Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) is withdrawing his candidacy for reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives weeks after ditching a short-lived U.S. Senate bid.
Rosendale announced in a release posted to X he would be ending his candidacy for Congress after having “been forced to have law enforcement visit my children because of a death threat against me and false and defamatory rumors against me and my family.”
— Matt Rosendale (@MattForMontana) March 8, 2024
“This has taken a serious toll on me, and my family. Additionally, it has caused a serious disruption to the election of the next representative for MT-02,” he added. Rosendale does not detail what “rumors” he referred to in the release, which continued:
To me, public service has truly always been about serving, not titles or positions of power. The current attacks have made it impossible for me to focus on my work to serve you.
So, in the best interest of my family and the community, I am withdrawing from the House race and will not be seeking office.
It has been my honor to serve you and may god bless each and every one of you.
Rosendale briefly launched a bid for Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) seat in February, but former President Donald Trump endorsed his Republican primary opponent, Tim Sheehy, the same day. Less than a week later, Rosendale dropped his Senate run. Trump had informed Rosendale months earlier that he would not receive his prized endorsement if the congressman entered the Senate race.
Rosendale ran against Tester in 2018, which was the last time a Democrat won a statewide race in Montana, as Breitbart News noted. Tester took 50.3 percent of the vote to Rosendale’s 46.8 percent in that year’s Senate race.
