Republicans have shockingly had a terrible time winning Senate seats in MT since the popular vote was instituted. Curiously, they have almost always lost by an extremely narrow margin of less than 5% (even as the GOP has won the Governorship).
Only 3 men in over 100 years have won the Senate races there (Zales Ecton in 1946, but that only after the Dem incumbent who lost the primary endorsed the Republican; Conrad Burns in 1988, 1994 and 2000, and then had the seat stolen by Jon Tester in 2006 after fake criminal charges were brought against Burns; and Steve Daines, presently occupying the other seat, in 2014 & 2020).
see my post #6