After Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines decided to end his reelection bid Wednesday evening, observers noticed similarities between him and a Democratic lawmaker who made a similar move months ago.
As Montana’s candidate filing deadline approached at 5 p.m. MST Wednesday, Daines — who had been seeking a third term — suddenly withdrew his bid, later announcing in a video statement that his decision came after “much careful thought.” The retiring senator quickly threw his support behind Republican Kurt Alme, a U.S. attorney in the Trump administration who entered the race just eight minutes before the filing deadline, according to multiple reports.
Daines’ move to drop out of a race at the eleventh hour and endorse a brand new entrant, without giving other prospective candidates a chance to run for the seat, appears similar to the nature of Democratic Illinois Rep. Chuy Garcia’s retirement announcement in November 2025. Garcia announced his retirement on the day of Illinois’ filing deadline and endorsed his chief of staff, Patty Garcia — of no relation to him — who had entered the race the same day and, following the lawmaker’s exit, was running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
“This is bullshit. A Montana Senator is rigging an election and it’s miles beneath the dignity of our democracy,” Democratic Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a moderate who represents a seat Trump won in 2024, wrote on X.
Gluesenkamp Perez made headlines when she slammed Garcia’s maneuvers as “election denial” and stated that his move to “anoint an heir is fundamentally antidemocratic.” She also introduced a symbolic resolution of disproval against him which passed in the House with 23 Democrats in support while most of the party staunchly opposed the measure.
Matthew Klein, a U.S. House and Governors analyst for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, wrote on X, following the Montana Senator’s announcement, “Will be quite interested to see how much GOP opposition there is to Daines’ bait-and-switch after Chuy García got blasted for pulling the same maneuver in November.”
“Sure looks like Steve Daines made a Chuy Garcia-esque move, abandoning his re-election campaign minutes before the filing deadline closed, only for another candidate to essentially be handed the nomination while clearly having knowledge of the incumbent’s plans,” New York Sun Washington correspondent Matt Rice wrote in an X post Wednesday.
Daines’ office did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
President Donald Trump wrote in a Truth Social post later Wednesday night that Alme had his “Complete and Total Endorsement” which he added was “based on Steve’s strongest recommendation.” The president added in the post that the departing senator had decided to “pass the torch,” a phrase he put in quotation marks, to Alme.
Later on Wednesday night, Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) — a position he directly succeeded Daines in holding — announced on X that the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm “looks forward to … welcoming Kurt [Alme] as the state’s [Montana’s] next U.S. Senator.”
Alme was not the only candidate who entered the race on Wednesday, as former University of Montana President and Army Green Beret Seth Bodnar also entered the race as an independent, announcing just hours before Daines’ withdrawal.
“Steve Daines has so little respect for Montana Republicans that he withdrew at the last minute to coronate his handpicked successor instead of giving them a voice at the ballot box,” Bodnar, who has the endorsement of former Democratic Montana Sen. Jon Tester, wrote in a post late Wednesday on X.
“This is the disgusting arrogance of Washington politicians and their party bosses who trade power back and forth like candy while Montanans are crushed under higher costs and fewer opportunities,” the independent candidate added.
The leading Democratic candidate in the race, former Montana State Rep. Reilly Neill, said in a video posted to X on Wednesday that “Daines dropping out of the race is another example of the Montana GOP being in complete disarray.” Neill reiterated in the video that she is running in the election as a “proud Democrat” — despite Tester, the state’s last Democratic statewide officeholder, backing Bodnar.
Alme still has to win the June 2 GOP primary against multiple longshot Republican contenders, including perennial candidate Charles WalkingChild.
Both Daines and Garcia represent areas which are considered safe for their respective parties, so the primary election is seen as the real contest. Trump won Montana by 20 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election while former Vice President Kamala Harris carried Garcia’s Chicago-based House seat by 28 points.
Daines’ retirement brings the number of open Senate races in the 2026 cycle to ten, the most since 2012.
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