Bullock meets with Obama as Montana Senate deadline nears
Former President Barack Obama met privately with Montana Gov. Steve Bullock on Thursday in Washington, an adviser confirmed, as Democrats hold out hopes that the red-state governor makes a surprise, last-minute splash into the state’s Senate race.
Bullock has consistently said he will not run for the Senate after dropping his own White House bid last year. And even after meeting with the former two-term president, Bullock is undeterred.
“As he has said repeatedly, there will be a candidate for U.S. Senate in Montana against Steve Daines. It will not be Steve Bullock,” said Matt McKenna, a longtime adviser for Bullock. McKenna said he had no knowledge of the details of the private conversation between the two.
Bullock is in town for the National Governors Association's winter meeting. Since leaving office, Obama has often met with Democrats about their political future. An Obama spokesman didn't immediately comment.
The filing deadline for the race is March 9 and four candidates have filed to run as Democrats against Daines, a first-term GOP senator: Helena Mayor Wilmot Collins, Navy veteran John Mues, former State Department official Cora Neumann and physicist Mike Knoles.
Democrats have asserted for months that Bullock would be a game changer and make the race competitive, though he did take increasingly liberal positions during the presidential primary. But Bullock wants to stay near his family and has repeatedly rebuffed the Senate Democrats’ recruiting efforts.
