HELENA — Tens of millions of dollars had already poured into Montana’s hotly contested U.S. Senate race even before the June primary election. This week, we got the latest update on how much has been raised and spent since.
The last campaign finance reports for congressional candidates in the state, covering April 1 to May 15, were due 12 days before the primary. In the six weeks after that report, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester and Republican challenger Tim Sheehy brought in almost $10 million more.
Tester’s campaign reported raising $6.4 million between May 15 and July 1, bringing his total since the start of 2023 to $39.2 million. Tester spent another $7.3 million over that period and has spent a total of $31.2 million during this election cycle. His campaign still had more than $10.8 million in the bank.
Sheehy reported bringing in more than $3.1 million during the same period, including a $400,000 personal loan. He’s raised a total of $13.7 million since launching his campaign last summer, and he’s put in $2.6 million of his own money. Sheehy’s campaign has spent $2.1 million over the period and $10.4 million overall, and they had $3.2 million in cash on hand.
While the two candidates have spent millions on their own, that’s only part of the picture in an election that could play a key role in which party controls the U.S. Senate.
As of this week, the Federal Election Commission’s website reported outside groups had already made at least $7 million in independent expenditures supporting Sheehy and $2.1 million in opposition to Tester. Independent groups spent another nearly $350,000 for Tester and $4.7 million against Sheehy. Much more outside spending hasn’t yet been added to that total.
Also on the ballot for Montana’s U.S. Senate will be Libertarian candidate Sid Daoud and Green Party candidate Michael Downey. Neither had a campaign finance report posted to the FEC website as of Thursday. Candidates do not have to file those reports until they raise or spend more than $5,000.
