Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) shook the political world on Friday with his announcement that he will not run for reelection. Rosendale cited the strain to himself and his family caused by a series of recent developments.
Uncorroborated allegations emerged last month implying that the conservative Republican had an extramarital affair with a 20-year-old staffer. Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) went so far as to claim that Rosendale had impregnated the staffer, who is 43 years his junior.
Because the rumors of an affair lacked concrete evidence and no parties commented on the record, most media outlets refrained from covering it. However, that changed when Heitkamp brought it up on a political podcast.
Rosendale's wife, Jean, has vowed to stand by her husband. She dubbed the gossip “political mudslinging.” (RELATED: GOP Leader Ousted Following Threesome Sex Scandal)
Rosendale's office has strongly denied the accusations made by Heitkamp, labeling them “completely false and defamatory” and expressed their intention to pursue legal action against the former U.S. senator.
Rosendale decided to forgo reelection after withdrawing from the U.S. Senate election in Montana, following former President Donald Trump's endorsement of his primary rival.
“At the start of this election season, after much encouragement, I declared my candidacy for the U.S. Senate, Rosendale stated. “It became very obvious soon after that announcement that the national support and resources necessary to win that seat were not going to be available to me.”
Ronsendale said he withdrew from the race to avoid jeopardizing the GOP's chance of regaining the Senate majority. (RELATED: House Dem Triggers Nasty Response After Peddling Election Lie)
On Friday, he cited circumstances that would make it “impossible” to run for reelection and effectively serve the people of Montana's 2nd Congressional District.
“The people across Montana know who I am,” he added. “They know me. They trust me. My family certainly knows me and trusts me,” the Montana Free Press reported:
Rosendale, a real estate developer who moved from Maryland to Dawson County in 2002, was first elected to the Montana State Legislature in 2010. He made his first federal bid to represent what was then Montana's at-large U.S. House district in 2014, but failed to advance beyond the Republican primary. He was back in the Legislature the next year, then successfully ran for state auditor in 2016. In 2018, he faced the incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in a tight, hugely expensive race that — despite several appearances in Montana by Trump in support of Rosendale — resulted in the largest victory margin of Tester's senatorial career. National Republicans would later keep that loss in mind when they recruited Sheehy, a wealthy Belgrade businessman and political neophyte, to face Tester in the 2024 cycle.
Rosendale won election to Montana's at-large U.S. House district in 2020 and then to the newly created eastern district in 2022. In Congress, Rosendale joined the House Freedom Caucus and established himself as one of the GOP's most vocal hardliners. He voted against certifying 2020 presidential election results — and, indeed, against most big-ticket bipartisan legislation — is staunchly anti-abortion and was among the crew of GOP lawmakers who voted with Democrats last year to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who had endorsed Rosendale in 2018.
Rumors that Rosendale would mount a Senate run on the strength of this reputation circled for much of 2023. Even before officially launching his campaign, he attacked Sheehy as “Mitch McConnell's lackey” and openly accused national Republicans of trying to strong-arm him out of the race. Notably, this put Rosendale at odds with Republican Montana U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee and has aggressively played in GOP primaries.
“During his time in public service, [Rosendale] has been a strong advocate for fiscal responsibility, the Second Amendment and pushing back against federal overreach,” Daines said following news of Rosendale's retirement. “I thank him for his service and wish him well as he gets to spend more time with his wife Jean and their grandchildren.”
In the end, Rosendale's second Senate campaign lasted just nine days.
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