In the governor’s race, local issues — such as the state’s rollout of marijuana dispensaries and Montana’s skyrocketing property taxes — have taken center stage.
Ex-Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy (R) is projected to win the Republican primary for Senate in Montana, according to the Associated Press, and will advance to the general election where he will face Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.).
Sheehy defeated a small slate of candidates that included former Montana secretary of state Brad Johnson and Charles WalkingChild, a Native American and political newcomer. Former president Donald Trump, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, endorsed Sheehy earlier this year.
Republicans have targeted Montana as one of the states where they can flip a Senate seat to help gain control of the chamber.
Tester, who was first elected to the Senate in 2006, remains the only Democrat to hold statewide office in Montana. In his campaign for a fourth term, Tester has played up his background as a third-generation dirt farmer — who lost three fingers in a meat-grinding accident as a child — and vowed to “relentlessly defend our Montana way of life.”
Sheehy, a political newcomer and cattle rancher, has highlighted his conservative beliefs and his endorsement from Trump. Sheehy has also come under scrutiny after he said he lied to a law enforcement officer about accidentally shooting himself in Glacier National Park. He has since claimed that he made up the accidental gunshot story to cover up an injury he said he suffered while in Afghanistan.
Tester seized on the controversy, rolling out a new ad Monday featuring several veterans praising him for delivering resources for people who served in the military.
Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) is projected to win the Republican primary for governor, according to the Associated Press. Gianforte defeated challenger Tanner Smith, a state representative who accused Gianforte of not being a real conservative.
Though Gianforte handily won the gubernatorial race in 2020 — and previously served two terms in Congress representing the state’s at-large district — he has in recent months come under attack from both parties for not curbing the state’s spike in property taxes, after Montana experienced a real estate boom during the pandemic.
In few places have property taxes become as volatile an issue as in Montana, a once proudly purple state where some of the nation’s fastest growth since 2020 coincided with a sharp right turn in leadership. A recent University of Montana survey found that nearly 6 in 10 registered voters view development “sprawling into what were once ranches or open lands” and the “changing character of the state” as extremely or very serious problems.
Conservative county commissioners revolted over collections they say the state should have mitigated. And Democrat Ryan Busse has made property taxes the centerpiece of his campaign to flip the governorship this fall, framing the hikes as evidence that Gianforte and his Republican supermajority are selling out Montana to wealthy outsiders and corporate interests.
Smith also criticized Gianforte for allowing the expansion of marijuana dispensaries in Montana, blaming the governor’s social policies for “destroying this state.”
Trump has not made an endorsement in the primary race, though the former president’s son Donald Trump Jr. campaigned alongside Gianforte in April.
Montana’s 2nd Congressional District
State auditor Troy Downing is projected to win the Republican primary for Montana’s 2nd Congressional District, according to the Associated Press. Downing defeated a large field of candidates that included former six-term congressman Denny Rehberg and Elsie Arntzen, the state superintendent of public instruction.
On Monday, Trump made a last-minute endorsement of Downing in the race to replace retiring Rep. Matt Rosendale (R), touting him as someone who would “fight to Lower Inflation, Secure our Border, Champion American Energy Independence, and Defend our always under siege Second Amendment.”
Rosendale had originally intended to run for Senate but abruptly dropped out of the race after Trump endorsed rival Sheehy the day Rosendale announced his Senate campaign. Rosendale said that “the hill just was too steep” to continue without resources or Trump’s endorsement, and later said he would be retiring at the end of his House term instead.
Karin Brulliard, Liz Goodwin and Azi Paybarah contributed to this report.
