Steve Daines

Steven David Daines ( DAYNZ; born August 20, 1962) is an American politician and businessman serving as the senior United States senator from Montana, a seat he has held since 2015. He is the first Republican Class II senator from Montana in 102 years. Daines represented Montana's at-large congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015.

Daines was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Bozeman, Montana. Before entering politics, he held positions at Procter & Gamble and the Montana-based software service RightNow Technologies. After an unsuccessful lieutenant governor's race in 2008, Daines was elected to represent Montana's at-large congressional district in Congress in 2012.

Daines was elected to the Senate in 2014, becoming the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in Montana in the 21st century. He was reelected in 2020, defeating the Democratic nominee, incumbent governor Steve Bullock. In 2023, Daines became chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, succeeding Rick Scott. Republicans gained four Senate seats in the 2024 election cycle and won a majority in the chamber. Daines became Montana's senior senator and dean of Montana's congressional delegation in 2025, after Jon Tester was not reelected.

On March 4, 2026, minutes before the filing deadline to run for the Senate in Montana, Daines unexpectedly announced he would not run for reelection in 2026.

Daines was born in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles to Sharon R. and Clair W. Daines. The family moved to Montana in 1964. He was raised in Bozeman, where he attended school from kindergarten through college.

Daines graduated from Bozeman High School, where he served as student body president and participated in policy debate; his partner was future U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Montana State University. At Montana State, he became a brother of the Sigma Nu fraternity.

Daines was one of the youngest delegates at the 1984 Republican National Convention. "I was a big fan of Ronald Reagan. He was the first president I got to vote for," he has said. Daines was also the president of MSU College Republicans. In 2007, he and his wife started a website, GiveItBack.com, which urged governor Brian Schweitzer to return the state's $1 billion surplus to taxpayers. From 2007 to 2008, he was Montana state chairman for the Mike Huckabee 2008 presidential campaign and a national surrogate for Huckabee.

Daines spent 13 years with Procter & Gamble. After seven years managing operations in the United States, he and his family moved to Hong Kong and mainland China for six years, opening factories to expand Procter & Gamble's Asian business. During his 2014 Senate campaign, Democratic opponents alleged that Daines had outsourced U.S. jobs to China. He stated that he created hundreds of jobs in Montana when he worked for RightNow Technologies.

In 1997, Daines left Procter & Gamble to join the family construction business in Bozeman. Three years later, he met Greg Gianforte, founder of RightNow Technologies, and was put in charge of running RightNow's customer care division. Daines went on to become vice president of North America Sales and vice president of the Asia-Pacific division. During his tenure, the cloud-based software company became publicly traded and Bozeman's largest commercial employer. Daines remained with the company until March 2012, when he left to campaign for Congress full-time.

Daines ran for lieutenant governor of Montana in 2008 with Roy Brown, the Republican nominee for governor. They challenged incumbent Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer and his running mate John Bohlinger. Brown and Daines lost the election 65% to 33%, winning only 7 of Montana's 56 counties.

On November 13, 2010, Daines announced he would run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Jon Tester in 2012.

When U.S. Representative Denny Rehberg announced his intention to challenge Tester, Daines dropped out of the Senate race and announced his candidacy for the House seat Rehberg was vacating. He won the three-way Republican primary with 71% of the vote. In the general election, Daines defeated Democratic state senator Kim Gillan, 53% to 43%. He won 48 of the state's 56 counties.

On June 5, 2013, Daines introduced the North Fork Watershed Protection Act of 2013, which would withdraw 430,000 acres of federal lands in Montana from programs to develop geothermal and mineral resources. The law would forbid mountaintop removal mining and other natural resource development. The affected lands lie adjacent to Glacier National Park and already had some protections. Daines emphasized his desire "to rise above partisan politics, preserve the pristine landscape, and 'protect this critical watershed'" when he announced that he would be introducing the bill, and said that both conservationists and energy companies supported it. The bill, also supported by Tester and U.S. Senator John Walsh, passed in the House, but Senate Republicans prevented it from being voted on.

Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies

Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Management

In July 2013, Daines attended a NRSC fundraiser in Washington, prompting speculation that he would run for Max Baucus's soon to be vacant U.S. Senate seat. In the second quarter of 2013, he disclosed raising $415,000 in campaign funds, fueling more speculation. On November 6, 2013, Daines announced his candidacy.

In February 2014, Baucus resigned from the Senate to accept a post as U.S. ambassador to China. Governor Steve Bullock, a Democrat, appointed then-lieutenant governor John Walsh to the vacant Senate seat for the remainder of Baucus's term. Walsh had already declared his intention to run for the Senate in 2014, and it was suggested that his appointment might give him the advantage of incumbency, improving Democratic chances of holding the seat.

Daines won the Republican primary on June 3, 2014, with 83.4% of the vote against Missoula state representative Champ Edmunds and political newcomer Susan Cundiff. Walsh won the Democratic primary with 64% of the vote.

In August 2014, Walsh withdrew from the race following the publication of a New York Times article that accused him of plagiarism in a paper written as part of his master's degree work at the U.S. Army War College. With only 50 days until the election, a special convention called by the Montana Democratic party nominated State Representative Amanda Curtis.

Daines won the general election with 57.8% of the vote to Curtis's 40.1%.

Daines opposes legalized abortion except to protect the life of the mother.

Daines introduced his first bill, the Balanced Budget Accountability Act in February 2013. The bill would have required members of Congress to pass a budget that would balance in 10 years or have their pay terminated. Daines supported the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013, which would put members of Congress's salaries in an escrow account unless they passed a budget by April 15, 2013.

Daines has opposed an internet sales tax, which would allow states to collect taxes on online sales. He has called legislation to provide the authority "a job-killing tax hike that hurts American small businesses".

According to the Helena Independent Record, Daines had by 2020 "aggressively tied himself to Trump, both backing and defending the president over the last three years". During Trump's presidency, Daines voted with Trump's stated public policy positions 86% of the time.

Daines was supportive of Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Daines and his wife have four children. He enjoys mountain-climbing and has scaled Granite Peak and Grand Teton.