BELGRADE — Friday is the first day of the 119th U.S. Congress, and Montana voters chose two new people to represent them this time around. While there’s two months between Election Day and the start of the new term, preparations began almost immediately for Sen.-elect Tim Sheehy and Rep.-elect Troy Downing, both Republicans.
“The clear mandate from this election is get the Trump administration in place and operational as fast as possible,” Sheehy told MTN earlier this month, at his home office outside Belgrade.
Sheehy defeated Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in one of the country’s most closely watched races. Since then, he’s made multiple trips to Washington, D.C.
One of the Senate’s first priorities will be considering incoming President Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees. On one trip, Sheehy met with three of them: Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, United Nations Ambassador nominee Elise Stefanik and Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard – who traveled to Montana to campaign for Sheehy during the election.
Sheehy told MTN he still wants to hear more about how Trump’s nominees will implement their policy priorities, but overall he’s happy with all of them.
“Folks are ready for reform,” he said. “I think these candidates specifically, but many others, are going to be reform agents, and they're going to try to make things work better and more efficiently for the American people.”
Senate Republicans have selected South Dakota Sen. John Thune to serve as leader when they take over the majority Jan. 3. He’ll replace longtime GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Sheehy said he was pleased to see Montana’s region wielding political influence, with Thune and Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso holding the top leadership positions and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem receiving Cabinet nominations.
Sheehy will be serving on two military-related committees – the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee – as well as the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Sheehy replaces a three-term senator, and one obvious change will be in the seniority he holds in the Senate. In fact, for a brief time, he will be the least senior member of the entire body. All newly elected senators who take the oath of office at the same time are given seniority based on their previous government service and then the population of their state. Sheehy has never held office before, and Montana is the least populous state with a senator new to government.
Sheehy will only be the most junior senator for a few days, until West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice completes his term as governor and joins the Senate. New senators will also be appointed to replace incoming Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State nominee Marco Rubio, if he’s confirmed.
The U.S. Senate has for years been an institution famous for placing value on seniority, but Sheehy said he thinks seniority may be less relevant for the next group of political leaders.
“It certainly would be nice to have 18 years seniority, but I think the reality is, with how the Trump administration intends to operate – we have Congress, Senate and the White House – they want to get things done, and they want disruption,” he said. “They want new ideas, new ways of doing things.”
Sheehy, who founded the aerial firefighting company Bridger Aerospace, stepped down as CEO during the campaign, but he said he continued to occasionally fly water-dropping airplanes as a reserve pilot. He told MTN he doesn’t expect he’ll continue that as senator, citing the regular certification and training needed.
“I would love to keep water bombing fires, and maybe if I find enough time in my schedule I will, but more than likely I'll have to step away from that,” he said.
Sheehy says he does plan to continue operating his Little Belt Cattle Company, including a ranch near Martinsdale and a hay farm at his home in Gallatin County. He says he plans to return home regularly. He and his wife homeschool their four children, and he says they will be staying in Montana most of the time, but he will bring them with him when he has to spend extended periods in Washington.
When MTN asked how long Sheehy would be interested in serving in the Senate, he said he “didn’t plan to spend a career there.”
“It's not my desk, it's not my office, this is a role that that belongs to the people of Montana and to America, and it'll be my job for a relatively short period of time,” he said. “It's an honor to do it, but ultimately I'm a steward of the position.”
Downing, unlike Sheehy, already holds an elected position: He’s wrapping up four years as Montana’s state auditor. By this week, though, he’d already almost completely moved out of his office in Helena, with only a few pieces of mail left to pack up.
“It's bittersweet because the last four years have been great,” said Downing. “I love what I do here, I love the team. I think we've done just some amazing work with everything from the basic regulation of insurance and securities to consumer protection, to outreach and education, to financial literacy education, to teaching people how to avoid scams.”
Downing set up James Brown, the newly elected auditor, with an office in the building shortly after the election. As Downing moved his belongings out of the main office, Brown was able to start moving his in.
“I've got very high expectations of Commissioner Brown,” Downing said. “I think he's going to do a great job, and I will say that he's been very attentive – you know, he's shown up and asked all the right questions, so I'm looking forward to see what his administration looks like.”
Brown will be sworn in, along with other state-level elected officials, on Monday, Jan. 6. However, Downing’s term in Congress begins Friday, Jan. 3, creating a brief lag. Downing said he has submitted his resignation, effective Friday, and his deputy Mary Belcher will serve as acting state auditor for the remaining three days.
Downing won the U.S. House race in Montana’s eastern congressional district over Democrat John Driscoll. He’ll succeed Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale, who served two terms – the first representing all of Montana, before the state got its second House seat back.
Downing says he wants to see the House get to work quickly, especially on tackling budget bills.
“I think it's important that we start getting wins on the board, because the American people are ready for some change, and we’ve been given not just an opportunity, a mandate,” he said.
During the last Congress, the House wasn’t able to start work for several days while they tried to elect a speaker – with Rosendale joining other conservative holdouts refusing to vote for eventual speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican from California. The Republicans are set to hold an even narrower margin this time than before, so current speaker Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana cannot afford many defections in his own party. Trump has endorsed Johnson to retain the speakership.
Downing said he also hopes Johnson will quickly secure the speaker’s position.
“President Trump sees Speaker Johnson as an ally that can help him put wins on the board, and so I don't see how you can be a supporter of President Trump and his agenda and not also support Speaker Johnson,” he said.
Downing says he’s been selected to serve on the House Financial Services Committee and the House Small Business Committee, which he said make sense for him based on the work he did as auditor and in the private sector. He says one area he wants to work on Congress is addressing how the banking, securities and insurance industries will be – and are being – affected by artificial intelligence, blockchain and cryptocurrency.
“We need to make sure that we have representation on that committee that understand what it means to operate a business in these highly regulated industries, what it means to be a regulator of these highly regulated industries – and second of all, make sure that the United States of America maintains its position as the hotbed for innovation, that innovation is happening here. Otherwise, it's going to offshore.”
Downing says he will keep his main residence in Helena, and he hopes to return to the state whenever possible.
“I'm going to D.C. to represent my constituents in Montana, and I can't represent them if I'm not talking to them,” he said.
This is the first time since 1960 that Montana has sent two new members of Congress to Washington, D.C., at the same time. In that year, Democratic U.S. Rep. Arnold Olsen and Republican U.S. Rep. James Battin won their first terms in the House.
