A political action committee that spent $22 million electing Republican U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy last cycle has turned its attention to the Democratic side of Montana's U.S. Senate primary, spending nearly $700,000 in the final week before voters weigh in — making it the second-biggest spender in the Democratic race.

More Jobs, Less Government, the PAC behind Sheehy's 2024 campaign, has spent $695,979.42 this cycle targeting two female Democratic Senate candidates. The move is a familiar playbook in competitive Senate states: outside groups aligned with one party spend heavily in the opposing party's primary, often to elevate a weaker candidate or define a stronger one before the general election.

The spending puts More Jobs, Less Government in an unusual position on the ballot — its fingerprints are now on both sides of a race that will determine who faces Montana's Republican congressional delegation next November. For Montana Democrats already navigating a difficult map, the outside money complicates an already competitive primary.

With ballots due back this week, voters across Lewis and Clark County and the rest of the state are deciding which Democratic candidate advances. How much the PAC's spending has shaped those choices — and whether it helps or hurts the eventual nominee heading into the fall — is a question Montana political watchers will be parsing for months.