Hot race running in campaigns for Montana's U.S. senator: Steve Daines

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said he wants to continue working on issues important to Montana in Congress.

   "I'm running for re-election to keep and continue serving Montana," Daines said. "To focus on creating jobs to restart our economy and also to protect our health care system by holding China accountable."

He said he would sum up his time in office as "more jobs, less government."

He said he is the best candidate because his background has helped equip him to serve as a U.S. senator - he spent 28 years in the private sector before being elected into Congress.

"When you are in business, you focus on solving problems and finding solutions," he added. "I spent much of my career creating jobs. My degree was from Montana State University, and it was in chemical engineering, and when you are trained as an engineer you are trained to solve problems, finding ways to create more jobs, and that has been my focus for Montana, again it is back to more jobs and less government. My background in business has prepared me well to serve in Congress."

Right now, he said, there is room to improve what the federal government has done to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic and the nation will look back on what could have been done better in looking at the outcomes.

President Donald Trump boldly led to stop flights come in from China in January, Daines said, at the time he was criticized for that, but Daines said, he thinks Trump made the right decision to stop the flights because that was where the coronavirus started.

"The focus that the federal government has had really two areas: One is, first, is addressing the health emergency, which is the coronavirus, and that is by helping our health care heroes, our front-line responders with more personal protective equipment to protect them, helping our hospitals and our rural hospitals as well across our state, helping our tribes during this difficult time," he said. "On the economic side, it's really dealing with the fact that 90,000-plus Montanans have lost jobs in the last six weeks. We've never seen job losses like that in the history of our state and so it's been focused on helping those who've lost jobs and helping those small businesses that had to close their door because of the pandemic."

While COVID-19 relief has driven up the federal deficit and debt, Daines said, that since he first came to Congress, he has been pushing for a balanced budget amendment.

He said when someone's in business one is required to balance their budget or they can't stay in business.

The first bill he introduced in Congress was called the "Balanced Budget Accountability Act," which says members of Congress don't balance the budget then they shouldn't get a paycheck.

"When you spend 28 years, like I did in the private sector I know what it take to make decisions on spending, what you have to do to bring in spending, and now, with nearly $25 trillion in debt, we're going to have to restore fiscal responsibility to our country going forward," he said.

"I've been rated as one of the most bipartisan and effective members in Congress and if you want to get something done in Washington it requires working with both sides," Daines added. "Montanans aren't real enamoured whether you have a R or a D behind your name. They want to know if you wake up every day focused on solving problems and helping your state, and I'm just grateful that I've been rated and named one of the most bipartisan and effective members of Congress and that helps get the votes (on bills)."

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Born 1962, raised in Bozeman

Has 28 years of private sector experience, including at RightNow Technologies in Bozeman

incumbent U.S. senator, former U.S. representative

Married to Cindy , four children, proud grandparents of a grandchild who recently turned one.