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Former President Donald J. Trump endorsed Tim Sheehy for the Republican Senate nomination in Montana on Friday, putting his powerful imprimatur on the primary race the same day that one of his longtime allies, Representative Matt Rosendale, announced his campaign.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Rosendale had campaigned together in 2018, when Mr. Rosendale’s first attempt to unseat Senator Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, failed. But the House lawmaker’s loss in that race — and his failure to endorse Mr. Trump’s latest presidential bid sooner — convinced the former presidential to endorse Mr. Sheehy.
In a statement, Mr. Trump said he respected Mr. Rosendale and would be happy to endorse a House bid if he would change his mind about running for the Senate. He also noted Mr. Sheehy’s support from Senator Steve Daines, a Montana Republican overseeing the Republican Senate campaign arm, who has developed a close relationship with the former president.
“Tim is the candidate who is currently best positioned” to defeat Mr. Tester, Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Rosendale entered the race on Friday from the far-right corner of the party. He is a staunch opponent of abortion rights who voted to overturn the 2020 election, and he played a key role last year in ousting Representative Kevin McCarthy, a fellow Republican, as House speaker.
But while that résumé would normally make him a darling of Mr. Trump’s political movement, many of the former president’s loyalists have aligned behind Mr. Sheehy, a retired Navy SEAL and founder of an aerial firefighting company who began his own Senate campaign in July.
A telegenic father of four young children and recipient of a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart Medal, Mr. Sheehy meets the “central casting” look that Mr. Trump seeks in many candidates.
Mr. Rosendale, on the other hand, irked the former president during the House speaker fight. From the House floor, Mr. Rosendale appeared to brush off a phone call from Mr. Trump, who wanted to speak with him about supporting Mr. McCarthy for speaker.
The winner of the primary will face Mr. Tester, a Democrat seeking his fourth term. Mr. Tester has been one of the nation’s most popular senators, according to polling from Morning Consult, but is viewed as a vulnerable incumbent because of the deep-red nature of a state that Mr. Trump won by 16 percentage points in 2020. Montana also has a Republican governor and a Republican supermajority in the Legislature.
Before this year, the only time Mr. Tester had shared a ballot with a presidential race was in 2012, when President Barack Obama coasted to a second term. Mr. Obama lost Montana by 13.5 points that year, but Mr. Tester won his race by four points.
In Mr. Tester’s 2018 re-election, he defeated Mr. Rosendale, 50.3 percent to 46.8 percent. That loss factored into the decision from Republican leaders, including Mr. Daines, to recruit Mr. Sheehy into this year’s race. Mr. Daines oversees the party’s Senate races as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Montana Democrats welcomed Mr. Rosendale’s entry into the race, calling him the “greatest nightmare” for Washington Republicans while offering a preview of their own plans to attack both Republican candidates as out-of-touch out-of-staters. Mr. Rosendale, a native of Maryland, has lived in Montana for about two decades. Mr. Sheehy, who was born in Minnesota, founded his company in Montana about a decade ago.
“Buckle up for the battle of the out-of-staters,” said Hannah Rehm, senior communications adviser for the Montana Democratic Party. “Over the coming months, Montanans are going to see how out of touch Maryland Matt and Transplant Tim are with our state.”
Mr. Daines has, in several ways, helped Mr. Sheehy win support from Trump loyalists and deep-pocketed Republican donors, two forces inside the party that have regularly worked at cross-purposes in recent years. Mr. Sheehy has been endorsed by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and a super PAC backing Mr. Sheehy has collected millions from wealthy Wall Street executives.
“It’s unfortunate that rather than building seniority for our great state in the House, Matt is choosing to abandon his seat and create a divisive primary,” Mr. Daines said in a statement on Friday. “Whichever party wins the Montana Senate seat will control the United States Senate in 2024, and Republicans cannot risk nominating a candidate who gave Jon Tester the biggest victory of his career.”
Mr. Sheehy has also contributed about $1 million to his own campaign, which spent more than $4 million last year and entered this year with about $1.3 million on hand.
But while Mr. Sheehy is seeking his first elected office, Mr. Rosendale is a well-known figure in Montana Republican politics. The Senate race will be Mr. Rosendale’s eighth political campaign in the past 14 years. In his previous seven contests — four federal races, two state legislative campaigns and one for state auditor — Mr. Rosendale won five and lost two.
Mr. Rosendale has support from key figures in Mr. Trump’s orbit, including Steve Bannon, the former Trump White House strategist, and Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. But he is notably missing support from Mr. Trump himself and his son Donald Trump Jr., both of whom repeatedly campaigned with Mr. Rosendale during the 2018 Senate race.
Those pro-Trump forces showed their strength on Wednesday when the House speaker, Mike Johnson, retreated from his plan to endorse Mr. Rosendale after facing criticism from top Republican officials and prominent Trump supporters.
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