Republican Tim Sheehy ousts Montana Democratic Senator Jon Tester in major race

Republican Tim Sheehy won the Montana Senate race ousting Democratic Senator Jon Tester, who was considered the most vulnerable Democrat in the Senate. 

The GOP was able to successfully take control of the chamber after losing power four years ago.

Republican Jim Justice captured outgoing Independent Sen. Joe Manchin’s seat in West Virginia and GOP’s Bernie Moreno ousting Sherrod Brown in Ohio put Republicans on the path to power. 

Those two flips, in addition to Sheehy’s victory, were enough to give the GOP the outright majority as several other race results are still incoming. 

In the final weeks of the Senate race, a series of polls showed Sheehy taking a sizable lead ahead of Tester. 

But there were questions over whether Tester’s deep ties in the state and reputation as a lawmaker who can work across the aisle could help carry him to victory in an election year where Donald Trump was ensured to carry the top of the ticket. 

It would have meant a significant number of voters in Montana would have had to split their tickets to vote for the Republican presidential nominee and the Democratic senator in a divisive election year. 

Sheehy is a businessman, decorated combat veteran and father of four who moved to Montana ten years ago. 

He ran as a ‘common sense’ candidate aligned with former President Trump who has created jobs in his state. He was against the bipartisan border deal.

Sheehy is married to his wife Carmen, a former Marine Corps officer, and they have four kids together.

However, his Senate campaign was dogged by a series of controversies. 

He faced scrutiny over his financials with reports that his company Bridger Aerospace, founded in 2013, which secured $160 million in bonds meant to hire more workers and expand used the money it to pay $134m in debt. 

Separately, questions were raised over how Sheehy received a bullet wound. 

During the campaign and in a book, the veteran claimed he received it during a firefight in Afghanistan. It was not reported at the time. 

But three years after his deployment in 2015, he told a park ranger that he accidentally shot himself in the arm. 

The inconsistencies in the story were first reported in April by The Washington Post.  Sheehy said he lied about receiving the wound at Glacier National Park because he did not want to spark a military investigation. 

However, more recently the park ranger who spoke to Sheehy about what was reported as an accidental gunshot wound disputed his claim stating he is 100 percent sure Sheehy shot himself. 

Sheehy has also faced criticism after a recording of him from last year captured him perpetuating a racist stereotype for Native Americans at a private fundraiser.

In unearthed audio, he also described women as being ‘indoctrinated’ on the issue of abortion. 

He has also repeated Trump’s false claims that Democrats support killing babies after they are born.

Tester is a third-generation Montana farmer. 

He was first elected to the Senate in 2006 and is the last Democrat serving statewide in Montana. 

He was considered the most vulnerable Senate Democrat up for reelection this cycle, running for a fourth term in a state that Trump won by more than sixteen points in 2020. 

He ran on bringing down costs including prescription drug costs, keeping public land public, protecting women’s rights to privacy in their health care decisions as well as delivering for veterans in the Senate.

But his opponent accused him of being in the pocket of special interests as well as covering for President Biden. 

The Montana Senate race was among the most expensive Senate races with more than $225 million spent on advertising in the race.