ANALYSIS — Democrats have a difficult and narrow road to the Senate majority, but Republicans apparently want to make it a bit easier.
While Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s expected departure to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet doesn’t alter the Senate battleground, Montana Sen. Steve Daines’ last-minute drop changes the landscape. It was an unforced error that gives Democrats an opening where they previously had none.
Montana is a Republican state. A little more than a year ago, Trump finished ahead of Kamala Harris by 20 points and Republican Tim Sheehy defeated Democratic Sen. Jon Tester by 8 points. With those recent results, no one was seriously talking about the Montana Senate race this cycle, until Daines stepped aside minutes before the filing deadline in an attempt to hand off his seat to U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme.
