2012 United States Senate election in Montana
The 2012 United States Senate election in Montana was held on November 6, 2012, alongside a presidential election, other elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
Incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Tester successfully ran for reelection to a second term, gaining 48.6% of the vote against Republican U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg who received 44.6% of the vote.
Democratic primary
Candidate
- Jon Tester, incumbent U.S. Senator
Republican primary
Candidates
- Denny Rehberg, U.S. Representative, former lieutenant governor and former state representative
- Dennis Teske, farmer
Withdrew
- Steve Daines, businessman and 2008 Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Montana
Endorsements
Results
The Republican primary was held on June 5, 2012.General election
Candidates
- Dan Cox, retired businessman
- Denny Rehberg, U.S. Representative, former lieutenant governor and former state representative
- Jon Tester, incumbent U.S. Senator and former state senator
Debates
- , October 8, 2012.
- , October 20, 2012
Campaign
As of June 30, 2011, Jon Tester had saved $2.34 million in campaign funds. Tester has been accused by Republican Denny Rehberg's senate campaign of depending on financial contributions from Wall Street banking executives and movie stars.
On February 5, 2011, U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg announced his intention to run for the U.S. Senate. Steve Daines had announced he would seek the Republican nomination on November 13, 2010, but just before Rehberg's announcement he dropped out of the primary and announced he would instead seek the Republican nomination for Montana's at-large congressional district in 2012.
As of early July 2010, Denny Rehberg had saved $1.5 million of an original $2 million in campaign funds. Rehberg accused Democrat Jon Tester's senate campaign of depending on financial contributions from Wall Street banking executives and Hollywood while Rehberg's campaign relies primarily on in state donations. Tester's campaign countered that Rehberg has been funded by petroleum special interests and Wall Street.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee aired an attack ad against Jon Tester that mistakenly included a digitally manipulated photo of Tester with full sets of fingers. Another ad against Tester, from the Karl Rove group Crossroads GPS, falsely asserted that Tester had voted in favor of Environmental Protection Agency regulation of farm dust. In fact, Tester had praised the EPA for not attempting such a regulation. The vote cited in the anti-Tester ad concerned currency exchange rates.
In early October 2012, Crossroads GPS announced it would launch a $16 million advertising buy in national races, of which four were this and three other Senate elections.
Top contributors
- Although organizations are listed here, it is illegal for corporations to contribute to federal campaigns. Only political action committees and individuals may contribute to federal candidates and in limited amounts. These lists actually indicate aggregate contributions from the organizations' PACs, their individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families.
| Jon Tester | Contribution | Denny Rehberg | Contribution |
| League of Conservation Voters | $82,332 | Alliance Resource Partners | $36,500 |
| Visa Inc. | $47,400 | Exxon Mobil | $29,500 |
| JPMorgan Chase & Co | $47,000 | Las Vegas Sands | $25,000 |
| Thornton & Naumes | $46,600 | Mewbourne Oil Co | $25,000 |
| WPP Group | $38,350 | Murray Energy | $24,068 |
| Blackstone Group | $34,000 | Devon Energy | $20,400 |
| Girardi & Keese | $30,000 | Arch Coal | $19,000 |
| Pederson Group | $29,500 | Yellowstone Bank | $17,500 |
| Comcast Corp | $28,500 | Marathon Oil | $13,750 |
| First Interstate BancSystem | $28,400 | Koch Industries | $13,500 |
Top industries
| Jon Tester | Contribution | Denny Rehberg | Contribution |
| Lawyers/Law firms | $1,084,445 | Oil & Gas | $327,969 |
| Retired | $534,716 | Financial Institutions | $277,474 |
| Lobbyists | $506,931 | Retired | $268,693 |
| Financial Institutions | $438,763 | Leadership PACs | $267,000 |
| Leadership PACs | $345,750 | Mining | $169,318 |
| Commercial Banks | $299,818 | Lobbyists | $150,050 |
| Real Estate | $280,945 | Real Estate | $121,080 |
| Insurance | $211,009 | Misc Finance | $94,655 |
| Misc Finance | $188,750 | Lawyers/Law Firms | $89,338 |
| Health Professionals | $181,483 | Republican/Conservative | $76,855 |
Predictions
Polling
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ResultsBy county
Source: |