Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy. (Photos viaJennifer Shutt, States Newsroom and Sheehy campaign)
Republican Tim Sheehy will officially face Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in November in Montana’s Senate race after he handily defeated his two opponents in Tuesday’s primary election.
The Associated Press called both Sheehy’s and Tester’s races within 40 minutes of polls closing.
Sheehy, with 76% of the vote, led former Public Service Commissioner Brad Johnson (18%) and the other Republican candidate, remediation contractor Charles Walkingchild (6%), as of 8:45 p.m. Tuesday in a result that was unsurprising for most Montanans.
Tester held 97% of the vote as of 8:45 p.m. over Democratic challenger Michael Hummert.
The Republican aerial firefighting company owner from Bozeman was handpicked to run for the seat by Montana’s other U.S. senator, Republican Steve Daines, quickly earned endorsements from most of Montana’s top Republican officials.
He and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, led by Daines for this election cycle, then were able to push U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale out of the primary after Sheehy was endorsed by former President Donald Trump just hours after Rosendale announced he would run.
Michael Downey was leading Robert Barb 62% to 38% in the Green Party primary for the seat as of 8:45 p.m., while Libertarian Sid Daoud will also appear on November’s ballot after running unopposed in the primary.
But the race will revolve almost entirely around Sheehy and Tester as Republicans try to unseat the three-term senator who is currently the lone statewide elected Democrat in Montana and win back power in the U.S. Senate. The candidates and political groups have been running advertisements attacking one another since last fall.
The race is expected to be one of the most expensive in the country, with more than $50 million each in advertising already committed from both Republican and Democratic political committees for the matchup.
Tester has already raised $34 million through mid-May and had more than $11 million in cash, making him one of the top Senate fundraisers so far this cycle. Sheehy has raised about $10 million for his campaign, including about $2 million in loans he gave the campaign.
Tester is a prolific fundraiser and has outperformed other Democrats in Montana in his past contests, and has spent the campaign so far highlighting where he has split with President Joe Biden and most other Democrats on issues like immigration and border security. Sheehy has focused primarily on painting Tester as being in lockstep with Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
But the former Navy SEAL has also drawn scrutiny for his Minnesota roots, his multiple multi-million-dollar properties, his company’s finances and a lawsuit he faces from former employees, and his lie to a Glacier National Park ranger about how a bullet ended up lodged in his arm.
A poll from March showed Trump maintains strong support in Montana and is highly likely to win the state for a third time, but about 14% of respondents to that poll said they would also cross over and vote for Tester along with Trump. Polling of the race between Sheehy and Tester has shown small, but statistically insignificant leads for both candidates over the past year.
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