HELENA — On the final night of the Republican National Convention, Montana U.S. Sen. Steve Daines told the crowd that former President Donald Trump needs an “America First Senate majority” to help him achieve his goals if he’s elected to a second term.
Daines was one of the first speakers of the night Thursday, a few hours before Trump was set to address the convention in Milwaukee.
“It was just five days ago we were a quarter inch away from having a memorial service instead of a nominating convention,” Daines said. “And we thank God here tonight for protecting President Trump.”
“But we have important work to do, because going forward, we must ‘Fight, Fight, Fight,’” Daines added, echoing what Trump said in the moments after an assassination attempt against him Saturday.
As chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Daines is the leader of the GOP’s effort to take back a majority in the Senate. One of his top goals is defeating Montana’s other senator, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.
While Daines didn’t refer to Tester by name Thursday, he identified Montana as one of ten competitive Senate races across the country where incumbent Democrats were out of step with their states.
“Your Democrat senators are lying to you,” Daines said. “Look, they talk like moderates, but they vote like radicals. They say they're with you, but they vote with Joe Biden.”
Daines accused the senators of standing against what their voters want on issues like border security, guns, oil and gas, Gaza protests and transgender athletes. He ended his speech by seeking donations for the NRSC’s campaign, saying “right now, the left-wing billionaires are massively outspending us.”
Daines spoke about two hours before Tester released a statement calling on Biden to drop out of the presidential race. After that announcement, NRSC spokesperson Mike Berg said on social media, “Jon Tester voted with Joe Biden 95% of the time, and he is now endorsing California radical Kamala Harris to continue that destructive agenda.”
Tim Sheehy, the Republican running against Tester, also spoke at the RNC earlier this week.
After Daines’ speech, the Montana Democratic Party put out a statement calling him “one of the staunchest opponents of abortion and the rights of Montana women ever elected to federal office.”
“Instead of working to protect and empower the people he represents, Montana’s junior Senator is working to remake the United States Senate in his extreme, anti-freedom image, and he should be ashamed of himself,” said MDP Executive Director Sheila Hogan in the statement.
