Republican nominee Tim Sheehy will defeat incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in the election for a Senate seat from Montana, NBC News projects.
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and wealthy businessman, was heavily touted by the GOP as one of its strongest chances to pick up a Senate seat.
Former President Donald Trump won a decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race, taking multiple key battleground states, and Republicans made gains in the Senate.
Tester, a farmer who had been elected to three terms in the Senate, was facing strong headwinds in winning reelection.
Sheehy, a 38-year-old who owns a company that fights fires from the air, this week struggled in an interview with radio host Megyn Kelly to explain a 2015 incident in which he went to a hospital after his handgun fired in Montana’s Glacier National Park.
A park ranger said Sheehy told him he had accidentally shot himself in the arm, but Sheehy denies that, saying he went to the hospital because of fears a bullet that was in his arm from a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan, which he had not reported to superiors at the time.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.