The super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is investing a sizable $10.1 million in Montana as Republicans move to rebuff the expanding Democratic threat to GOP control of the Senate.
The Senate Leadership Fund is reserving television advertising to air across Montana beginning Sept. 8 that will run for the balance of the fall campaign, an official with the super PAC told the Washington Examiner on Monday. The large investment comes on the heels of public opinion polling showing popular Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, with a big lead over Republican Sen. Steve Daines less than six months ahead of Election Day.
With President Trump’s prospects uncertain, Senate Republicans are girding for an increasingly difficult battle to defend their three-seat majority.
The GOP is on the defensive in Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and North Carolina, with seats in Iowa and Georgia also on the party’s watchlist. Republicans are only on offense in Alabama and Michigan. Bullock’s decision to run for the Senate after a failed presidential bid immediately put Montana on the map. In a recent poll, the governor led Daines 46% to 39%.
Montana is a red state, and Trump is expected to defeat presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden there with relative ease. But Democrats are still competitive locally. Sen. Jon Tester won a third term in 2018, even as Republicans that year flipped control of other Senate seats in red states where Trump tends to be popular. Accordingly, both parties plan to spend big there.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has reserved $2.8 million in television advertising time. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is planning to spend $5.2 million.
Senate Majority PAC, the super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, could invest in fall advertising in Montana as well but has not made any announcements. The group is currently up on Montana television with a hard-hitting spot attacking Daines for his voting record on coronavirus-related legislation.
