Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) announced Thursday that he would be suspending his bid for Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-Mont.) seat in Montana after assessing his chances in the race given former President Trump had endorsed his primary challenger.
Rosendale last week announced he would be running for the Montana Senate seat against Republican Tim Sheehy. The same day Rosendale announced his bid, however, Trump announced he would be endorsing Sheehy.
“I have long been a supporter of the President, and remain so. But I have been forced to calculate what my chances of success would be with Trump supporting my opponent. This race was already going to be tough, as I was fighting against Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republican establishment in Washington,” Rosendale said in a statement regarding his decision.
“But I felt like I could beat them, as the voters do not agree with them choosing who would be the next U.S. Senator from Montana,” he continued. “However, by my calculations, with Trump endorsing my opponent and the lack of resources, the hill was just too steep. I spoke with Sen. [Steve Daines (R-Mont.)] earlier this week and we both agree that this is the best path forward for Republicans to regain the majority in the U.S. Senate.”
Politico was the first to report the news of Rosendale’s decision
Rosendale’s exit is a win for Senate Republicans, as they look to avoid messy and divisive primaries in tackling incumbents such as Tester and Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). Both are incumbents who hail from states that Trump won overwhelmingly in 2020.
There has been little recent public polling on the Montana race. A survey released by Emerson College Polling in October, though, found Tester ahead of Sheehy at 39 percent support to 35 percent, within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.