Whitefish councilor beats state GOP Chairman Art Wittich for precinct committee seat

When Giuseppe “GMan” Caltabiano put his name in the hat for Republican precinct “committee man” in Flathead County, he figured he’d be running unopposed.

Those officers elect party leaders and vote at county GOP conventions for delegates to the state convention, where delegates to the Republican National Committee convention are elected.

Caltabiano, on the Whitefish City Council, wanted to help strengthen the Montana Republican Party “from the bottom up.”

Then, a man named Art Wittich filed to run against him.

“Not being a politician, I had no idea who Art was,” Caltabiano said. “So I called him, and he returned my call, and he said, ‘You know I am the chair of the state Republican Party?’”

Caltabiano did not know, but the candidates decided neither would withdraw. As such, Caltabiano, a businessman, thought he could forecast the outcome.

“My political career is done,” he predicted.

Tuesday, however, the head of the Montana Republican Party lost his own precinct committee election.

Elected in June 2025 as chairman of the state GOP, Wittich earned 43 votes to Caltabiano’s 103.

Republicans are at odds in Montana, and some believe Wittich, who has worked to oust more moderate GOP legislators, has fomented division.

When asked about the loss Wednesday and whether it indicates Wittich’s leadership isn’t resonating, Wittich said he had been traveling and hadn’t yet heard the result.

But he also pointed to legislative primary outcomes, where GOP-backed candidates won just over half of the matchups.

“I think that we did well in the primary,” Wittich said.

Others argue the state GOP’s strategy meant nasty ads and unneeded fragmentation, but resulted in a political makeup not wholly different than it has been.

Some heavy hitters held onto their seats despite the state GOP’s push to get rid of them.

Caltabiano said Wittich was gracious in the aftermath, acknowledging his opponent’s “very strong victory.”

“He said, quote, ‘Now go build the party,’ and that warmed my heart,” Caltabiano said.

Caltabiano, who grew up in Italy, said his political affiliation didn’t matter for the city council race, and he only figured out he was a Republican about a year ago.

“By the way, the moment that I find out that I’m a Republican, at the same time, I find out that I’m a fake Republican,” Caltabiano said. “I’m called a RINO.”

That’s Republican In Name Only.

“I got intrigued,” Caltabiano said.

Caltabiano said he supports conservative candidates, but if a local Democrat offers a platform he believes the town or state needs, he’ll back them.

“That made me not a pure Republican, right?”

But he’s read the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Montana Constitution and state code as it relates to municipalities.

He studies “the books,” and he looked at President Ronald Reagan’s record and came to a conclusion.

“If you take all his votes and all his actions, and you measure them against some of the harshest tests that some of the Republican committees have, he would be called a RINO today,” Caltabiano said.