Last month, Cascade County Commissioner Rae Grulkowski released a video claiming that 11% of votes in her Republican primary race came from Democrats. She suggested this was part of a broader national strategy to destabilize the Republican Party. Although she later softened her stance, Grulkowski maintained her primary assertion.
Grulkowski told Montana Free Press she derived the 11% from 1,309 voters who marked “no preference” on Republican presidential ballots, assuming they voted for her opponent, Eric Hinebauch, in the commissioner primary. Hinebauch won the primary with 57% of the vote, while Grulkowski has registered as a write-in candidate for the upcoming November general election.
In Montana’s open primaries, voters can choose any party’s ballot, making it challenging to determine the party affiliation of “no preference” voters. Grulkowski acknowledged the difficulty in proving her claim, stating, “Likely not Republican,” regarding the voters. She admitted, “It’s just looking at those numbers, and the big assumption is that they were not Republican.”
Great Falls activist Jasmine Taylor encouraged Democrats to vote for Hinebauch, aiming to unseat what she called “extremist” Republicans, including Grulkowski. Taylor’s effort was independent of the local Democratic Party. She shared her campaign on social media, though she doubted that 1,300 Democrats actually voted in the Republican primary.
“That’s astronomically high,” Taylor remarked. Cascade County Democrats Chair Helena Lovick confirmed Taylor acted alone and that the 11% figure seemed “extraordinarily high.” Hinebauch found the claim implausible but acknowledged the Democratic crossover might have aided his total. However, he asserted, “I believe I beat her straight up with Republican voters.”
As Grulkowski and Hinebauch prepare for the general election, there are concerns about how her write-in campaign could impact the Republican vote, potentially helping Don Ryan, the Democratic candidate. Ryan suggested that while crossover voting might have contributed to Grulkowski’s primary loss, it was Republican voters who primarily decided the outcome. He also expressed concerns over the potential delays in ballot counting on Election Day if many voters use stickers for write-in names, which have been banned by the county elections office.
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