HELENA -- The Montana Republican Party says it did not recruit and will work to defeat a Butte man with ties to a white supremacist group who is running as a Republican for the Legislature.

But Shawn Stuart, a member of the National Socialist Movement which bills itself as ''America's Nazi Party'', says local Republicans were aware of some of his views when he told them of his plans to run for office.

Stuart, 24, is the lone Republican running for House District 76, looking to oppose Democrats Kevin Lowney and Rep. Jon Sesso, the incumbent.

In a letter sent Tuesday to The Montana Standard of Butte, state GOP chairman Karl Ohs said he first learned of Stuart's white supremacist ties in that newspaper's report over the weekend.

''I want to make it clear that neither the state nor county Republican Party organizations had any part in recruiting this man to run for office,'' Ohs wrote. ''The Montana Republican Party in no way condones what the Nazis stand for.''

Ohs went on to call Stuart ''misinformed on a number of levels,'' and said the state GOP would work to defeat him.

Stuart said he attended local Republican functions in Butte where he told party members that he was against gays. But he never told them about his membership in the National Socialist Movement, he said.

''They did know I was extremely anti-abortion, extremely anti-gay rights and extremely pro gun,'' he said. ''I told them I was anti-gay. They knew that.''

Stuart, who plans to stay on the ticket and continue to run for the office, said it is true he did not tell the Republicans the full extent of his views.

''I'm not going to lie to you and tell you they knew I was a Nazi, because they didn't know that,'' he said.

Stuart said Republicans are denouncing him just to cover themselves in the face of criticism after it was learned over the weekend that he has ties to the National Socialist Movement.

The National Socialist Movement put out a release Tuesday attacking Ohs for being ''hypocritical'' by trying to distance the GOP from Stuart.

The state Democratic Party said it would trust Ohs to help beat Stuart.

''This is an argument between the Montana Republican Party and the Nazis,'' said Jessica Rhoades, spokeswoman for the Montana Democratic Party. ''Democrats have already denounced Shawn Stuart and his beliefs. We take Chairman Karl Ohs at his word and hope he will join us in our efforts to ensure that Shaun Stuart and those like him are never elected to any office in Montana.''