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United States Senate election in Montana, 2008

United States Senate election in Montana, 2008
Montana
← 2002 November 4, 2008 2014 →
  Max S Baucus.jpg No image.png
Nominee Max Baucus Robert Kelleher
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 345,937 128,762
Percentage 72.9% 27.1%

Montana Senate Election Results by County, 2008.svg
County results

U.S. Senator before election

Max Baucus
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Max Baucus
Democratic


Max Baucus
Democratic

Max Baucus
Democratic

The 2008 United States Senate election in Montana was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Max Baucus won re-election to a sixth term.

Montana generally gives its presidential electors to Republican candidates, but historically has elected several prominent Democrats to the United States Senate, including Thomas Walsh, Burton K. Wheeler, Mike Mansfield, and Lee Metcalf. Between 1913 and 2015, only two Republicans served as U.S. Senator from Montana, Zales Ecton and Conrad Burns. In 2004, the state elected Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer, reversing a 16-year trend of electing Republicans to the Governorship. In the 2006 elections, the Republican Party took over the state House of Representatives in Montana, the only pick-up of a state legislature for the Republicans.

All Republican candidates trailed Baucus badly in polls. Garnett Shay had legal problems, preventing him from running an effective campaign.

Senator Baucus defeated Kelleher as a Democratic incumbent running in a year that was very successful for his party in general. The Montana Senate race was somewhat unusual, in that it was perhaps the only race that year in which the Republican candidate was more liberal than the Democratic one. Kelleher, a perennial candidate and eccentric figure in Montana politics, took many positions that were highly unorthodox by GOP standards, such as favoring more liberal drug control policies, supporting universal healthcare and affirmative action, and favoring fair trade restrictions. He was, at the time, an 85-year-old attorney and perennial candidate who has run for office on several different party tickets. Kelleher is pro-life, advocates a Parliamentary system of government for the United States, and supports nationalization of the American oil and gas industry and a single-payer health care system. He received no support from the Montana Republican Party.


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