Montana Governor Steve Bullock announced he would not run for the U.S. Senate while announcing he will suspend his presidential campaign this morning.
The Senate Leadership Fund mounted a months-long pressure campaign in Bullock’s home state of Montana, pointing out Bullock’s hard-left turn to woo progressive out-of-state voters in Iowa and New Hampshire. SLF went up with a statewide, $150,000 television and digital advertising buy in late May pointing out the costs Montana taxpayers were footing for Bullock’s out of state travel. In November, SLF launched a five-figure digital buy commemorating Bullock’s 100th day out of state.
Over the course of his presidential campaign, Bullock took positions out of step with Montana on guns, impeachment, coal, a carbon tax, ending the filibuster, and court packing, severely damaging his claim as a “moderate” in Montana and damaging his ability to ever run for office in state again.
“It was sad to see Steve Bullock completely change his values and beliefs to pander to the radical liberals who carry so much weight in the Democratic party today. While Bullock hurt himself politically in Montana over the last year, he’d be a perfect choice to run the Montana chapter of the ACLU.” -SLF Communications Director Jack Pandol