Sources said Walsh initially resisted leaving the race. Montana's Walsh quits Senate race

Sen. John Walsh announced Thursday that he’s dropping out of the race for his Montana seat, cutting short a brief Senate career marred by accusations of plagiarism and dealing a blow to Democrats’ already-grim chances of keeping the spot.

Walsh will stay in the Senate through the end of his term, which ends in early January. But he said the plagiarism revelations had “become a distraction” from the debate Montanans deserved to hear in the race.


“I am ending my campaign so that I can focus on fulfilling the responsibility entrusted to me as your U.S. senator,” Walsh said in a statement to supporters. “You deserve someone who will always fight for Montana, and I will.”

Walsh’s decision throws into further doubt Democrats’ shot at holding the seat, which had been occupied by Sen. Max Baucus since 1978 until he was confirmed as U.S. ambassador to China in February.

( Also on POLITICO: 10 high profile plagiarism cases)

Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock appointed Walsh, his lieutenant governor, to replace Baucus, in the apparent hope that his incumbency could be a boon in a challenging electoral environment. But with Walsh out, the Montana Democratic Party now has until Aug. 20 to name a new candidate in the November election — and not a strong bench to choose from.

Pressure is building in Democratic political circles for Nancy Keenan, a long-time abortion rights activist, to jump into the race, even though sources say she has so far resisted. And at least one other Montana Democrat, former lieutenant governor John Bohlinger, has expressed interest.

Whoever does step in would face Republican Rep. Steve Daines, who is heavily favored to win a seat the GOP has not held since 1913.

With a Monday deadline to withdraw from the race looming, Walsh had come under increasing pressure from some in the party and two of Montana’s leading newspapers to call it quits.

Walsh initially resisted leaving the race, sources said. But he decided by Wednesday to drop out after a meeting the previous day with top aides, including his Senate chief of staff, according to two sources familiar with the sequence of events.

( Earlier on POLITICO: Walsh team mum on future)

The aides told him during that Tuesday gathering that he had no path forward, and he seemed to eventually come to terms with that. The announcement was delayed, however, so that he could tell his campaign staff personally, the sources said, meaning he had to travel the roughly 220 miles from Helena to Billings to break the news Thursday. Walsh informed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of his decision before the news was announced, one of the sources, a Montana Democrat, said.

Walsh, 53, is facing an investigation from the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he had obtained his master’s degree in 2007, after The New York Times reported last month that significant passages of his 14-page thesis had been lifted from other sources without proper attribution.

With the scandal further hampering his already slim chances, some in Walsh’s party began to privately fret that his presence could hurt other Democrats on the ballot who had hoped to make gains in the state legislature and potentially take back the U.S. House seat that Daines is vacating.

Walsh’s withdrawal will likely spark GOP accusations that Democrats will engage in backroom deals to boost their party’s chances — a line Republicans also used when Walsh was appointed to succeed Baucus.

“Steve Daines is one of the strongest Senate candidates in the country, was in the process of defeating Sen. Walsh, and will defeat whichever Band-Aid candidate Democrats can persuade to get in the race,” said Brad Dayspring, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee in Washington.

But Democrats in Montana and Washington insisted that party leaders made a conscious effort to avoid taking a direct role in the 33-year military veteran’s deliberations — partly because many Democrats had already written off Montana in the race for the Senate. Democrats are much more focused on staving off the GOP in three southern states, Alaska and swing states such as Iowa and Colorado in order to maintain their tenuous majority.

The problem now facing state Democrats is finding a candidate who can compete against Daines.

A number of Democrats hope that Keenan, the former national president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, will jump into the race. But some said she had already resisted the idea during informal conversations held since the initial plagiarism story broke. She could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Leaders of NARAL sent a letter to the state party Thursday urging Democrats to choose a candidate who backs abortion and contraceptive rights, saying the state has a “history of electing pro-choice Democrats to statewide office.”

Bohlinger, who earned 23 percent against Walsh in the June 3 Democratic primary, has signaled interest in running.

One potential wildcard was Brian Schweitzer, the colorful former governor who is a polarizing force among Montana Democrats. But Schweitzer, who has in the past toyed with running for the seat, tweeted Thursday evening that he won’t jump in.

“I respectfully decline to seek the Senate nomination. Many thanks to John Walsh & I’ll support whoever the next nominee turns out to be,” he tweeted.

In a statement, state party chairman Jim Larson said: “The Montana Democratic Party looks forward to an open and transparent opportunity for Democrats to come together to decide our new nominee.”

A late switch in a Senate race is uncommon but not unprecedented.

Facing an ethics controversy in late September 2002, for instance, Democrat Robert Torricelli suddenly dropped out of the New Jersey Senate race, paving the way for a replacement candidate — the late Frank Lautenberg — to jump in and save the seat for the Democrats that November.

And just 11 days before the 2002 election, Democrat Paul Wellstone died in a Minnesota plane crash, prompting the former vice president, Walter Mondale, to step in. Mondale ultimately lost to Republican Norm Coleman.

While Walsh was always viewed as a long-shot, his military service made for a compelling story line in the race. A combat veteran who was deployed to Iraq, Walsh served for three decades in the Montana National Guard and became the state’s adjutant general in 2008.

The Montana Democrat familiar with the sequence of events praised Walsh and his aides for giving the party time to find a new candidate.

“This is not an easy decision, but Walsh and especially his team are doing this in the absolute honorable and right way,” the Democrat said.

James Hohmann contributed to this report.