Democrats reportedly finally convinced Montana Gov. Steve Bullock to run for Senate

Steve Bullock.
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Democrats may have finally got their man.

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) is reportedly now inclined to run for the state's Senate seat, which is occupied by Trump ally Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), three Democratic officials told The New York Times. Bullock, whose term limits prevent him running for governor again, has long maintained he wasn't interested in the Upper Chamber, partially because he views himself as an executive (he briefly ran for president last year), but also because he reportedly didn't want to put a strain on his family by commuting between Montana and Washington every week.

But Democrats kept pushing in the hopes that Bullock's popularity as a Democrat in his red home state could help flip at least one Senate seat blue as the party tries to reverse the 53-47 Republican majority in 2020.

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Recently, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) flew out to Montana for a last-ditch effort to talk Bullock into it. It's not clear how much of Bullock's reported reversal can be attributed to the Schumer meeting, but it at least doesn't sound like it was a hindrance.

Bullock reportedly has his family's support, which was possibly the biggest deciding factor, per the Times. Read more at The New York Times.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.