Voters in Montana head to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots in the primaries for one of the nation’s most competitive Senate races in November.
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is up for re-election in one of the reddest states and Republicans believe this is one of their best chances to flip a seat as they look to retake the Senate majority this fall.
Tester has served in the Senate since 2007 and won his most recent reelection in 2018 with more than 50 percent of the vote.
But this year he finds himself in a state that Donald Trump carried by more than 16 percent in 2020. He will be at the top again this presidential year.
Tester’s expected opponent in the general election is Republican frontrunner Tim Sheehy, a close Trump ally.
Senator Tester faces a challenge from likely Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy in November. Voters in Montana cast their ballots in the state’s primaries on June 4
Sheehy is a businessman and former Navy SEAL who graduated from the Naval Academy in 2008.
He is a top Republican Party recruit, backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and endorsed by Trump earlier this year. He was approved by the NRA on Monday.
Sheehy is the CEO of Bridger Aerospace, an aerial firefighting company with multiple government contracts that went public last year at a valuation of nearly $900 million. Financial disclosures also reveal that he has a number of investment and business interests.
Federal Election Commission documents show he gave his campaign more than $2 million ahead of the state’s primaries.
If Sheehy is elected, he would be one of the wealthiest members of Congress.
He has aligned himself closely with Trump and focused some of his messaging in the final days of the primaries on condemning Trump.
The day Trump was found guilty of 34 charges of falsifying corporate records in New York, the ex-president posted a video on Truth Social urging Montanans to vote for Sheehy on Tuesday and call him a “true American warrior.” to call.
In response to Trump’s conviction, Sheehy released a Trump-esque statement: “RIGGED! New York vs. Donald Trump is a state-sponsored political prosecution led by the party of Joe Biden and Jon Tester. WE, THE PEOPLE, stand with PRESIDENT TRUMP!’
Sheehy will also be the first Republican Senate candidate to run an ad focusing on Trump’s conviction, according to Politico.
GOP Senate candidate Tim Sheehy has voiced his support for former President Trump as he bids to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Tester
He has attacked Tester for being one of the top recipients of lobbying contributions, pointing to tracking by the organization Open Secrets, accusing him of flip-flopping on immigration and trying to tie the senator to President Biden.
But Sheehy, as a prime candidate, has proven to have his own vulnerabilities.
The Daily beast and others have released a series of damning reports about inconsistencies in his retelling of his “rural” upbringing in Minnesota and failed to register his livestock or farm animals in the state as required. He has been accused by critics of being a ‘wannabe cowboy’.
Sheehy told it too the Washington Post he lied to a Glacier National Park ranger about how he suffered a gunshot wound in 2015. He said he made up the story about accidentally firing a gun to cover up a gunshot wound that he never reported to his superiors while serving in Afghanistan.
In response to the reports, Sheehy has lashed out at the media, accusing her of unfair treatment.
Tim Sheehy told the Washington Post that he lied to a park ranger about shooting himself in the arm in 2015 when he actually suffered the gunshot wound in Afghanistan in 2012, but never reported it to his superiors. Sheehy claimed he lied to protect former platoon members from investigation
But Sheehy’s Republican primaries since he entered the race just under a year ago have gone much smoother than would have been possible as he faced little competition from GOP opponents.
Initially facing what could have been an embarrassing primary against Congressman Matt Rosendale, the congressman dropped out of the Senate primary in February, just a week after officially entering the race.
Rosendale later announced that he would also retire at the end of his term, amid rumors that he had a sexual relationship with an employee and got her pregnant. He denies the accusations.
His departure from the race cleared the way for Sheehy to avoid a combative primary and turn his attention to Tester and their expected blockbuster matchup in November.
Republican Congressman Matt Rosendale (pictured at the Montana State Capitol on February 9) denied charges that he withdrew from the US Senate race because he impregnated a 20-year-old staffer
Tester was first elected to the Senate in 2006 and is the only remaining Democrat holding statewide office in Montana.
The third-generation farmer, who previously served as chairman of the state Senate, chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
Tester has touted his deep roots in the state and fought to preserve his “way of life.”
While Tester ranks as one of the most bipartisan senators in Congress and touts his moderate credentials in the increasingly partisan chamber, he has voted for Biden’s biggest legislative priorities, including the American Rescue Plan, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Bill.
More recently, Republicans have accused him of violating the Laken Riley Act as he runs for re-election in a difficult situation for Democrats.
The bill would require federal officials to arrest immigrants in the country illegally who commit crimes such as burglary or theft until they are removed from the US. Tester previously voted against it as an amendment.
Republicans have also tried to tie him and Democrats in general to the conviction of former President Trump. (They have provided no evidence in their allegations that Biden played any role in the case against the ex-president.)
Senator Jon Tester was first elected to the Senate in 2006. Republicans see his seat as one of their best chances to flip the Senate. They have focused much of their attacks on his votes for President Biden’s priorities
Tester is a third-generation rancher in Montana
Few polls have been released on the likely Tester-Sheehy Senate race in Montana in November.
An Emerson College poll in March showed Tester leading by two points in a close race among registered voters. Another JL Partners poll that month showed Sheehy ahead by three points in a head-to-head matchup of likely voters.
Montana’s Senate race is already one of the most expensive in the country, and fundraising has set new records.
Voters in Montana go to the polls on Tuesday for the primaries in a state that Trump won by 16 points in 2020
In April, Tester’s campaign announced it had raised $8 million in the first quarter of the year, the highest amount in the first quarter for Montana’s Senate elections. He raked in another $4 million through mid-May and has raised more than $37 million so far this cycle, records show.
Sheehy has raised more than $10.5 million this cycle, including the more than $2 million he has loaned to his campaign.
Democrats currently hold a one-seat majority in the Senate, but Republicans have a much friendlier map in November, where Democrats can seek re-election in several states Trump won, including Montana.