Montana Sen. Steve Daines announced Wednesday that he will not run for a third term in the U.S. Senate, making him the sixth Republican senator to forgo reelection ahead of the November midterms.
Daines, 64, delivered the news plainly.
"Serving the people of Montana in the US House and US Senate the past 13 years has been the greatest honor of my professional career, and I am grateful to God for allowing me to serve."
"But after much careful thought, I have decided not to seek re-election."
The announcement came alongside a swift transition. Kurt Alme, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana, filed to run for Daines' seat just minutes before a Tuesday night filing deadline, according to Politico. President Trump wasted no time making his preference clear.
"I will be giving him, based on Steve's strongest recommendation, my Complete and Total Endorsement."
Daines first won his Senate seat in 2014. Between 2023 and 2025, he chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a tenure that coincided with Republicans flipping four Senate seats in the 2024 cycle, the NY Post reported. That's not a minor footnote. The NRSC chairmanship is a thankless, grinding job, and Daines steered it during one of the most consequential Senate cycles in recent memory.
President Trump praised Daines on Truth Social, calling him "one of our truly Great United States Senators."
"He honorably served for 12 years in the Senate, and 2 in the House of Representatives. He did a job like few others are capable of doing but, sadly for our Country, Steve's Term is up."
Montana's junior senator, Tim Sheehy, who flipped one of the state's Senate seats red in 2024 by defeating Democrat Jon Tester, also weighed in. He praised Daines on X for doing what he called something rare in Washington.
"Doing something we don't often see in modern politics: stepping down at the height of his power to clear the way for a new generation of leaders."
Sheehy's right. Voluntarily leaving the Senate is almost unheard of in a town where people cling to power until voters pry it from them or biology intervenes.
Daines joins a growing list of Republican senators who have decided against running in the 2026 cycle:
Six open seats is a significant number. Open seats are inherently more competitive than races with incumbents, which is why the 2026 map deserves serious attention from every Republican who cares about holding the majority.
The good news: Montana is solid conservative ground. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report favors Republicans in the race to hold Daines' seat. With Alme already carrying Trump's endorsement and Daines' personal recommendation, the succession looks orderly rather than chaotic. That matters. Messy primaries in safe states are how majorities get nibbled away at the margins.
Trump described Alme as "my TRUMP 45 and TRUMP 47 U.S. Attorney," a signal that this is someone who has served faithfully across both administrations. The president framed the transition as a deliberate choice by Daines, not an abandonment.
"[H]e has decided to leave the Senate and, 'pass the torch' to Kurt Alme, my TRUMP 45 and TRUMP 47 U.S. Attorney."
Trump also made clear he wouldn't have signed off on the move if the replacement weren't up to the task, noting that if Alme "didn't have the highest level of aptitude and talent, Steve would have remained exactly where he is."
The filing was tight. Alme entered the race minutes before the deadline closed, which suggests the decision and its logistics were coordinated closely between Daines, Alme, and the White House. That kind of coordination is what separates a strategic succession from a scramble.
Montana sent Tim Sheehy to Washington in 2024 and rejected Jon Tester. The state has made its direction clear. The question now is whether Republicans can replicate that discipline across all six open seats, not just the easy ones.
Six torches passed. The task is making sure none of them hit the ground.