Rosendale suspends Montana Senate bid

Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) said Thursday that Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is a possible candidate in the race, given former President Trump’s endorsement of his primary challenger. After evaluating his gender, he announced that he was discontinuing his candidacy for U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s seat in Montana.

Rosendale announced last week that he will run for the Montana Senate against Republican Tim Sheehy. On the same day, Mr. Rosendale announced his candidacy, but Mr. Trump announced that he would support Mr. Sheehy.

“I have been a supporter of the president for many years and still am. But I was forced to calculate what my chances of success would be if President Trump supported his opponent. “This race is already going to be tough because I was running against Mitch McConnell and the Republican establishment in Washington,” Rosendale said in a statement about his decision.

“But I felt I could beat them because the voters didn’t agree with their choice of the next senator from Montana,” he continued. “But according to my calculations, with President Trump supporting my opponent and a lack of resources, the hill was too steep. I spoke with Ms. Sen. [Steve Daines (R-Mont.)] We both agreed earlier this week that this is the best path for Republicans to regain a majority in the U.S. Senate. ”

News of Rosendale’s decision was first reported by Politico

Rosendale’s departure is a win for Senate Republicans as they hope to avoid a messy and divisive primary against incumbents such as Tester and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). becomes. Both are incumbent congressmen from states that Trump won in a landslide in 2020.

There hasn’t been much polling done on Montana elections lately. But an Emerson College Poll released in October showed Mr. Tester had a lead over Mr. Sheehy, 39% to 35%, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.