If candidate Tim Sheehy succeeds in unseating a longtime Democrat, his win could help advance Republican policies through Congress.
In a testament to the importance of the Montana race for U.S. Senate, former President Donald Trump held a rally in Big Sky Country for the first time in six years. At the Aug. 9 event in Bozeman, Trump drummed up support for Republican candidate Tim Sheehy, who is seeking to unseat longtime Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.).
That Senate matchup has drawn national attention for its potential to help flip the Senate into Republican control. Republicans hold a majority of the House seats but GOP proposals have often died when they reach the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Tester remains the sole Democrat holding a high office in Montana, a formerly “purple” state—a mix of Republican red and Democrat blue—that has become reliably red during the Trump era.
Speaking to a crowd that overflowed the 8,455-seat Brick Breeden Fieldhouse at Montana State University, Trump said the state and the nation need Sheehy to win.
“For years, Tester has been telling Montana that he’s a moderate,” Trump said, but Tester voted in line with policies that Trump blames for border crisis. In 2019, Tester opposed constructing the U.S.–Mexico border