Following a disappointing 2022 midterm elections, Republicans have new hopes of flipping the Senate this November.
Sen. Steve Daines (R., Mont.), who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), bears much of that responsibility. He spoke with the Washington Reporter and laid out his plans to win the Senate, stop $6 trillion of tax increases he fears that Democrats want to pass, and more.
One of Daines’s top priorities is defeating his colleague, Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.). Fortunately for Daines, Republican Tim Sheehy, a Navy SEAL veteran cut from central casting, easily won his party’s nomination. Sheehy’s nomination wasn’t so secure a few months ago. But in Montana, and elsewhere in the country, Daines’s NRSC has saved the GOP tens of millions of dollars in brutal primaries.
Tester, Daines said, is a critical enabler of the Biden-Harris agenda. Due to an evenly-controlled Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris has broken more tie votes than any other vice president. In every tie-breaking situation, Daines said, “if Jon Tester would have been on the side of Montanans instead of the side of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, he would have stopped her tie-breaking vote.” He pointed to the inflationary COVID stimulus package and the so-called Inflation Reduction Act as particularly memorable losses, “all because of one senator, Jon Tester, the deciding vote from Montana.”
Beyond Montana, Daines highlighted “warriors,” the likes of whom are poised to oust Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) as majority leader next year. Republicans such as Sam Brown in Nevada, who “was blown up by the Taliban in Afghanistan,” Dave McCormick, a Bronze star recipient who served in the 82nd Airborne Division, and Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.) join Sheehy in the GOP’s veterans class.
Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal motivated many of those veterans to run for office. Sheehy, Daines said, “wears the bracelets on his arm of his brothers in arms literally carried off the battlefield.” A far cry from the career politicians they will challenge in November, “these American heroes who have been disciplined in the military, who are tested leaders, who understand the threats to America not only outside our borders but within our borders are the kind of candidates that I think the American people are looking for,” Daines said.
In addition to praising his party’s nominees, Daines singled out one Democrat for criticism: Rep. Ruben Gallego (D., Ariz.), who Daines called “the most liberal, far-left candidate in the nation.” Gallego’s track record of calling a border wall with Mexico “stupid” is going to harm him in November, Daines said. “When the voters of Arizona find out who he really is and how far left he is, and how out of touch he is with where most Arizonans are, that’s going to be to the great advantage of Kari Lake,” he added.
Daines is also working with President Donald Trump — one of the first trips he made as NRSC chair was to Mar-a-Lago, where he told the former president that “the most important thing you need … is a Republican majority because after you’re sworn in on the west steps of the Capitol we’ll go back before the United States and start moving through your cabinet confirmations.” If Schumer remains majority leader, Daines said, “the resistance movement in 2025 will be ten times bigger than anything we saw back in 2017.”
A Republican majority can work with a future Trump White House to move its nominations through and can prevent a $6 trillion tax increase by preventing the Tax Cuts and Job Act from expiring, stop “another $2 trillion tax increase that the Democrats have teed up if they win the majority,” Daines said. Given the healthy GOP infrastructure the NRSC has built, Daines is confident that the NRSC can succeed where Republicans failed last cycle.
“We’re going to run through the tape,” he told the Reporter.
Below is a transcript of the Washington Reporter’s interview with Sen. Steve Daines (R., Mont.), lightly edited for clarity.
Washington Reporter:
What are you seeing on the Senate campaign trail? Inflation and the border are top issues, but are there sleeper issues that you’ve picked up on in either any particular state or nationally that are flying under the radar?
Steve Daines:
Nothing surpasses the intensity of voters disgusted with the Biden administration and what’s happening to their shrinking paycheck because of inflation. And this invasion that’s occurring on our southern border. Those two issues stand out above everything else. It is everything else when you poll below that, and it’s also important to kind of break out between Democrats, Independents, and Republicans, as well. For Republican voters and independent voters, those two are the top two issues.
Washington Reporter:
We just spoke with Caroleene Dobson, a House candidate from Alabama on Biden’s regulations, and how they harm small businesses. What do you hear from small business owners across the country?
Steve Daines:
If you start to subset now, business owners, the regulatory overreach, the crushing overreach of this administration across virtually every administrative agency is now becoming as big of an issue as taxes. Those in the natural resources, those American energy producers, don’t know if they will survive another four years of Joe Biden.
Washington Reporter:
You successfully recruited Tim Sheehy in Montana, who just won his primary. Is there a Montana-specific angle that you think is important for Sheehy to focus on? How do you make these things an issue for Jon Tester?
Steve Daines:
Well, the biggest disconnect for Jon Tester in Montana is who he says he is back in Montana, and how he votes in Washington. He has voted to impeach President Trump twice. He opposed every one of President Trump’s Supreme Court nominations. He opposed the repeal of Obamacare. He’s rated F by the NRA. Tim Sheehy has an A. He’s done nothing. He’s voted with Biden over 95% of the time. And then Joe Biden nominates one of the most liberal Supreme Court Justices to the Supreme Court. And I voted against her. Tester voted for her. But furthermore, Kamala Harris has broken more ties than any vice president in our nation’s history. She broke 33 ties. We’ve had 47 vice presidents since this nation was founded. She’s now number one.
Big gold medal for her. In every one of those tie-breaking votes, if Jon Tester would have been on the side of Montanans instead of the side of Kamala Harris and Joe Biden, he would have stopped her tie-breaking vote. For example, the $1.9 trillion COVID stimulus package that Larry Summers himself says would be inflationary. Guess what: it was inflationary. There was a trillion dollars of unspent COVID money on the sidelines. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act, estimated to be worth trillions of dollars, all because of one senator, Jon Tester, the deciding vote from Montana. Unlike Tim Sheehy, Jon Tester has never worn the uniform.
Washington Reporter:
Tim Sheehy, Dave McCormick, Sam Brown, Jim Banks — all veterans. How does that fit in with candidate recruitment?
Steve Daines:
Well not only veterans, but some of these warriors are graduates of our finest military institutions, not only in America in the world: of West Point, the Naval Academy, we have two West Point grads, Sam Brown and Dave McCormick. McCormick was in the 82nd Airborne. Got Sam Brown, of course, incredible. An American hero, nearly blown up, was blown up by the Taliban in Afghanistan, survived in this crazy story and his wife, Amy nursed him back to health.
Washington Reporter:
And Biden ceded Afghanistan to the Taliban.
Steve Daines:
Which is literally a tear jerking moment to have these guys talk about what happened in August of 2021. Tim Sheehy wears the bracelets on his arm of his brothers in arms literally carried off the battlefield. These American heroes who have been disciplined in the military, who are tested leaders, who understand the threats to America not only outside our borders but within our borders are the kind of candidates that I think the American people are looking for. These are true American heroes and American warriors. We’re very proud, as a son of a U.S. Marine in Montana, to have that kind of DNA in a significant part of our candidate recruits.
Washington Reporter:
How does the contrast between veterans and career politicians reflect on the campaign trail?
Steve Daines:
First of all, none of these incumbent Democrats have run on the ballot with President Trump at the top of the ticket. Sixty-eight out of 69 senate races and you’ll find this interesting as a journalist that there have been 69 Senate races with Trump on the ballot. In 68 of 69 races, the Senate winner was the same as the presidential winner in terms of party. Trump wins a state, Republicans win the state. Biden wins the state, Democrats win the Senate race. The only exception to that was Susan Collins in Maine.
Washington Reporter:
Thanks in part to NRSC.
Steve Daines:
Yes. It’s true. And that would be the case. As we look at the map, Larry Hogan would be the exception we want to see happen here, in Maryland this time. But there’s such a wide separation between President Trump and these Democratic candidates in terms of their views on issues. The chasm is great. And so this is why as we get closer to the election, I think we may see less ticket splitting going on. Especially states like Montana, like Ohio, like Nevada, like Michigan.
Washington Reporter:
You spoke about President Trump. How do you plan on working with him through the election and if you win the White House?
Steve Daines:
One of the first trips I made after I became chair of the NRSC was to Mar-a-Lago, and I sat down with President Trump. I said the most important thing you need, Mr. President, after you’re elected in November 2024 is a Republican majority, because after you’re sworn in on the west steps of the Capitol, we’ll go back before the United States and start moving through your cabinet confirmations and the Secretary of Treasury, Secretary of Defense, Director of the CIA, Secretary of State, very important government positions. Imagine if Chuck Schumer were Senate Majority Leader. The resistance movement in 2025 will be ten times bigger than anything we saw back in 2017.
So the most important thing we can give the president is a working Republican Senate majority that can allow the president to move his agenda forward. First, it will be about his nominations for the cabinet positions, which as we’ve seen in the Biden administration is that one of the greatest threats to liberty in this economy right now is the overreach of the regulatory state. We will need to replace all of those far-left ideologues. Second, we’ll be preventing a $6 trillion tax increase. Of course, $4 trillion for the expiration of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, then another $2 trillion tax increase that the Democrats have teed up if they win the majority.
Six trillion dollars over 10 years is what we need to stop their tax increases. I got asked in the hallway by a reporter if I am going to support the Trump tax cuts in 2025, and I said, ‘you’ve asked the wrong question.’ You should be asking Democrats if they will support the Biden tax increases in 2025. That’s the question.
On the Supreme Court, remember the two oldest justices are Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Most likely, the next president will have to deal with nominations.
Washington Reporter:
Early voting is a renewed push by the GOP to get back to pre-COVID habits of regular early voting. How are you helping make that happen?
Steve Daines:
Senator Bill Hagerty is leading an effort that’s going to be focused on ground game operations and early voting, but one of most important influencers here on getting Republicans to vote earlier is President Trump himself. We’ve been working with President Trump and I’m very pleased to hear what he’s been saying the last few weeks about early voting. Too big to rig, swamp the vote. This effort is going to be very important because we can’t allow the Democrats to bank these hundreds of thousands of votes prior to Election Day. We put too much emphasis on Election Day. There’s too much risk.
Washington Reporter:
Do you feel optimistic that by October that you’ll have gotten this in order?
Steve Daines:
These guys will still be campaigning here until the first of December. We’re going to run through the tape.
Washington Reporter:
It seems like you’ll drive Ruben Gallego into an early grave. Talk about immigration in Arizona and how that affects the race there and beyond.
Steve Daines:
Of every Senate race on the map, the most liberal, far-left candidate in the nation, is Ruben Gallego. Arizona is a border state. But Ruben Gallego called a border wall racist, stupid, and useless. Explain that one to the folks in Arizona who have been overwhelmed by illegals flooding the streets.
Ruben Gallego has not yet been defined for the voters in Arizona. I think he’s very undefined. When the voters of Arizona find out who he really is and how far left he is, and how out of touch he is with where most Arizonans are, that’s going to be to the great advantage of Kari Lake.
Washington Reporter:
Where else is immigration a top issue?
Steve Daines:
It’s an issue in Montana too. We’re a northern border state with a southern border crisis. We have Mexican cartels running around in Montana. We have massive increases of fentanyl. Montanans see the drugs coming in, and on Indian reservation across the state. It’s tragic in terms of increasing both drug seizures by law enforcement but also the amount of violent crime starting to spike in Montana directly tied to drugs coming from Mexican cartels entirely on the southern border.
Washington Reporter:
Senator Daines, thanks so much for your time.
Steve Daines:
Let’s go destroy a few more Democrats.