders have clashed over a wide variety of issues, leading to litigation and sparking numerous primary challenges,” as Politico reported earlier this year.
As in Montana and Idaho, the Republican governor tried to defend his majority against Freedom Caucus challengers in the June 10 primary. However, despite Governor Henry McMaster’s efforts, Freedom Caucus member Lee Gilreath defeated a member of the GOP House leadership, Assistant Majority Leader Jay West.
Candidates aligned with the South Carolina Freedom Caucus won two additional contested state House seats, including that of Representative Bill Sandifer — a 28-year veteran of the state legislature and chair of the House Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee. In proclaiming victory, his newly elected replacement, Adam Duncan, said, “The people of District 2 are weary of the self-serving, opportunistic politics of our current Representative’s long-tenured career of pandering to special interests. Sandifer is a key reason why South Carolina is known as the bluest of red states.”
The Freedom Caucus also picked up another seat in an open state House district.
Among current Freedom Caucus legislators, the group successfully defended 16 of its 17 seats. Given the wins in the three districts with GOP establishment incumbents, at least 19 of the 88 Republicans in the 124-member chamber will represent the Freedom Caucus wing of the party in the 2025 legislative session.
These state legislators have been so disruptive to the party establishment that earlier this month Charleston’s Post and Courier published an editorial urging its readers to vote against Freedom Caucus candidates no matter who they are. Contrasting Freedom Caucus members with more moderate Republicans, the Post and Courier editorial noted that there isn’t much difference between the two on taxes, guns, abortion, and transgender issues. “The difference is the groups’ approach to governance,” the editorial points out. “One wants to pave roads and keep state government operating. The other wants to score points on social media by ‘owning’ the Republicans they claim might as well be Democrats.”
Most of the primary races in these four states had low turnouts — only 17% of registered voters in South Dakota, for example — which gave an advantage in some cases to Freedom Caucus members. Their supporters may be more motivated to vote in the primaries in their solidly Republican districts since that determines who will ultimately represent them in the state legislature.
SFCN, which quotes former President Trump as calling it a “very important group of people,” expects to expand to all 50 states and continue to provide a pool of candidates to replenish and build the obstructionist U.S. House Freedom Caucus.
I’m 75 years old and I grew up not far from the “orange idiot.” I remember – even at only 10 years old – reading and hearing about him on the news and in the newspapers & magazines and it was NEVER good. It was never just one (1) story & it was never just one time! It was consistent and always true!! NO ONE in the area likes him and NO ONE likes his family. He’s a CRIMINAL and we MUST find a way to keep him OUT of the White House! I live BELOW THE POVERTY LINE – so I have ZERO money to give. I am, however, willing to make phone calls and send post cards. If you need anyone to do those things – I’m willing to help. Send me lists with addresses & I’ll send post cards. Send me lists of phone numbers & I’ll make phone calls. WE MUST KEEP HIM OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE.