The race has been seen as critical to determining which political party will control the Senate.
Democratic Senator Jon Tester of Montana and Republican Tim Sheehy are locked in a tight election battle.
The Montana Senate contest was seen as one of the toughest for Democrats in the 2024 election, with Tester running for reelection in a deep-red state that went for Donald Trump by double-digit margins in 2016 and 2020. While Tester previously won reelection in 2018 during the Trump era, this was the first election where the Democrat shared the ballot with the former president.
With 32 percent of the votes counted, Sheehy was leading Tester with 51.5 percent of the vote, according to projections from NBC News.
Polls consistently showed Sheehy narrowly ahead, or the two candidates roughly tied, and many analysts viewed the race as one of the GOP’s best pickup opportunities this election cycle. As the Democrats only narrowly control the Senate in a 51-49 majority, the race has been closely monitored as one that was expected to help determine which party will control the legislative chamber.
