Republican Tim Sheehy, an entrepreneur and ex-Navy SEAL, will become the next Senator from Montana in Jan. 2025, after defeating three-term incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.
The Associated Press called the race at 6:26 a.m. on Nov. 6, with Sheehy at 53% of the vote and Tester at 45.2%, with an estimated 87% of the votes counted.
Sheehy is a Purple Heart recipient who served as a Navy SEAL in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The Republican challenger secured the GOP primary in June after receiving the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
Tester is a third-generation Montana farmer who has held public office in the state for more than two decades, and has served as a U.S. senator since 2006.
The race between Sheehy and Tester was the third most expensive of the 2024 senate election cycle, totaling over $260 million, according to OpenSecrets. Democrats were on track to outspend Republicans by roughly $50 million on the Montana race as of Oct. 29, the AP reported.
Sheehy was expected to win the contest, with Cook Political Report shifting its rating for the senate seat from toss up to leaning Republican back in September. The GOP accounts for roughly 40% of likely voters in Montana, while Democrats only account for about a quarter, according to an AARP poll from Sept. 5.
Before the election, Jon McHenry, a GOP polling analyst and vice president at North Star Opinion Research, told the DCNF that Sheehy was in good shape.
“Tester is a little bit like a cockroach, in that they’re almost impossible to kill. He’s won races he was supposed to lose before. But eventually, cockroaches die, right?” McHenry said.
Republicans have flipped two Senate seats so far in the 2024 election, with several other races too close to call, regaining control of the chamber for the first time since 2020.
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