#mt-sen

With just minutes to go until the Big Sky State’s filing deadline, and the path greased for his successor, United States Senator Steve Daines, R-Montana, announced that he is not seeking reelection. He has not been a consequential senator, but his withdrawal could have serious consequences for control of the U.S. Senate. Daines is the sixth Republican senator to hang it up in the 2026 cycle,…

A gang of political journalists gathered for a celebratory lunch on General Election Day 2016 in Seattle. We placed bets on Hillary Clinton’s winning electoral college margin and the size of Democrats’ Senate majority. None of us, all engaged in the community, saw the disaster coming that night. The ultra MAGA movement is easily underestimated. Its members are suspicious of pollsters. Its…

Montana’s two-term Democratic governor Steve Bullock will not be graduating to join the U.S. Senate this year. Although the Governor has high approval ratings among Montanans, it appears that his rival, Steve Daines, was able to ride the coattails of Donald Trump to a relatively easy victory.

Daines current margin – around 5.5% – may seem like a blowout, especially when considering the fact that Bullock was considered one of the Democrats’ best hopes for taking control of the Senate. However, if you look at the fact that Trump is currently beating Biden by closer to 13% (and beat Hillary Clinton by a whopping 20% in 2016), the number reflects how hard-fought the campaign actually was, with Bullock way outperforming his party’s presidential contender.