The Stage Is Set For Montana’s High-Stakes Senate Race
Tim Sheehy, a pro-Donald Trump conservative and ex-Navy SEAL, cruised to victory in Montana’s Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, securing the nomination to take on three-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in November.
A newcomer to politics, Sheehy went into Tuesday’s primary as the heavy favorite, with endorsements from Trump, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and several other high-profile Republicans. The GOP establishment rallied around the millionaire businessman because of his military background and his ability to self-finance his campaign. Sheehy has so far spent more than $2.1 million of his own money on his bid, according to campaign filings — a number that is likely to grow dramatically over the next five months.
The Associated Press called the race Tuesday around 10:30 p.m. ET, with 25% of ballots counted, and Sheehy having secured 75% of the vote. He defeated his two primary opponents, Brad Johnson and Charles Walkingchild, by wide margins.
Tester also handily defeated his primary opponent, Michael Hummert, on Tuesday.
Tester, a third-generation farmer who has held the Senate seat since 2007, is widely considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection. Recent polling shows the race between Sheehy and Tester is currently neck and neck.
Throughout his campaign, Sheehy has sidled up to Trump and largely kept close to Republican party talking points, while working to paint Tester as a “radical” and “two-faced” career politician. In a video posted last month to X, formerly Twitter, the GOP hopeful said his bid was about restoring “commonsense” policies in Washington.
“We want a secure border, safe streets, cheap gas, good schools, boys are boys, girls are girls, cops are good, criminals are bad,” he said. “That’s it. Pretty simple.”
But like so many other Republicans, Sheehy raced to Trump’s defense after a jury last week found the former president guilty on 34 felony counts in the hush money trial in New York. Sheehy condemned the case as “state-sponsored political persecution led by the Party of Joe Biden and Jon Tester,” parroting a conspiracy theory that is rampant in Republican circles. And on Monday, he released a campaign ad focused on Trump’s conviction, in which he accuses Tester of having “supported Joe Biden’s witch hunt every step of the way.”
Much like his purported antipathy for criminals, Sheehy’s record isn’t as clear-cut as he’d like voters to believe. Media reporting has shined a light on everything, from inconsistent accounts of how he received a bullet wound, to his aerial firefighting company’s ongoing embrace of climate science while Sheehy’s been on the campaign trail railing against a so-called “climate cult.”
In what could prove to be one of his more problematic campaign missteps, Sheehy last year advocated for federal lands to be “turned over” to states — a position that historically has not gone over well with Montana voters. In May, Montana Outdoor Values Action Fund, a super political action committee of environmental group Montana Conservation Voters, released a statewide TV ad condemning Sheehy’s seemingly clear embrace of transferring public lands.
Sheehy’s campaign has tried to walk back what he said.
Sheehy managed to avoid what was once expected to be a competitive and expensive primary. Back in February, Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), who unsuccessfully ran against Tester in 2018, launched a second bid for the Senate seat. But within hours of Rosendale announcing his campaign, Trump endorsed Sheehy. In a statement at the time, Rosendale said that “with Trump endorsing my opponent and the lack of resources, the hill was just too steep.”
Things only got messier for Rosendale from there. Shortly after filing for reelection in the House, he dropped out of that race, citing death threats to his family and “defamatory rumors” about an alleged affair with a member of his staff.
Trump and other Republicans saw Sheehy as best equipped to potentially oust Tester in November’s general election. In a video posted to Sheehy’s account on X last week, Trump urged Montanans to turn out for Sheehy, calling him a “warrior” who would be a “courageous voice for Montana.”
