Senate Republicans recruit wealthy anti-abortion candidate in Montana

Republican Montana business executive Tim Sheehy said Tuesday that he will seek his party’s nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in 2024. National Republicans reportedly urged the wealthy abortion opponent to run, hoping he would pour his own money into the race.

Sheehy, who reportedly moved to Montana in 2014, is a former Navy SEAL and the CEO of Bridger Aerospace. He does not have a long political record, aside from donating tens of thousands of dollars to the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

In an April 19 appearance on the radio program “Montana Talks with Aaron Flint,” Sheehy accused pro-abortion rights Democrats of supporting murder.

“I can tell you off the bat, it’s really frustrating how, you know, we have one party in this country that seems to be bent on murdering … unborn children and taking that tack in a very militant way,” he said, calling himself “a very pro-life person.”

His campaign issues page reveals several far-right political positions.

In the health care section, Sheehy indicates his opposition to the Affordable Care Act, claiming: “Our health care system is broken. Because of Obamacare, Montanans face higher premiums year after year. We’ve lost access to doctors and health care plans we were told we could keep. More government control of our health care has only made things worse.”

In a section on gun rights, Sheehy says: “I will fight back against any attempt by liberal politicians like Joe Biden and Jon Tester from pursuing a radical gun control agenda that threatens our Second Amendment rights. Our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

In his education section, Sheehy indicates support for school prayer and opposition to LGBTQ+ inclusion:

We also need to get politics out of the classroom and end the woke social agenda infecting our schools. Let’s teach kids how to think – not what to think. Let’s focus on the fundamentals of reading, writing, and arithmetic. And above all, we need leaders in Washington to stop things like drag queen story time from replacing the Lord’s Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance in our classrooms.

A campaign spokesperson did not immediately respond to an American Independent Foundation inquiry about Sheehy’s positions.

In a press release provided to Fox News Digital, Sheehy claimed he would stand “against Jon Tester and the Democratic Party’s agenda of inflation, open borders, criminals over cops, drugs and violence in our communities, and a woke culture impacting our classrooms and military bases.”

Senate Republicans’ oft-promised “red wave” failed to materialize in the 2022 midterms, with some in the party blaming poor candidate quality and voter mobilization in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022. Sheehy joins the 2024 Senate field as Republicans nevertheless continue to offer candidates who oppose abortion rights.

Despite the apparent support of national Republican leaders, Sheehy may face a competitive primary. Far-right Montana Rep. Matt Rosendale, who lost to Tester in 2018, is reportedly planning to challenge him again.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.