2026-03-05T17:56:11.320Z / 美国有线电视新闻网（CNN）政治频道
据两名知情人士透露，共和党参议员史蒂夫·戴恩斯（Steve Daines）突然决定退出参议院竞选，以阻止民主党在蒙大拿州空出的参议员席位中推出一位顶级候选人。
戴恩斯意识到，如果他过早退出，民主党就有可能推出几名潜在候选人中的一位——即前参议员乔恩·泰斯特（Jon Tester）或前州长布莱恩·施韦策（Brian Schweitzer）或史蒂夫·布洛克（Steve Bullock）。这些民主党人中的任何一位都可能让该州在中期选举中成为焦点，并可能吸走巨额资金，就像民主党在阿拉斯加和俄亥俄州等红州所做的那样，打乱秋季参议院多数席位的争夺。
相反，戴恩斯在周三晚间登记截止前几分钟退出了竞选。蒙大拿州前美国检察官库尔特·阿尔梅（Kurt Alme）在截止前八分钟提交了参选申请。随着登记截止，现在没有顶级民主党人能再参与竞选。
消息人士称，尽管戴恩斯最近在蒙大拿州录制视频解释了自己不参选的决定，但他直到周三下午阿尔梅辞去美国检察官职务后才知道他计划参选该席位。据消息人士透露，如果阿尔梅不参选，戴恩斯原本计划争取第三个任期。
总统唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）以及参议院共和党领袖们知晓内部商议情况，在登记截止后几分钟，特朗普在Truth Social平台发文赞扬戴恩斯并支持阿尔梅。
特朗普在社交媒体上表示，戴恩斯决定“将火炬传递给阿尔梅”。
民主党人严厉批评戴恩斯和共和党人策划这一行动来指定继任者，剥夺了选民从包括党内初选中的众多候选人中进行选择的机会。但这与去年民主党众议员朱厄尼·加西亚（Chuy Garcia）在伊利诺伊州的类似举动类似。
这一宣布的时机迅速招致了另一位竞选者——独立候选人塞思·博德纳（Seth Bodnar）的批评。他在声明中表示，戴恩斯“对蒙大拿州共和党人缺乏尊重，在最后时刻退出竞选，只为加冕他精心挑选的继任者，而不是给他们在投票箱中表达意见的机会。”
美国有线电视新闻网已联系戴恩斯办公室寻求置评。
GOP Sen. Steve Daines’ last-minute withdrawal from Senate race was meant to block Democrats from fielding a top-tier recruit
2026-03-05T17:56:11.320Z / CNN Politics
GOP Sen. Steve Daines made the last-minute decision to abruptly pull out of his Senate race to prevent Democrats from fielding a top recruit for the open Montana seat, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Daines was aware that if he withdrew too soon then Democrats would have a chance at fielding one of several potential Democrats — namely former Sen. Jon Tester or former Govs. Brian Schweitzer or Steve Bullock. Any of those Democrats could have put the state on the map in the midterms and likely have sucked up enormous cash, as Democrats have done in red states like Alaska and Ohio, scrambling the race for the majority in the fall.
Instead, Daines withdrew from the race minutes before the Wednesday evening filing deadline. Kurt Alme, who was US attorney in Montana, filed to run eight minutes before the deadline. With the deadline closed, no top-tier Democrat can now jump in the race.
While Daines taped a video recently in Montana explaining his decision not to run, he didn’t know until after Alme resigned as US attorney Wednesday afternoon that he planned to run for the seat, the sources said. Daines planned to run for a third term if Alme had passed on a bid, according to the sources.
President Donald Trump was aware of the internal deliberations, as were Senate GOP leaders, and the president issued a Truth Social post praising Daines and endorsing Alme minutes after the filing deadline closed.
Trump said on social media that Daines had decided to “pass the torch” to Alme.
Democrats sharply criticized Daines and the GOP for engineering a move to anoint a successor and deny voters a chance to consider from an array of candidates, including in the primary. But it resembles a similar move made last year by Democratic Rep. Chuy Garcia in Illinois.
The timing of the announcement quickly drew criticism from another candidate in the race, independent Seth Bodnar, who said in a statement that Daines “has so little respect for Montana Republicans that he withdrew at the last minute to coronate his handpicked successor instead of giving them a voice at the ballot box.”
CNN reached out to Daines’ office for comment.
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