Several political leaders from both major parties in Cascade County, Montana, are raising allegations that two candidates who are currently running as Democrats aren’t actually Democrats at all, but are rather Republicans who they say are trying to “game” the upcoming election for the state legislature. The candidates in question, James Whitaker and Mark Winters, previously identified as members of the GOP.
However, in recent interviews with the Montana Free Press, both men denied the allegations that they were trying to fool Democratic voters in the state. Still, Chairman of the Cascade County Republican Central Committee and member of the Cascade County Commission, Eric Hinebauch, isn’t buying what Whitaker and Winters are trying to sell.
Hinebauch believes the pair filed in Democratic primaries in order to dissuade voters from crossing over to vote in GOP primaries. He then told the Montana Free Press that he doesn’t think either of the men is actually a Democrat. “This is a game,” Hinebauch told the outlet. Following Hinebauch’s defeat of incumbent Rae Grulkowski in the 2024 Republican primary for county commissioner, Grulkowski said her loss was due to Democrats voting as Republicans in the primary.
According to the MFP report, in the state of Montana, a voter can cast a ballot for either Republicans or Democrats. However, Hinebach dismissed Grulkowski’s theory of Republicans losing to moderate members of the GOP due to crossover voting as “ludicrous.” Heinbauch then added, “The moderate candidates win because they have a better message, and they connect with the voters of Cascade County better.”
On the opposite side of the political spectrum, Chairman of Cascade County Democrats, Mat Pipinich, is also skeptical of Whitaker’s and Winter’s legitimacy as Democrats. While the local party doesn’t usually get involved in primaries, Pipinich stated it will make a decision on March 19 whether to disavow the campaigns of both men in the hope that voters will see the party isn’t backing either candidate.
Winters filed as a Democrat in Senate District 11 on March 4, 2026, resigning from his position as a Republican Party precinct committee member two days later. In defense of his switch, Winters said that he’s facing a double-standard, shining light on three Cascade County candidates, two former Libertarians and one former Democrat who submitted election filings as Republicans.
Both former Libertarians, Tony Rosales and Kevin Leatherbarrow, triggered GOP primaries in their district races for the Montana House. Former Democrat Josh Racki, who is serving as Cascade County Attorney, announced in 2025 that he would be switching to the Republican Party. He’s running for his current position as a Republican this time around.
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“I don’t know if they’re getting asked the same question,” Winters said in response to the allegations. He then went on to say that he really has changed, taking a proverbial wooden paddle to the backsides of Cascade County Republicans in a recent interview. “It’s run by the same connected people. And in my view, they’re going to Helena to predominantly advance their own interests,” Winters explained.
Winters said that he does, overall, support President Donald Trump, but isn’t a fan of everything he does. If he should get elected, Winters said he’d caucus with Democrats. If he loses the primary, he said he would back the Democratic candidate in the general election. However, his sole primary opponent, Valynda Holland, said she doesn’t feel right about Winters’ sudden switch.
“If someone was truly seeing that light, the first thing that they would really do is support somebody like myself who’s running as a Democrat, who has been actively fighting for working families all along,” Holland told the Montana Free Press. Whitaker, who has been a Republican for a long time, originally filed with the GOP on February 19, 2026, but then changed to Democrat on March 4 in Senate District 12.
Whitaker stated that his values are definitely on the conservative side, stating that if he gets elected, his top priorities include reducing government spending, ensuring that candidates live in the district they represent, and would work to “stop the vaping, stop the kratom.” When asked if he agreed with the Democratic Party platform, Whitaker said he wasn’t sure because he hadn’t studied it.
When asked why he decided to run as a Democrat, he said it was “to give some competition to the other candidates” and because he thought he would have a better chance at actually winning a seat in the Legislature. His only primary opponent, Mindy Leach said she had “no idea why he’s doing this,” and just plans to “run my race.”