Montana Republican Party Chair Makes Philosophical Defense of Closed Primaries Posted on September 15, 2015 by RSS Feed By Richard Winger The Butte Standard, daily newspaper for Butte, Montana, has this op-ed by Republican Party state chairman Jeff Essmann. Essmann makes the philosophical case in favor of closed primaries. …read more Source:: http://ballot-access.org/2015/09/15/montana-republican-party-chair-makes-philosophical-defense-of-closed-primaries/