Matt Rosendale drops out of Montana Senate race after less than a week

Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., has ended his Senate campaign less than a week after he launched it.

“As everyone knows, I have planned to run for the U.S. Senate and to win both the primary and the general election,” Rosendale said in a statement. “However, the day I announced, President Trump then announced that he was endorsing a different candidate.”

Politico first reported on Rosendale’s decision to drop out.

Trump is backing political newcomer Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and aerospace entrepreneur who also has been endorsed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Rosendale’s decision is a win for the NRSC, which had been hoping to avoid a messy and expensive primary in a state where the party hopes to unseat longtime Democratic Sen. Jon Tester. Rosendale lost to Tester in 2018.

In his statement, Rosendale said he had spoken with Montana’s other senator, Steve Daines, who chairs the NRSC, “and we both agree that this is the best path forward for Republicans to regain the majority in the U.S. Senate.”

“This race was already going to be tough, as I was fighting against [Senate GOP Leader] Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republican establishment in Washington,” Rosendale said. “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.”

“However,” Rosendale added, “by my calculations, with Trump endorsing my opponent and the lack of resources, the hill was just too steep.”

Asked earlier Thursday about Trump's endorsement of Sheehy, before he announced he was dropping out, Rosendale said, “I can certainly say I would rather it go the other way.”

Rosendale’s candidacy had caused tensions in Trump world, NBC News reported last week. Advisers and allies close to Trump had found Rosendale insufficiently loyal and had been particularly frustrated that he had waited so long to endorse Trump’s 2024 presidential bid.

“I appreciate Matt’s many years of service to Montana,” Daines said in a statement Thursday night. “It will take all Republicans working together to defeat Jon Tester in November.”

Sheehy offered kind words for Rosendale and struck a note of unity Thursday night in a post on X.

“Matt, Montana is grateful for your service and for showing Washington, D.C. what it means to hold the line on reckless spending,” Sheehy wrote. “I know working together we’ll win this race and defeat Jon Tester.”

Democrats, who had been eager for a hostile GOP primary, continued to emphasize division.

“Rosendale spent months making the case that Tim Sheehy has no place representing Montana in the Senate and he was right,” Sheila Hogan, the Montana Democratic Party’s executive director, said in an emailed statement Thursday. “Sheehy is an out-of-state tech millionaire completely out of touch with Montana’s way of life.”