Republican Steve Daines clinched a second term in the U.S. Senate yesterday, defeating Democratic Governor Steve Bullock.
Daines spoke in front of a crowd of about 100 supporters in an open-air tent in Bozeman.
"We are so grateful tonight that the voice of Montana has been heard loud and clear."
Pre-election polling projected a neck-and-neck race between Daines and Bullock. It proved to be the most expensive in Montana history, and was among the most closely watched contests across the country. A Bullock win could have helped tip the balance of the U.S. Senate from Republican to Democratic control.
"I’m grateful that the good common sense, the good horse sense, of Montanans didn’t listen to all that out of state money flooding into Montana from Chuck Schumer," Daines said.
The race did have the fourth highest outside spending of any Senate contest in the country, but that money came from both sides of the aisle.
In 2014, Daines became the first Republican to take that Senate seat in more than a century. In his speech last night, he also focused on working with newly elected Republican Governor Greg Gianforte to fight COVID-19 and invigorate the economy.
In an e-mailed concession, two-term Democratic Governor Steve Bullock congratulated Daines, and thanked the people of Montana for their faith during his 12 years as attorney general and governor.
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