Three GOP state senators are suing the Montana Republican Party after they were scolded, censured and had their voting powers removed at the party’s recent convention.

Sen. Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, Sen. Shelley Vance, R-Belgrade, and Sen. Denley Loge, R-St. Regis, filed a lawsuit this week claiming that the state party’s actions against them violated its governing rules and the constitutional protection of legislative immunity.

The suit is the latest development in the ongoing spat between two main factions of Montana Republican elected officials and delegates to the party. Ellsworth, Vance, Loge and six other GOP senators — who are more middle-of-the-road than some of their colleagues — broke with their fellow Republicans in the chamber and formed a working majority with all Democra

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