Within the battle of Steves for US Senate in Montana, Republican incumbent Sen. Steve Daines has retained his seat regardless of a notable probl
Within the battle of Steves for US Senate in Montana, Republican incumbent Sen. Steve Daines has retained his seat regardless of a notable problem from Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock.
Daines, 58, was elected to the US Home of Representatives in 2012 after which to the US Senate in 2014. He at present serves on the Senate Committees on Finance, Appropriations, Power and Pure Sources, and Indian Affairs. Earlier than moving into politics, he spent a lot of his profession within the personal sector, first at Procter & Gamble after which at RightNow Applied sciences.
As Vox’s Ella Nilsen defined earlier than the election, Daines is mostly well-liked in Montana, which tends to lean conservative. He, like many Senate Republicans, tied himself fairly carefully to President Donald Trump over the previous few years, together with voting to repeal the Inexpensive Care Act in 2017 even after Montana voted to broaden Medicaid within the state underneath the ACA in 2015. Based on FiveThirtyEight, Daines votes with the president about 86 % of the time. And he, additionally like many Senate Republicans this election cycle, made some late efforts to distance himself from the president.
The problem on this race wasn’t a lot whether or not or not Montana voters appreciated Daines — it’s that in addition they like Bullock, their term-limited governor. Democrats hoped a lot in order that he’d be capable of flip Daines’s seat blue and that Montana would wind up with two Democratic senators, Bullock and Sen. Jon Tester.
“I believe most Montanans — and other people in most states — are 60-70 % within the center,” former Montana Sen. Max Baucus (D) informed Nilsen. “What most individuals actually care about [is] are you attempting to do what’s finest for us?”
Heading into the election, the Daines-Bullock matchup was extremely shut. The Prepare dinner Political Report rated it a toss-up, and Sabato’s Crystal Ball had it within the Lean Republican column. The race was additionally costly, as Democrats poured cash in hoping to flip the seat: Through the third quarter, Bullock raised $26.eight million in comparison with $7.eight million for Daines.
Bullock, 54, labored in each private and non-private authorized practices early in his profession and has an extended political historical past in Montana, serving as its lawyer common from 2009 to 2013 after which as governor from 2013 to 2020. He made a short-lived bid for the White Home within the 2020 Democratic main after which spent months saying he had little interest in becoming a member of Congress earlier than lastly saying he would certainly run.
Daines’s seat was a must-win for Republicans trying to maintain on to the Senate, they usually weren’t shy about it. Forward of the election, Daines mentioned simply that in an interview with Fox Radio’s Brian Kilmeade: “If I lose this seat right here in Montana, we lose the bulk.”