I knew Sen. Steve Daines before the swamp did

I have known U.S. Sen. Steve Daines since he was a junior in high school, and I could not be more disappointed in what he has become.

I remember a very different Steve Daines. Back when he was president of the College Republicans at Montana State University, I watched him organize a dorm voter registration drive. It was energetic, effective, and genuinely grassroots. Looking back, it may have been the last truly selfless political act of his career.

Somewhere along the way, Steve changed. He rose through the Greg Gianforte orbit, climbed the ladder, and became exactly what Montana Republicans claim to despise: a creature of the D.C. swamp. The man who once worked to bring voters in now works to keep real choices out. The grassroots activist became a gatekeeper for the D.C. cartel.

And now Montana Republicans are paying the price.

Daines has made a career out of good timing and carefully avoiding real political risk. In 2012, he first set his sights on the U.S. Senate, but when Denny Rehberg decided to run, Daines took the easier path and switched to the open House seat rather than face a competitive Republican primary. In 2014, his Senate path benefited after John Walsh’s collapse. In 2020, he ran with the political wind at his back. And now, after spending years avoiding difficult contests himself, he is trying to deny Montana Republicans the very thing he has so often escaped: a real choice.

Daines has now helped disenfranchise Republican primary voters in three major federal races: the 2024 U.S. Senate primary, the 2026 U.S. Senate primary, and the 2026 western U.S. House race. In 2024, even before that Senate primary fully developed, national Republican leaders had already coalesced around Sen. Tim Sheehy, with Daines among his leading backers.

Then came 2026, and the arrogance got worse.

Daines filed for reelection when the filing period opened, then withdrew just two minutes before the filing deadline. At nearly the same moment, Kurt Alme entered the race. Two days earlier, Rep. Ryan Zinke announced he would not seek reelection in the western House district, and Aaron Flint rolled out with endorsements from Daines, Zinke, and Gianforte, in the same handpicked, behind-the-scenes style Montanans just saw in the Senate race.

This is what the swamp looks like in Montana: last-minute deals, handpicked successors, frozen-out challengers, and party insiders treating voters like an inconvenience. Daines now believes he knows better than Montana Republicans. He thinks Washington should choose Montana’s voice in Washington, instead of letting Montana Republicans choose it for themselves.

That is not leadership. That is not confidence. It is the behavior of a political boss who no longer trusts the people and no longer respects the voters who put him where he is.

Brad Johnson is a former Montana secretary of state, served for four years as the only Republican on the State Land Board, and is a former chairman of the Montana Public Service Commission.