Rosendale Concedes Race to Jon Tester after Election Delays
Republican Matt Rosendale officially conceded the race for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday morning after the Associated Press officially named Democrat Jon Tester the victor just moments before.
“For those of you that don’t know, nobody knows this but AP (Associated Press) called the race a few minutes ago,” said Tester to a cheering crowd in Great Falls. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for my wife Sharla and the countless volunteers and literally thousands of people who have spent incredible amounts of time to talk about how important this race was, and I want to thank you for that.”
Tester took the opportunity to acknowledge his opponent in a bruising, expensive race, Matt Rosendale.
“I want to congratulate Matt Rosendale on a hard fought race,” he said. “It was a race that broke records, and I believe when it’s all said and done that the amount of people who have voted in our great state and the amount of money that was spent, an unprecedented amount of money was spent on this race.”
Tester also mentioned President Trump and his many visits to Montana to try to influence Montana voters.
“It was a race that saw the President of the United States come here four times,” he said. “It was a race that saw his son also visit here at least that many times, and the Vice President came here three times, at which point a member of the audience shouted ‘and you beat ‘em’, and the crowd exploded in cheers.
The delay in calling the race was due to malfunctioning machines and travel delays in several of Montana’s largest cities, including Missoula, which gave Rosendale the lead overnight and into the morning.
The amount spent on the race totals over $67 million on both sides.