HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The fight between moderate and conservative factions within the Montana Republican Party seeking to control the GOP's legislative agenda led to the defeat of incumbents and experienced lawmakers in this week's primary elections.

State Rep. Nancy Ballance of Hamilton, who termed out of the House and was running for an open Senate seat, lost Tuesday to state Rep. Theresa Manzella, a conservative who also is from Hamilton.

Ballance said she was targeted by Republicans seeking to “purify” the party.

“This is much less about me personally than it is about this movement that’s going on within the Republican Party to remove anyone who is not — in the opinion of a few — a pure enough Republican,” she said.

Ballance is a member of the Solutions Caucus, a relatively small group of legislators who have aligned with Democrats at times to pass key legislation, such as Medicaid expansion.

The caucus is up against a group of 38 conservative Republicans, including Manzella, who call themselves the “.38 Special” and have been critical of the caucus’ willingness to cross party lines.

Manzella said voters felt betrayed by legislators like Ballance, who voted in favor of a 2018 Medicaid expansion bill. Ballance stands behind her voting record, saying the program provides health insurance to the working poor, helps some residents of her rural district who can’t afford to pay for health care and pays medical bills that help keep rural hospitals open.

In last year's legislative session, the caucus numbered around 20 out of a 58-member Republican majority in the House, and 10 members of a 27-member GOP majority in the Senate. In Tuesday’s primaries, the caucus lost four members, while two incumbents who align with the “.38 Special” lost their seats.

Ballance, who co-chaired the House Appropriations Committee in 2019, has led the state budget process, along with Rep. Eric Moore of Miles City, another GOP incumbent who lost to a more conservative opponent, Jerry Schillinger, of Circle.

The state budget will be the top issue in the legislative session that begins in January, after a severe drop in state revenue due to the economic impacts of the coronavirus. Legislative budget writers also will be working with a new governor because Democrat Steve Bullock is leaving because of term limits.

House Majority Leader Brad Tschida of Missoula, a “.38 Special” member, said finding qualified legislators to lead the budget process won’t be hard.

“If people can understand how numbers work in their household budget, they have a pretty good idea of how the state budget works too,” he said.

Tschida acknowledged the looming budget crisis “is going to be more significant than most people have experienced in the last 20 years or longer."

Tschida said he was pleased with the results of the primary that favored more right-wing candidates.

“I am hopeful that the members of the party who have voted consistently with Democrats are going to reassess their positions and determine whether they want to be Republicans or if they want to be some variation,” he said.

Rep. Greg Devries of Jefferson City is a conservative hardliner who lost to first-time candidate Marta Bertoglio of Montana City, who said she ran to help quell the party in-fighting.

“I’m not here to inflame any side of the Republican Party,” Bertoglio said. “I looked at the fighting, and I just had to step up.”

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Iris Samuels is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.