Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) suddenly withdrew from the 2026 race late March 4.
“Serving the people of Montana in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate the past 13 years has been the greatest honor of my professional career and I am grateful to God for allowing me to serve,” Daines said in a video statement. “I’m grateful to God for allowing to me to serve, but after much careful thought, I’ve decided not to seek re-election.”
Daines, 63, has represented Montana in the Senate since 2015. He won re-election in 2020, defeating former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, with 55 percent of the vote.
Daines previously served as a member of the House of Representatives.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Kurt Alme launched a campaign on Wednesday for the Senate seat Daines currently holds.
Daines “decided to leave the Senate and, ‘pass the torch’ to Kurt Alme,” President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump said that if “Kurt didn’t have the highest level of aptitude and talent, Steve would have remained exactly where he is but, Kurt is exceptional, and I will be giving him, based on Steve’s strongest recommendation, my Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Alme said in a statement to news outlets that she was running for Senate “to be a relentless advocate for Montana and to help President Trump put America First.”
“We need proven doers in Washington who will stand up for our values without apology,” she said.
Republicans have 53 seats in the 100-member upper chamber. Republicans hold 20 seats of the 33 up for election in the midterms. Some other GOP senators have recently said they would not be seeking another term, including Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Seth Bodnar, 47, a former president of the University of Montana, earlier on Wednesday said he would be running for the seat representing Montana as an independent.
“Steve Daines has so little respect for Montana Republicans that he withdrew at the last minute to coronate his handpicked successor instead of giving them a voice at the ballot box,” Bodnar said in a post on social media.
He added later, “I’m running to be an independent voice for every single Montanan who is sick of this broken political system and who wants a leader who stands up for our state against the corruption of political elites like Steve Daines and Kurt Alme.”
Several Democrats are in the 2026 Senate race, including Reilly Neill, 52, a former Montana representative.
“Daines dropping out of this race is another example of the Montana GOP being in complete disarray,” Neill said in a video on Facebook.
She accused Republicans of ignoring the working class and protecting billionaires, and said she was running on a platform including universal health care.
