Daines Drops Re-election Bid in Montana, Upending a Senate Race

The surprise announcement by Senator Steve Daines could give Democrats a slim opening in the Republican-leaning state in their uphill fight to take the Senate majority.

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 and Mr. Trump developed a close working relationship while Mr. Daines led the party’s campaign arm and was tasked with the challenge of keeping Senate Republicans and Mr. Trump on the same page.

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.

By waiting until the very last moment to withdraw, Mr. Daines essentially cleared the field for his chosen successor by denying others the chance to file to be on the ballot.

Mr. Bodnar, in a statement, condemned the last-minute shuffle, calling it “the disgusting arrogance of Washington politicians and their party bosses.” He added that he aimed to be an independent voice “for every single Montanan who is sick of this broken political system.”

Former Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, said he thought the move left an opening for his party, because even many Republicans would be dismayed that Mr. Daines had essentially anointed his successor.

“I think there’s going to be a real pushback on Alme, and it’s simply because Montanans are not going to accept that a king gets to choose the prince,” Mr. Schweitzer said in an interview.

The practice is not common, but it does occur and has drawn criticism in other cases, including when a Democrat, Representative Jesús García of Illinois, pulled out of a House race in Chicago last year to clear the way for his chief of staff to run for his seat. The House officially reprimanded him for the move in a bipartisan vote.

Mr. Daines’s decision comes just days after Representative Ryan Zinke, one of Montana’s two Republican House members, said he would retire at the end of his term, citing health reasons. The abrupt announcement gave potential G.O.P. successors just 48 hours to decide whether to run.

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.

Carl Hulse contributed reporting.

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