On his Montana ranch, a retired lawmaker in a crowded House race is seeking a comeback

BILLINGS, Mont. — From a ranch in one of the Americas bigger and younger In congressional districts where agriculture and Republicans dominate the landscape, a retired six-term lawmaker and grandfather from Montana is taking an unlikely path toward a political comeback.

Former U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg, 68, is more than a decade removed from a failed bid for the U.S. Senate.

Now, in a crowded field for a seat without a clear favorite, he raised little money, didn’t appear much on the campaign trail and skipped the only broadcast debate leading up to the election. Tuesday’s Republican primaries.

Rehberg entered the race late after conservative and firebrand U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale in February announced a Campaign for the Senate that he quickly abandoned amid clashes with party leaders.

His opponents suggest that Rehberg’s time has passed. And it has been spent far more by opponent Troy Downing, the state auditor and insurance commissioner, whose donations and loans to his own campaign equal the other candidates’ campaign coffers combined.

House elections have historically offered Montana politicians a springboard to higher offices, including the U.S. Senate, governor and White House Cabinet. The district was created after the 2020 Census, when population growth earned Montana a second House seat.

During an interview at his ranch outside Billings, Montana’s largest city, Rehberg picked up a book by former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and praised Bernhardt’s boss, former President Donald Trump. But he told the Associated Press that unlike Trump or Rosendale — who sparked backlash within the Republican Party after helping to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — he is not a “bomb thrower.”

“If this is what the people of Montana want, it’s not me,” Rehberg said.

“I want to work within the system,” he added. “And I don’t think dropping bombs is the best way.”

Rehberg cited his grandchildren and the chance to make a difference in their lives as his motivation for running. He may also be trying to rehabilitate his image after the bruising last race, said Montana State University political scientist Eric Raile.

“The 2012 U.S. Senate election against Jon Tester was difficult,” Raile said.

The congressional district spans more than 100,000 square miles (260,000 square kilometers) of open space, from the North Dakota border to Helena, and averages about 5 people per square mile. Its voters are overwhelmingly white. Just over 7% are Native Americans.

Rehberg, Downing and state schools superintendent Elsie Arntzen have infused their campaigns with hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal loans as they compete in a seven-way competition that includes state Senate president pro tempore Ken Bogner and former state representative Joel Krautter , which is supported by a former Republican governor.

Downing, 57, whose loans total $1 million, benefited from nearly $500,000 spent on his behalf by a Washington, D.C.-area political group, Defend American Jobs SuperPAC, which is funded largely by California-based donors, federal election data shows. He told the AP he would not join the conservative Freedom Caucus, as Rosendale did.

“I never want to be in a position where I represent a caucus instead of my constituents,” he said.

Arntzen is perhaps the most conservative of the candidates in the Montana primary.

“Recognizing who Montana is right now means we’re grounded in the Christian faith, we’re grounded in freedoms, we’re grounded very much in local government control and not a heavy, top-down mandate,” said Arntzen, 68, who opposes the trans girls. participating in women’s athletics.

Rehberg is optimistic that Montanans will remember him despite his long absence from politics. Since his defeat in 2012, he has started and closed a series of fast food franchises and lost vision in one eye. His wife Jan — his only campaign volunteer — drives him at night, Rehberg said.

But Rehberg said he hasn’t lost the vigor he would need in Congress if Montana voters were to take him back.

“My philosophy hasn’t changed since I first ran in 1984. I’m the same person I was when I first ran,” he said. “A little older.”

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Hanson reported from Helena, Montana.