{
 "topic": "senate",
 "site": "electiondata.dev",
 "place": {
  "id": "us-mt",
  "name": "Montana",
  "level": "us-state",
  "parent": "usa",
  "path": "us/mt",
  "slug": "mt",
  "state": "mt",
  "state_name": "Montana",
  "state_id": "us-mt"
 },
 "question": "How did Montana vote for the Senate?",
 "answer": {
  "verdict": "Tim Sheehy (Republican) won by 7.1 points",
  "value": 7.1,
  "unit": " pts",
  "digits": 1,
  "label": "Senate, 2024: winner's margin",
  "lines": [
   "Tim Sheehy (Republican) 52.6%, Jon Tester (Democrat) 45.5%, Sid Daoud (Libertarian) 1.2%",
   "607,262 votes for Senate candidates"
  ]
 },
 "as_of": "2024",
 "as_of_label": "2024",
 "charts": [
  {
   "id": "senate-margin",
   "title": "Every regular Senate election in Montana since 1976",
   "description": "17 regular elections; Democrats were ahead in 11 and Republicans in 6.",
   "indicator": "Democratic candidate's share of Senate votes minus the Republican's, points (regular elections; special elections are in the table)",
   "subtitle": "Democratic share minus Republican share, in points. Above the line: the Democrat got more votes.",
   "x": {
    "kind": "year"
   },
   "y": {
    "digits": 1,
    "unit": " pts",
    "format": "party-margin"
   },
   "layers": [
    {
     "type": "bars",
     "name": "Margin",
     "base": 0,
     "points": [
      [
       1976,
       28.316,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1978,
       11.378,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1982,
       12.792,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1984,
       16.193,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1988,
       -3.734,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1990,
       38.745,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1994,
       -24.744,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1996,
       4.865,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2000,
       -3.317,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2002,
       31.005,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2006,
       0.876,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2008,
       45.832,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2012,
       3.718,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2014,
       -17.717,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2018,
       3.552,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2020,
       -10.024,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2024,
       -7.143,
       "rep"
      ]
     ],
     "legend": [
      {
       "label": "Democrat ahead",
       "cls": "dem"
      },
      {
       "label": "Republican ahead",
       "cls": "rep"
      }
     ]
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "limits": [
  "Statewide totals say nothing about who voted or why.",
  "Candidates with a party's support under another name (Minnesota's DFL, New York's fusion lines) are counted with that party, as the MIT data's simplified party does; independents stay independents."
 ],
 "method": "Each candidate's votes are summed over every ballot line; blank, over- and under-votes are left out. The margin is the winner's share of the votes minus the runner-up's. A runoff, where held, is the result.",
 "sources": [
  {
   "name": "electiondata.dev senate-results, version 2026-10-25.247421eda6",
   "url": "https://electiondata.dev/",
   "license": "CC0 1.0"
  },
  {
   "name": "MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. Senate statewide 1976-2024",
   "url": "https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/PEJ5QU",
   "license": "CC0 1.0"
  }
 ],
 "check": {
  "races": [
   {
    "year": 1976,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 321445,
    "votes": {
     "John Melcher": 206232,
     "Stanley C. Burger": 115213
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1978,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 287942,
    "votes": {
     "Max Baucus": 160353,
     "Larry Williams": 127589
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1982,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 321062,
    "votes": {
     "John Melcher": 174861,
     "Larry Williams": 133789,
     "Larry Dodge": 12412
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1984,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 379155,
    "votes": {
     "Max Baucus": 215704,
     "Chuck Cozzens": 154308,
     "Neil Halprin": 9143
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1988,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 365254,
    "votes": {
     "Conrad Burns": 189445,
     "John Melcher": 175809
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1990,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 319336,
    "votes": {
     "Max Baucus": 217563,
     "Allen C. Kolstad": 93836,
     "Westley F. Deitchler": 7937
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1994,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 350387,
    "votes": {
     "Conrad R. Burns": 218542,
     "Jack Mudd": 131845
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1996,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 407490,
    "votes": {
     "Max Baucus": 201935,
     "Dennis Rehberg": 182111,
     "Becky Shaw": 19276,
     "Stephen Heaton": 4168
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2000,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 411601,
    "votes": {
     "Conrad Burns": 208082,
     "Brian Schweitzer": 194430,
     "Gary Lee": 9089
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2002,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 326537,
    "votes": {
     "Max Baucus": 204853,
     "Mike Taylor": 103611,
     "Stan Jones": 10420,
     "Bob Kelleher": 7653
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2006,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 406505,
    "votes": {
     "Jon Tester": 199845,
     "Conrad Burns": 196283,
     "Stan Jones": 10377
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2008,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 477658,
    "votes": {
     "Max Baucus": 348289,
     "Bob Kelleher": 129369
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2012,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 486066,
    "votes": {
     "Jon Tester": 236123,
     "Denny Rehberg": 218051,
     "Dan Cox": 31892
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2014,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 369826,
    "votes": {
     "Steve Daines": 213709,
     "Amanda Curtis": 148184,
     "Roger Roots": 7933
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2018,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 504384,
    "votes": {
     "Jon Tester": 253876,
     "Matt Rosendale": 235963,
     "Rick Breckenridge": 14545
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2020,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 605637,
    "votes": {
     "Steve Daines": 333174,
     "Steve Bullock": 272463
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2024,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 607262,
    "votes": {
     "Tim Sheehy": 319682,
     "Jon Tester": 276305,
     "Sid Daoud": 7272,
     "Robert Barb": 4003
    }
   }
  ],
  "dataset": "senate-results",
  "version": "2026-10-25.247421eda6"
 },
 "table": {
  "title": "Every Senate race since 1976",
  "columns": [
   "Race",
   "Winner",
   "Runner-up",
   "Margin",
   "Votes"
  ],
  "num": [
   3,
   4
  ],
  "rows": [
   [
    "2024",
    "Tim Sheehy (R) 52.6%",
    "Jon Tester (D) 45.5%",
    "7.1 pts",
    "607,262"
   ],
   [
    "2020",
    "Steve Daines (R) 55.0%",
    "Steve Bullock (D) 45.0%",
    "10.0 pts",
    "605,637"
   ],
   [
    "2018",
    "Jon Tester (D) 50.3%",
    "Matt Rosendale (R) 46.8%",
    "3.6 pts",
    "504,384"
   ],
   [
    "2014",
    "Steve Daines (R) 57.8%",
    "Amanda Curtis (D) 40.1%",
    "17.7 pts",
    "369,826"
   ],
   [
    "2012",
    "Jon Tester (D) 48.6%",
    "Denny Rehberg (R) 44.9%",
    "3.7 pts",
    "486,066"
   ],
   [
    "2008",
    "Max Baucus (D) 72.9%",
    "Bob Kelleher (R) 27.1%",
    "45.8 pts",
    "477,658"
   ],
   [
    "2006",
    "Jon Tester (D) 49.2%",
    "Conrad Burns (R) 48.3%",
    "0.9 pts",
    "406,505"
   ],
   [
    "2002",
    "Max Baucus (D) 62.7%",
    "Mike Taylor (R) 31.7%",
    "31.0 pts",
    "326,537"
   ],
   [
    "2000",
    "Conrad Burns (R) 50.6%",
    "Brian Schweitzer (D) 47.2%",
    "3.3 pts",
    "411,601"
   ],
   [
    "1996",
    "Max Baucus (D) 49.6%",
    "Dennis Rehberg (R) 44.7%",
    "4.9 pts",
    "407,490"
   ],
   [
    "1994",
    "Conrad R. Burns (R) 62.4%",
    "Jack Mudd (D) 37.6%",
    "24.7 pts",
    "350,387"
   ],
   [
    "1990",
    "Max Baucus (D) 68.1%",
    "Allen C. Kolstad (R) 29.4%",
    "38.7 pts",
    "319,336"
   ],
   [
    "1988",
    "Conrad Burns (R) 51.9%",
    "John Melcher (D) 48.1%",
    "3.7 pts",
    "365,254"
   ],
   [
    "1984",
    "Max Baucus (D) 56.9%",
    "Chuck Cozzens (R) 40.7%",
    "16.2 pts",
    "379,155"
   ],
   [
    "1982",
    "John Melcher (D) 54.5%",
    "Larry Williams (R) 41.7%",
    "12.8 pts",
    "321,062"
   ],
   [
    "1978",
    "Max Baucus (D) 55.7%",
    "Larry Williams (R) 44.3%",
    "11.4 pts",
    "287,942"
   ],
   [
    "1976",
    "John Melcher (D) 64.2%",
    "Stanley C. Burger (R) 35.8%",
    "28.3 pts",
    "321,445"
   ]
  ]
 },
 "api": {
  "now": "/data/places/us-mt/senate.json",
  "source": "https://api.electiondata.dev/v1/senate-results/download/senate-results.csv",
  "source_label": "Every Senate race, every state, from electiondata.dev (live, no key)"
 },
 "generated_at": "2026-10-26T20:05:12+00:00"
}