Republican Tim Sheehy defeats Jon Tester to win Montana's U.S. Senate seat

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Republican Tim Sheehy strengthened the GOP's Senate majority with a victory over three-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in a contest of national importance that saw a record-breaking spree of spending by both parties.

Sheehy, a former US Navy SEAL, aligned his campaign closely with Donald Trump and leading conservatives while portraying Tester as a corrupt Washington insider. The Republican also promised to address the crisis at the southern border and curb government regulation.

The Democrats went into the election on Tuesday with a narrow majority of two seats in the Senate. Tester — a moderate and the only working farmer in the chamber — was considered one of the weakest Democrats on the ballot nationally.

republican took control of the Senate on Tuesday night with wins at Ohio and West Virginia.

Sheehy said in a statement that he has served the country since he was 18 and he is honored to continue his service in the Senate.

“Since day one, we've been running a grassroots campaign, talking directly to Montanans about how to make Montana affordable again, make America strong again and bring back Montana's common sense, which means a secure border, safe roads, cheap gas. “Cops are good, criminals are bad, boys are boys and girls are girls,” he said.

Sheehy, 38, sought to tarnish Tester's reputation for authenticity by highlighting more than $500,000 that lobbyists and their families donated to lawmakers in the last election cycle.

The tactic mirrored Tester's own 2006 campaign, when he defeated a three-term Republican incumbent who was embroiled in a lobbying scandal in Washington, D.C.

Sheehy touted his military service and business experience and brushed off questions raised about a gunshot wound he allegedly lied about. He also tried to highlight his success in the private sector as the founder of an aerial firefighting company — even as the company's stock price plummeted.

Sheehy described the race as one of national importance for Republicans seeking to reverse four years of Democratic rule in the Senate and White House.

Tester was the last member of his party to hold statewide office in Montana and the last Democratic senator from the five-state Northern Plains region. When he first took office in 2006, Democrats held six of the region's 10 Senate seats.

Hoping to withstand the conservative wave that has swept the region, Tester, 68, appealed to moderate Republicans and independents. That included tying his Senate campaign to a ballot proposal to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution — along with frequent reminders to voters that he is a working farmer who also worked hard for them.

He also tried to distance himself from Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, hoping to appeal to moderate Republicans and independent voters.

About four in 10 voters said control of the Senate was the most important factor in deciding how to vote in Montana's Senate race, according to AP VoteCast, a comprehensive survey of more than 1,100 voters in the state.

Overall, nearly six in 10 Montana voters said the future of democracy was the most important factor in their vote. About a third said the high prices of food, gasoline and other goods were the most important factor, and about three in 10 voters said the future of free speech in the U.S. was the most important factor.

About a quarter of voters said abortion policy was the most important factor in voting in the general election.

Tester's narrow victory in 2006 over the three-term Republican incumbent marked a high point for Montana Democrats. It took place in the context of a midterm election and against a backdrop of growing discontent with the Bush administration's war in Iraq.

More than $300 million was spent on this year's competition, much of it from outside groups with unclear donors. Spending amounted to about $500 for each active voter – a record per voter.

Democrats had a significant cash advantage, and in the final days of the race, Tester's campaign flooded newspapers and broadcast stations in Montana with ads amplifying the claims of a former park ranger, Sheehy lied about a gunshot wound in his arm.

Sheehy said the wound came from combat in Afghanistan and was not accidentally self-inflicted, as he told the ranger in 2015. The Republican said that Tester's campaign committed character assassination and that other SEALs vouched for Sheehy's integrity, but that he had not released any corroborating medical records.

Montana's political profile has changed dramatically since Tester was first elected. It went from a “purple” state that traditionally sent a mix of Democrats and Republicans to higher office to one where partisan divisions prevail and Republicans hold a supermajority in the state legislature.

Tester warned throughout the campaign about “outsiders” like Sheehy — who came to Montana in 2014 and bought a ranch — who were driving up real estate prices and limiting access to hunting and fishing for the general public.

Voter Kael Richards, 22, of Bozeman, said Montanans typically resent rich people from out of state like Sheehy. But Richards said he was willing to look beyond that factor in the Senate race and was impressed when he discovered Sheehy ran an aerial firefighting business.

“Tester has been there for so long, ever since we grew up we only knew Tester,” Richards said. “I feel like there needs to be a change. Our real estate prices have never been higher. Our land prices have never been higher.”

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Associated Press writer Amy Beth Hanson contributed from Great Falls, Montana.