Montana Republicans vote to replace Rep. Llew Jones on Senate ballot

A 12-member subcommittee of the Montana Republican Party has voted to replace Representative Llew Jones on the ballot for Senate District 9. The decision follows a legal opinion issued by Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen regarding the state’s term limit laws. The opinion suggests that Jones is ineligible to run for the state Senate this election cycle, a move that challenges previous interpretations of Montana’s “soft” term limits.

The subcommittee selected Ted Kronebusch, a retired businessman and chairman of the Pondera County Republican Central Committee, to take Jones’s place. Despite a 50-year friendship between Jones and Kronebusch, the replacement was prompted by the legal dispute over eligibility.

Jones, a long-serving and influential legislator, has been a leader of a centrist faction within the GOP. The situation remains uncertain as a lawsuit regarding the new interpretation of term limits is currently moving through the courts, and the deadline for finalizing the November ballot approaches.