Republican Tim Sheehy wins Montana’s Senate race over Democrat Jon Tester

Republican Tim Sheehy has defeated Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in Montana, NBC News projects, deepening the GOP’s projected Senate majority after the party’s victories in West Virginia and Ohio.

Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, defeated the three-term senator by consolidating Republican voters in a state that has turned a deeper shade of red in recent years. Sheehy and his allies have chosen Tester as a liberal Democrat who votes with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, undermining the incumbent’s reputation as a centrist.

Tester sought to defy his state’s partisanship by leaning into his deep roots as a third-generation farmer and touting his bipartisan bona fides, including his clashes with the Biden administration on issues like immigration. Tester and his allies also cast Sheehy as the embodiment of the state’s wealthy new residents, arguing that they have driven up costs and threatened Montanans’ access to public lands.

But Sheehy was ultimately able to withstand these attacks. Republicans touted him as a top recruit with a military background who built an aerial firefighting business in the state, even as his business record and the condition of his cattle ranch were scrutinized in the campaign.

The campaigns and outside groups covered the Montana airwaves with more than $250 million in ads.

Republicans had been increasingly confident they could defeat Tester ahead of Election Day, arguing that the state had shifted too far to the right for Tester to overcome and that many of the state’s new residents leaned toward the GOP.

But Democrats were cautiously optimistic that Montana voters would view the presidential and Senate races through different lenses. They also noted that the Tester campaign’s get-out-the-vote operation, his appeal to independent voters and his support among Native Americans could propel him to victory.

Democrats also hoped that Tester would be supported by a statewide ballot initiative in which voters weighed the codification of the right to abortion in the state constitution.

While Sheehy had said he would respect Montana voters’ decision on the issue, he appeared open to supporting federal action on abortion, which Democrats exploited on the campaign trail and on the airwaves.

Tester argued that Montanans do not want the federal government involved in health care decisions.

Still, it wasn’t enough to help Tester overcome the state’s right wing.