Like many super PACs, the origins of Last Best Place, a group that’s spent millions targeting a top candidate in Montana’s GOP Senate primary, were a puzzle to be solved.
But it turns out the answer isn’t so surprising.
Senate Majority PAC, a group closely aligned with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), confirmed to HuffPost it’s the mysterious political entity behind the group funding a multi-million dollar TV ad blitz against Tim Sheehy, a wealthy businessman seeking the GOP nomination to face endangered Senate Democrat Jon Tester in Montana.
Last Best Place PAC — a nod to the slogan Montanans use to describe their sparsely populated state — has already spent nearly $5.8 million on its ad campaign since September. The group has attempted to paint Sheehy as a wealthy interloper with “shady” ties to China and the Cayman Islands.
Though it was clear that Democrats were behind Last Best Place, the group driving its political strategy hadn’t been unmasked until now.
Last Best Place hasn’t yet disclosed its fundraising sources, but it must file its first report with the Federal Election Commission at the end of the month. A spokesperson for Senate Majority PAC said the filing will show that it’s the sole entity funding Last Best Place.
Republicans see this as Democrats meddling in their primary, a controversial strategy Democrats used in 2022 to promote right-wing candidates they viewed as easier general-election opponents. It worked: Democrats were able to defeat candidates with views on abortion and the 2020 election that were out of step with moderate electorates.
That seems to be what’s happening in Montana — but not in quite the same way.
National Republicans consider Sheehy the strongest match for Tester, and he’s running with the backing of the Mitch McConnell-aligned National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). But Sheehy faces a likely challenge from Matt Rosendale, a far-right House member who narrowly lost the 2018…
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