Republican Tim Sheehy will defeat three-term Montana Sen. Jon Tester, CNN projects, adding to Republicans’ newly won Senate majority.
Montana has long been a deep-red state in presidential elections — and every other statewide office is currently held by a Republican. But Tester, a seven-fingered dirt farmer who had cut a moderate profile on Capitol Hill, previously had defied political gravity with his wins in 2006, 2012 and 2018.
Still, his seat – alongside Democratic-held seats in two other red states, Ohio and West Virginia – was a prime Republican target this year. Republicans Bernie Moreno and Jim Justice won those races, respectively.
This year marked the first time Tester had to share the ballot with Trump, who won the state by 16 percentage points in 2020 and nearly 20 points in 2016 — a reality that meant the Democratic incumbent needed to out-run the top of his party’s ticket by double digits to be competitive.
Democrats cast Sheehy, a retired Navy SEAL, as an out-of-state millionaire with questionable ranching credentials and commitment to public land – the same playbook used against Republican Matt Rosendale in 2018.
Sheehy moved to Montana in 2014 after leaving the military, but Republicans believed carpetbagging attacks would have limited appeal in a state that is home to more transplants after the coronavirus pandemic.
In the closing weeks of the race, Democrats stepped up their attacks over Sheehy’s conflicting story from nearly a decade ago over how a bullet became lodged in his arm. Outside groups ran ads featuring the park ranger whom Sheehy told that his gun had accidentally discharged in Glacier National Park and another spot featuring a retired Navy SEAL who served with Sheehy and insisted the candidate didn’t receive the bullet wound in Afghanistan, saying, “There’s no honor in lying about your service.”
Republicans, for their part, attempted to tie Tester — who did not attend the Democratic National Convention or endorse in the presidential race — to President Joe Biden’s administration and Democratic congressional leadership.
One big question mark hovering over the race was a ballot measure that would enshrine the right to an abortion in Montana’s constitution. Such ballot measures have prevailed even in deep-red states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and become a political boon for Democrats.
Montana Republicans have pushed and enacted a series of abortion restrictions in recent years but have seen those largely struck down as unconstitutional by state courts.