The last Democrat to hold statewide office in Montana, Sen. Jon Tester, was defeated on Tuesday night by Republican businessman and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy.
Sheehy’s win will pad the Republican advantage in the Senate next year. The GOP had already flipped Senate seats in West Virginia and Ohio to guarantee control of the upper chamber.
The closely-watched Montana race was considered second only to the presidential contest in its national implications. Liberal groups poured in more than $100 million in outside spending but were unable to carry Tester, who is on his third term, across the finish line.
For months, Sheehy cited Tester’s liberal voting record on the campaign trail and in ads, noting that he was one of President Joe Biden’s most reliable votes in the Senate.
"Jon Tester voted to give taxpayer-funded health care to illegal immigrants," blared an October ad campaign from Sheehy. "Jon Tester votes like a radical Democrat."
Montana, which also voted for former president Donald Trump by a large margin for a third time, has supported the Republican presidential candidate in every election since 1996. The last Democrat who held a statewide position other than Tester was former Gov. Steve Bullock, who left office in 2021.
Such a reality made Tester’s reelection fight an uphill battle. There were red flags for his campaign since the summer, with multiple polls either showing a statistical tie or a slim Sheehy lead. Tester did not clear 50 percent support in a single poll beginning in October of last year, according to RealClearPolitics.
Even with those numbers, it is not clear how Tester adjusted. He voted for every single one of Biden’s judicial nominees, as well as every single one of his large spending packages.
These decisions were an albatross for Tester throughout the race. Tester hoped to make the election about Montana’s values and whether Sheehy, who was born in Minnesota, could be trusted.
In the final weeks of the campaign, Tester and outside spending groups attempted to tarnish Sheehy’s military service. Tester and his allies in the media raised questions about how Sheehy suffered a gunshot wound to the arm, which Sheehy said was the result of a friendly fire incident while fighting in Afghanistan.
That strategy was not enough to pull Tester over the finish line as Montanans were more concerned about issues related to the economy and the border. In his final message to the state, Sheehy said it was "time for a new generation of leadership."
"We have some very serious issues to deal with and we need serious people to deal with them. Senator Tester has been in office for many years and I thank him for his service, but he also voted to impeach Donald Trump twice, said on CNN we should ‘punch him in the face,’ he voted with Harris and Biden every time it mattered."
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