HELENA - There has been a significant shakeup Monday morning in Montana's U.S. Senate race. Gov. Steve Bullock announced in a press release that he would enter the contest.

Bullock becomes the highest-profile candidate to enter the Democratic primary and the likely candidate to take on incumbent Republican Sen. Steve Daines in November.

It also catapults the race to one of the top Senate races in the country.

Newsbreak: Bullock joins race for U.S. Senate

Bullock ended a seven-month presidential run last December and had rejected requests from national Democrats and others to enter the race, saying he wasn't interested.

But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and former President Barack Obama each met with Bullock personally in the last month. Bullock will have challengers in the June primary.

However, the other Democrats who've filed are political newcomers who are mostly unknown to voters: Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins, Loma rancher, and engineer John Mues, and health-policy expert Cora Neumann of Bozeman. Bullock, who is in his second term as Montana governor is term-limited out and cannot run for governor again.

Monday, March 9, is the final day for candidates to have their name on the 2020 ballot in Montana. Stay with MTN throughout the day for updates and reaction to the developing story.

Here's the full press release:

HELENA, MT -- Steve Bullock announced today [stevebullock.us19.list-manage.com] he will run for U.S. Senate, taking aim at the dysfunction that has prevented Congress from getting results and pledging to make Washington work more like Montana.

The two-term Governor and former Attorney General has brought Democrats and Republicans together to create 34,000 new jobs and drive Montana’s economy to the 6th fastest weekly wage growth in the country; to make record investments in public schools and freeze college tuition; to expand health care to 90,000 Montanans and bring down the costs of prescription drugs; to balance budgets and ban dark money from Montana’s elections.

Meanwhile, the gridlock and division in Washington prevent solutions to significant issues, from the quality and cost of health care to climate change.

“As governor, I’ve worked my level best to represent all Montanans and leave this place we call home better than I found it, and in a time when our politics is more divided than ever, we’ve been able to accomplish a great deal for the people of our state,” Steve said. “We can’t say the same about Washington, where they can’t tackle the difficult challenges like health care costs, climate change and a changing economy or even the ones we agree on like strengthening our infrastructure, lowering drug prices and banning dark money from our federal elections.

“After hearing from Montanans and talking to Lisa and our kids, we decided now is no time to be on the sidelines, and that’s why I’m running so we can make Washington work more like Montana.”

The campaign released a video [stevebullock.us19.list-manage.com] Monday morning detailing the progress Montana has made under Bullock’s leadership and the challenges he will fight to fix as Montana’s Senator.

Steve will file his candidacy with his wife and three children at the Secretary of State’s office in Helena on Monday.

