Jason Ellsworth: Censure, Misconduct Trial, and GOP Expulsion

Jason Ellsworth is a Hamilton Republican who served in the Montana Senate from 2019 through the mid-2020s and was Senate President in 2023. He is now best known for a $170,100 no-bid contract he arranged in the final days of his presidency for a longtime friend’s new company. The Montana Senate censured him and banned him from the chamber floor for life in April 2025. The state Attorney General charged him with official misconduct in December 2025. A jury trial is set for July 14, 2026, in Helena, and Ellsworth is simultaneously running for a seat in the Montana House.¹²

Ellsworth was first elected to Senate District 43 in 2018. He served as President Pro Tempore from 2020 to 2023 and was elected Senate President for the 2023 session. Before politics he ran a telemarketing company called Your Magazine Provider, Inc.³⁴

The $170,100 Agile Analytics Contract

In the last days of December 2024, as his Senate presidency wound down, Ellsworth arranged a $170,100 state contract for a company called Agile Analytics. The company was owned by Bryce Eggleston, a friend and former business partner of more than 20 years, including work together at a company called Time 2 Read. Eggleston had registered the Agile Analytics business name only about three weeks before the contract was signed, and the company had no other digital presence.⁵⁶

The work was supposed to involve tracking and analyzing legislation for the Senate Select Committee on Judicial Oversight and Reform, which Ellsworth chaired. Eggleston testified under oath that he had no experience in judicial reform.⁵

Ellsworth first tried to split the work into two separate contracts, one for $88,200 and another for $81,900, keeping each below the $100,000 threshold that would have triggered competitive bidding and Department of Administration review. Legislative staff flagged the arrangement. After several days of back-and-forth with the Legislative Services Division and the Department of Administration, a single consolidated contract was signed on December 31, 2024, the last day before the select committee’s funding was set to expire.⁶

On January 10, 2025, Eggleston submitted an invoice for $7,087.50 for “data gathering and analysis prep,” and Ellsworth approved it. Eggleston later admitted in a sworn statement that he had never started any work on the contract. No payment was ultimately made. Eggleston formally cancelled the contract on January 19, 2025, and Ellsworth submitted termination documents the next day, calling the controversy “manufactured.”⁵⁶

Senate Censure and Lifetime Floor Ban

The Senate voted 49–0 in late January 2025 to refer the matter to its Ethics Committee. The committee, chaired by Sen. Forrest Mandeville, held three days of hearings and adopted a 34-page report with 62 findings of fact on March 19, 2025. It concluded that Ellsworth had failed to disclose his two-decade relationship with Eggleston to legislative staff during the procurement process, violating Section 2-2-112 of the Montana Code. The Legislative Audit Division characterized his actions as “acts of fraud, waste and abuse.”⁷⁵⁸

Republican leadership tried three times in March 2025 to expel Ellsworth, each attempt falling short of the required two-thirds majority of 34 votes in the 50-member chamber. The closest vote reached 27 in favor, with nine Republicans joining Democrats to block expulsion. Ellsworth voted against his own expulsion.⁹

During debate, Mandeville told the chamber: “The senator used his position as Senate president to attempt to steer tens of thousands of dollars, over $170,000, to his friend, up front, without work having been performed and without disclosing that he had a relationship with the contractor.”⁹

On April 1, 2025, the Senate voted 44–6 to censure Ellsworth on a motion from Majority Leader Tom McGillvray. The penalties:⁸

A permanent ban from the Senate floor.
Removal from all standing and interim committees for two years.
A bar on initiating verbal communications with executive branch directors and legislative staff.
Loss of legislative office space for the 2025 biennium.
Retention only of the ability to vote remotely during floor proceedings.

Ellsworth was not in the chamber for the vote and cast a remote vote against his own censure. McGillvray called the penalties “strict” but “fair.” Some Democrats pushed back on the severity: Sen. Ellie Boldman called it “too close to expulsion,” and Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy argued for a graduated disciplinary process.⁸

Criminal Charge and July 2026 Trial

On December 18, 2025, the Montana Attorney General’s Office filed a misdemeanor official misconduct charge in Lewis and Clark County District Court, accusing Ellsworth of “acting outside the scope of his lawful authority as a public servant.” The charge grew out of a Montana Division of Criminal Investigation inquiry opened in February 2025 after a referral from Legislative Auditor Angus Maciver. A conviction carries up to six months in jail, a $500 fine, and possible permanent forfeiture of office.¹

District Judge Kathy Seeley, in late December 2025, found probable cause and suspended Ellsworth from the Senate without pay pending the outcome of the case.¹⁰¹¹¹²

In June 2026, District Judge Chris Abbott, who took over the case, denied the motion to dismiss. He ruled that selecting a contractor is an administrative act rather than a protected legislative act, so legislative immunity does not shield Ellsworth from prosecution. In a second ruling, Judge Abbott lifted the judicial suspension, finding no remaining “public protection rationale” because the Senate had already stripped Ellsworth of committee assignments and barred him from the floor, leaving him with no authority over contracts. The Senate’s own disciplinary measures stayed in place. Trial is scheduled to begin July 14, 2026, in Helena.²

Expulsion From the Montana GOP

Ellsworth was one of nine Republican senators who repeatedly broke with their caucus during the 2025 session. On the first day of the session, the group voted with Democrats to change the chamber’s temporary operating rules, then continued forming a bipartisan working majority through the 85-day session. The nine, dubbed the “Nasty Nine” by critics, were Ellsworth, Wendy McKamey, Josh Kassmier, Bruce Gillespie, Gregg Hunter, Gayle Lammers, Denley Loge, Russ Tempel, and Shelley Vance. They backed Gov. Greg Gianforte’s priorities including renewal of Montana’s expanded Medicaid program and his approach to property tax relief.¹³¹⁴

In April 2025, the Montana Republican Party’s executive committee censured all nine, declared them no longer recognized as Republicans, and withdrew support for their campaigns. The party stripped them of voting rights at its June 2025 state convention. Ellsworth, Loge, and Vance sued in Lewis and Clark District Court to restore their voting privileges and force a new party leadership election. In February 2026, Judge Christopher Abbott ruled against them, holding that courts cannot intervene in the internal affairs of a political party.¹⁴

Running for House District 34

Ellsworth is termed out of his Senate seat.¹⁵¹⁶¹⁷

Earlier Legal History

Senators cited prior incidents during the censure debate as part of a pattern that influenced the severity of the punishment.

2009 FTC Judgment

In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission obtained a $600,000 judgment against Ellsworth and his telemarketing company, Your Magazine Provider, Inc., which also operated as U.S. Magazine Services and Periodicals. The FTC charged the company with understating monthly charges for magazine subscriptions, refusing to honor cancellations, and violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule. The case, part of an FTC sweep called “Operation Tele-PHONEY,” was resolved through a stipulated final judgment with a permanent injunction. The settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.¹⁸¹⁹

2021 Traffic Stop

On May 23, 2021, a Montana Highway Patrol trooper stopped Ellsworth for driving 88 mph in a 55-mph construction zone near Townsend. Charging documents say he got out of his vehicle, ignored repeated instructions to return to it, invoked legislative immunity, showed the trooper a copy of the Montana Constitution on his phone, told her to call her boss, and invoked the name of Attorney General Austin Knudsen. On August 2, 2021, Ellsworth pleaded guilty to obstructing a peace officer. Reckless driving and speeding charges were dropped in a plea deal. He received a one-year deferred sentence, a $350 fine, and an $85 surcharge.²⁰²¹

2023 Order of Protection

In May 2023, Ellsworth’s former fiancée, Lindsey Murolo, obtained a temporary order of protection from a Lewis and Clark County justice of the peace. The application alleged physical assault and threats involving a firearm. Ellsworth denied all the allegations. The order was vacated on July 11, 2023, after Murolo voluntarily withdrew the request. The stipulated agreement stated she “does not require judicial intervention or entry of a permanent order for her protection,” and the case was dismissed without prejudice.²²²³

1
Montana Department of Justice. Attorney General’s Office Files Misconduct Charges Against Senator Ellsworth
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KTVH. Ellsworth Official Misconduct Charge to Move Forward, but Judge Lifts Suspension From Senate
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LegiStorm. Jason W. Ellsworth
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Montana Free Press. Jason Ellsworth – Election Guide 2024
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Montana State Legislature. Senate Ethics Committee Report and Findings of Fact
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Daily Montanan. Ellsworth Says Contract Questions Are Manufactured Controversy
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Daily Montanan. Senate Ethics Committee Adopts Final Report Detailing Facts of Ellsworth Contract
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Montana Free Press. Ellsworth Banned From Senate Floor for Life
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Montana Free Press. Montana Senate Can’t Muster Enough Votes to Punish Former President
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Daily Montanan. Judge Orders Sen. Ellsworth Suspended During Misconduct
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Montana Public Radio. Judge Says Legislative Immunity Doesn’t Shield Ellsworth From Prosecution
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Missoula Current. Ellsworth Pleads Not Guilty
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KTVH. Senate GOP Split Shaped Montana Legislature’s 2025 Session
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Daily Montanan. Montana GOP Continues Drawing Line Between Party, The Nine
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Daily Montanan. AG’s Office Charges Former Senate President Ellsworth With Official Misconduct
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Daily Montanan. Ellsworth Files for Reelection in Eastern Montana Against Schillinger
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News From the States. Ellsworth Files for Reelection in Eastern Montana Against Schillinger
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Federal Trade Commission. FTC Stops Two Deceptive Telemarketing Operations
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Federal Trade Commission. Stipulated Final Judgment – Your Magazine Provider
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Bozeman Daily Chronicle. MT State Senator Pleads Guilty to Obstructing Trooper in Traffic Stop
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Daily Montanan. Ellsworth Pleads Guilty to Obstruction Charge Stemming From May Traffic Stop
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Montana Public Radio. Legislative Leader’s Ex-Fiancée Drops Restraining Order Request
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Daily Montanan. Ex-Fiancée Who Accused Montana Senate President of Abuse Drops Protection Order