Republican Tim Sheehy will defeat Sen. Jon Tester in competitive Montana race, CNN projects

CNN
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Republican Tim Sheehy will defeat three-term Montana Sen. Jon Tester, CNN projects, adding to Republicans’ newfound majority in the Senate.

Montana has long been a deep red state in presidential elections — and every other statewide office is currently held by a Republican. But Tester, a seven-fingered farmer who had cut a moderate profile on Capitol Hill, had previously defied political gravity with victories in 2006, 2012 and 2018.

Still, his seat — along with Democrats in two other red states, Ohio and West Virginia — was a prime Republican target this year. Republicans Bernie Moreno and Jim Justice won those races, respectively.

This year was the first time Tester had to share the ballot with Trump, who won the state by 16 percentage points in 2020 and nearly 20 points in 2016 — a reality that meant the Democratic incumbent had to run past the top of his party’s ticket. double digits to be competitive.

Democrats cast Sheehy, a retired Navy SEAL, as an out-of-state millionaire with dubious homesteading credentials and commitment to public lands — the same playbook used against Republican Matt Rosendale in 2018.

Sheehy moved to Montana in 2014 after leaving the military, but Republicans believed carpet bag attacks would have limited appeal in a state that is home to several transplants following the coronavirus pandemic.

In the final weeks of the race, Democrats stepped up their attacks on Sheehy’s conflicting story from nearly a decade ago about how a bullet lodged in his arm. External groups ran ads too the park ranger as Sheehy told that his gun had been accidentally fired in Glacier National Park and another place with a retired Navy SEAL who served with Sheehy insisting the candidate did not receive the gunshot wound in Afghanistan, saying, “There is no honor in lying about your service.”

Republicans, for their part, sought to tie Tester — who did not attend the Democratic National Convention or endorse the presidential election — to President Joe Biden’s administration and Democratic congressional leadership.

A big question mark hanging over the race was a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in Montana’s constitution. Such ballot measures have prevailed even in deep red states since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and became a political boon for Democrats.

Republicans in Montana have pushed and passed a number of abortion restrictions in recent years, but have seen them largely struck down as unconstitutional by state courts.