Tim Sheehy emerges victorious in Montana GOP race to challenge Tester and reclaim Senate seat

Former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy won the Montana Senate GOP primary Tuesday and will go on to face Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) in the hotly contested general election that could determine party control of the chamber.

The Associated Press called the race for Sheehy at 8:37 p.m. Mountain time, 37 minutes after the polls closed. With about 27% of the ballots counted, Sheehy led with nearly 76% of the vote.

Sheehy, who is backed by former President Donald Trump, beat former Montana Public Service Commissioner Brad Johnson and past congressional candidate Charles Walking Child. Rep. Matt Rosendale’s (R-MT) exit from the race in February after just six days cleared the way for Sheehy.

Republicans see their path to a Senate majority through the Trump-dominated red state and unseating Tester, who’s staking his bid for a fourth consecutive term on convincing voters he’s different than President Joe Biden.

“The clearest path to a Republican Senate majority runs through Montana,” said Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT), chair of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm. “Tim Sheehy will deliver a Senate majority for President Trump, Jon Tester wants to deliver a Senate majority for Joe Biden. That is the choice in this election.”

Tester glided to victory Tuesday against Democratic challenger Michael Hummert, who has not filed any campaign finance reports and did not appear to have an operating budget.

Democrats cannot afford to lose Montana or any of the other half-dozen battleground Senate races in order to keep majority control.

Tester has increasingly distanced himself from Biden, as the incumbent hopes to win over enough Republicans in a state where Trump dominated in 2020 by more than 16 points.

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Within minutes of Sheehy’s victory, the Republican nominee was the subject of a fundraising pitch from Tester’s campaign and an attack ad from the campaign arm of Senate Democrats.

Tester Campaign Manager Shelbi Dantic framed the race in a strategy memo as between a “third-generation dirt farmer who deeply understands Montana’s way of life and will relentlessly defend it, and Tim Sheehy, an out-of-state multimillionaire who’s running to benefit himself and can’t be trusted to protect Montana.”