How Montana’s federal races are stacking up money-wise to start 2024

Year-end political campaign finance filings from politicians vying for the three federal offices up for election this year in Montana show at least $30 million flowing in the U.S. Senate race alone, which is expected to be one of the most closely watched races in the country.

The filings, due Jan. 31, show sitting Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester raised another $4.8 million, plus about $534,000 in committee transfers, in the final quarter of 2023 to bring his total haul for the year to $25.1 million – the fifth-most raised by any Senate candidate running this year. He ended the year with $11.2 million in cash on hand after spending $7.1 million in the final quarter.

Political committees have also already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads attacking Tim Sheehy, the Bozeman Republican backed by Sen. Steven Daines and the National Republican Senatorial Committee and Gov. Greg Gianforte. Sheehy is receiving staunch support from Washington, D.C., Republicans and consistently attacking Tester on social media.