Montana Sen. Steve Daines (R) announces his retirement from the Senate.
By Jim Ellis — Monday, March 9, 2026
Senate
The Treasure State of Montana’s political world experienced a political earthquake at the close of candidate filing the other night when two-term Sen. Steve Daines (R) withdrew his previous re-election candidacy statement and instead announced his retirement.
Having his successor already prepped, US Attorney Kurt Alme (R) then filed for the office just as the deadline was expiring. In addition to Sen. Daines endorsing Alme, the Trump presidential endorsement was also pre-determined. With Alme as the only major Republican filing, his path to the party nomination appears virtually unencumbered.
The Democrats have five announced contenders, but the Montana race is not likely going to attract the type of political financial investment it did in the 2024 election when current Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) unseated now-former Sen. Jon Tester (D). By some counts, including the many independent expenditures on both sides of the ’24 Senate race, the aggregate campaign spending approached an incredible $200 million before a state population of only about 1.2 million people.
Daines now becomes the tenth Senator to retire in this election cycle, making almost one-third of the 2026 Senate races open (10 of 35; 6R – 4D).
Before the Daines announcement, another shoe had dropped. Together the pair of political moves means that half of the Montana federal delegation is leaving office.
Two days earlier, Representative and former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke (R-Whitefish) announced that he would not seek re-election to a third consecutive term from the state’s western, and more politically competitive, 1st Congressional District.
The veteran Representative says he must endure some medical procedures related to long-term injuries sustained from his days as a Navy SEAL, which, though non-life threatening, would require him to be absent from Congress over what will likely be a long recovery period.
Thus Zinke, who returned to the House in 2023 after winning the 2016 and ’18 at-large congressional elections (Montana was awarded a second congressional seat in the 2020 national apportionment), said that western Montana deserves a full-time Representative and will not seek a third consecutive term.
In conjunction with the situation surrounding Sen. Daines’ departure, the Zinke move had obviously been quietly planned for a sustained period. As part of his retirement announcement, the Congressman endorsed radio talk show host Aaron Flint as his successor. The Zinke endorsement of Flint was quickly followed with an equivalent show of support from President Trump proclaiming his “complete and total endorsement” for Flint. Sen. Sheehy also publicly endorsed the new congressional candidate.
Not everyone is on board the Flint bandwagon, however. Montana GOP Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen quickly announced her own candidacy, so we will see some competition in the 1st District Republican primary.
The 1st CD can become competitive. The Dave’s Redistricting App partisan lean is calculated at 50.7R – 46.9D, as compared with 55.1R – 42.6D for the state as a whole. In his two elections from this district, Rep. Zinke averaged just 50.9 percent of the vote. President Trump carried MT-1 with a 54.2 – 42.7 percent spread in 2024 but won the statewide vote with a more robust 58.4 – 38.5 percent victory spread over Kamala Harris.
Zinke’s retirement and Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw’s (R-Humble) defeat in Tuesday’s primary means there are now 58 open US House seats headed toward the next election, with 34 coming from Republican districts and 19 from the Democratic column, while redistricting in California, Texas, and Utah has created five new seats.