Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montana, said on Wednesday that he would not seek re-election this year, a surprise announcement that could offer Democrats a long-shot chance to flip a seat in their uphill fight to win control of the Senate.
Mr. Daines made the announcement just minutes before the filing deadline closed for November’s election, saying that he had been “wrestling with this decision for months” and that it was time for “new leaders,” like the state’s junior Republican senator, Tim Sheehy, to “spearhead the fight for Montana in the United States Senate.”
Mr. Daines, a two-term senator who led Republicans’ successful effort to flip the Senate in 2024, also endorsed a successor: Kurt Alme, the U.S. attorney for Montana. President Trump also quickly endorsed Mr. Alme on Wednesday evening.
Mr. Daines’ announcement — a surprise even to his Senate colleagues — upended the political landscape in Montana, a sparsely populated and independent-minded state that has veered rightward in recent years. The last remaining statewide Democrat, Senator Jon Tester, lost his re-election bid to Mr. Sheehy in 2024.
But Montana has shown it is willing to elect Democrats and moderates of all types. Earlier on Wednesday, Seth Bodnar, the former president of the University of Montana, launched his long-anticipated independent campaign for Senate, drawing buzz but also condemnation from Democrats who fretted his presence would make it more difficult for a candidate in their party to triumph in a three-way field.
A handful of Democrats are running for the Senate seat, including Reilly Neill, a former state legislator. But the party brand in Montana has eroded in recent years, and Mr. Tester himself has been at odds with state Democrats recently, calling the party’s messaging “horrible” earlier this year.
Mr. Daines’s decision comes just days after Representative Ryan Zinke, one of Montana’s two House members, said he would retire at the end of his term, citing health reasons.
Republicans are favored in that race, but Democrats have several prominent candidates, including Ryan Busse, the former Democratic nominee for governor, and Sam Forstag, a smokejumper and union leader.
Kellen Browning is a Times political reporter based in San Francisco.
The post Daines Drops Re-election Bid in Montana, Upending a Senate Race appeared first on New York Times.
