More Fireweed Fallout For Montana Republicans – by Travis Mateer

Meet Caitie Butler, a liberal woman from Portland working with Montana conservatives this election cycle. At least she was working with Montana conservatives until scrutiny descended on Fireweed Campaigns. Now, Montana’s statewide GOP leadership is doing damage control by pressuring its compromised candidates to take concrete steps to distance themselves from this growing controversy:

The Montana Republican Party (MTGOP) Executive Board passed a resolution on Tuesday rebuking 17 Republican legislative candidates and three elected party officers for working with progressive political groups tied to out-of-state billionaire donors.

According to publicly available records, these progressive billionaires are attempting to advance their agenda in Montana through a multi-layered, deceptively designed network of political action committees (PACs) and dark-money nonprofits, including Helena-based Fireweed Campaigns Inc., which manages political candidates and liberal ballot initiatives.

Fireweed began billing 11 Republican primary candidates thousands of dollars in January 2026 for “campaign management” services. Additionally, Fireweed’s staff made maximum contributions to the 11 candidates for whom they provided services, as well as six other Republican candidates.

The same candidates supported by Fireweed are also backed by Conservatives4MT, a phony group that shares leadership with progressive organizations like Big Sky Fiscal Guardians, Treasure State Stewards, and Montanans for Election Reform Action Fund. Three elected officers of MTGOP county central committees are tied to the progressive PAC infrastructure.

Earlier this week I took the breaking of this story by the MissoulaGOP and added my perspective. By mid-week the paid reporters at the Missoulian decided to join the party, framing the New Kids on the Political Block like this:

This election season has also given rise to a new player in Montana politics: Fireweed Campaigns, a campaign consulting company that was formed in 2024 but appears to have taken on many more candidates this cycle. The firm has made a name for itself in the state’s political world as the group running campaigns for more centrist Republicans in contested primaries. If a candidate was at odds with the hardline faction of Republicans during the 2025 legislative session and they are running for reelection, they are likely employing Fireweed.

Notably, the company is in part run by former Democratic staffers or former staff at left-leaning organizations. The company’s owner, Lauren Caldwell, is the former director for the Montana Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the group dedicated to getting Democrats elected to the Legislature.

When you read the press release from the GOP’s statewide machine, led by Art Wittich (link above) you see the breakdown of candidates PAYING Fireweed and candidates GETTING PAID by Fireweed, which is pretty brazen and impressive, if you ask me.

I called a handful of candidates yesterday in preparation for this post, but only Curtis Cochran (HD 90, St. Regis) had the under-developed political instincts to call me back. Linda Reksten answered, said she’d call me back, then never did like a REAL politician. I also called Michele Binkley and David Bedey, but neither bothered to call back. Because why would they?

When Curt Cochran called me back the name Lauren Caldwell was unfamiliar to him. Curt is a first-time politician living in Mineral County and running for office at the young age of 70, so I told him that he might be hearing more about the name Lauren Caldwell, since she’s the kind of liberal who takes her kid to Drag Story Hour so her liberal pals at the Daily Montanan can write about it. In my PiratePuppet Instagram report on this I made sure to block out Caldwell’s kid with something more appropriate:

This morning, before writing up today’s report, I also called George Nikolakakos to see if he would answer the phone, but no luck. If I hear back from any candidates today, or the State GOP office, I’ll add a comment or update, otherwise…

Thanks for reading!