The presumed Republican frontrunner in Montana’s U.S. Senate race told the Washington Post he lied to a national park ranger about the origin of a bullet wound in his arm.
The Post reported that Tim Sheehy was fined in 2015 for discharging a gun in Glacier National Park after a Kalispell hospital reported Sheehy’s gunshot wound to law enforcement. According to the fine, Sheehy told the responding ranger that his Colt .45 revolver had accidentally fallen in the park and discharged, lodging a bullet in Sheehy’s right forearm.
Sheehy told the Post he had actually sustained the injury while in Afghanistan as a Navy Seal in 2012. But he said he never reported it, fearing it may have come from friendly fire.
Sheehy said he lied about its origin in fear the hospital or the ranger would report the gunshot wound to the U.S. Navy, sparking an investigation into his platoon.
Sheehy is favored to win the GOP primary and face incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Tester.
-
Friday was a make-it-or-break-it day for proposed statewide ballot initiatives. Petition signatures had to be submitted to county elections officials June 19.
-
Montana’s Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate Monday directly addressed speculation about her political future. Alani Bankhead confirmed she’s "in it to win it."
-
State Sen. Jason Ellsworth, a Republican from Hamilton and former Senate president, was charged last year with official misconduct for awarding two no-bid state contracts to a longtime friend.
-
The Montana Republican Party worked this primary season to oust several of its own members from the state Legislature. The party took issue with moderate candidates it saw as being too willing to work across the aisle with Democrats. With the dust from this month’s primary election settled, Lee Newspapers State Bureau reporter Seaborn Larson joined MTPR’s Austin Amestoy to share results of the intraparty battle
-
The 2026 primary results yielded a couple of surprise congressional candidates for Democrats. Republican congressional candidates won as expected. Legislative races pitting conservative versus moderate Republicans ended with mixed results. And Republican primary voters turned out in much bigger numbers than Democratic primary voters.