John S. Adams

HELENA – U.S. Congressman Steve Daines made history Tuesday by becoming the first Republican to retake the Montana U.S. Senate seat held by Democrats for more than 100 years.

Daines’ victory helped Republicans gain control of the Senate for the first time since 2006.

“It’s a historic night for Montana in electing the first Republican to this seat in 101 years,” Daines said after the race was called just minutes after polls closed Tuesday. “I’m grateful for the support we’ve received across Montana that they would put their trust in me, and I am honored to be their senator.”

Daines served one term in the U.S. House before launching his bid last fall to replace retired Sen. Max Baucus. He faced a late challenge from Democrat Amanda Curtis, a former state House representative from Butte, and Libertarian candidate Roger Roots.

Daines, a former executive at the Bozeman-based RightNow Technologies, followed the 2014 GOP campaign playbook by opposing the policies of Democratic President Barack Obama — specifically Obamacare — and promising to cut government spending and lower taxes.

Daines said he hopes Republicans and Democrats can work together in the next Congress to break the gridlock in Washington, D.C.

“We have a long to-do list,” Daines said. “We need to role up our sleeves and find a way to work together on import energy issues, getting the Keystone XL pipeline approved, pass balanced budgets in both houses, and we’ve got to stop spending more than we’re taking in and push back on these regulations that are killing jobs here in Montana.”

Curtis launched her upstart campaign just 80 days before Election Day after the Democratic nominee, Sen. John Walsh, dropped out of the race amid allegations he plagiarized portions of a 2007 paper required for his U.S. Army War College master’s degree.

Some pundits suggested Walsh — who briefly served as Gov. Steve Bullock’s lieutenant governor before Bullock in February appointed him to replace Baucus — might make the race competitive in a midterm election year that heavily favored Republicans. Baucus left the post to serve as the U.S. envoy to China.

That plan fell apart in July when the New York Times revealed Walsh plagiarized major portions of his paper.

Democrats met for a special nominating convention Aug. 16 and picked Curtis, a 35-year-old math teacher from Butte, to replace Walsh on the Nov. 4 ballot.

“The past 80 days have been a whirlwind,” Curtis said in a statement late Tuesday. “I could not be more grateful for this opportunity, and for the support we received from the thousands of folks I met across the state and the voters at the polls.”

Curtis cast the race as a choice between working-class Montanans and out-of-touch millionaires and promised to be the voice of everyday Montanans.

In her statement she touched on those themes again.

“Congratulations to Congressman Daines. It is my sincere hope, and the hope of all Montanans, that he reaches out to working families to better understand the issues that affect us,” Curtis said.

Curtis’ campaign raised $723,278 in just 60 days.

According to the campaign finance tracker OpenSecrets.org, Daines raised more than $7 million and spent nearly $6 million by mid-October in his bid to become the first Republican since Joe Dixon to hold the seat held by Democratic stalwarts such as Lee Metcalf and Baucus.

Steve

Daines (R)

55%

Amanda

Curtis (D)

43%

ROGER ROOTS (L)…2%