GOP Senate candidate used $160M promised for local job creation to instead pay off investors

One Republican U.S. Senate candidate running on his private sector experience is now being scrutinized for a deal in which he sided with wealthy investors over his own would-be constituents.

NBC News reported Tuesday that Tim Sheehy — who is running against Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana) in a competitive Senate race — has yet to explain why jobs his company promised to Montanans have yet to materialize. The outlet reported that his aerial firefighting business, Bridger Aerospace Group, convinced Gallatin County, Montana commissioners in 2020 to use the county's credit rating to raise $160 million in a bond issue. That money would then be used to help the company expand, creating local jobs in the process.

Bridger executives ultimately won over county leaders, who unanimously voted for Bridger's proposal. But four years later, that money has been spent without any benefit to the county.

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According to NBC, $134 million of that $160 million (more than 83%) ended up in the pockets of the New York-based private equity firm Blackstone Group in 2022. And while Bridger pledged to build two new hangars in Gallatin County, only one hangar has actually been built, and its workforce has actually declined rather than grown as promised.

“When, where and how benefits accrue locally when local governments support these types of business ventures is exactly the right question to ask,” University of Chicago public policy professor Justin Marlowe said. “If the project fails, it sends a signal about the future of that jurisdiction.”

Bridger has been bleeding money for years as it struggles to stay above water. Since the $160 million bond issue was granted in 2022, the company has lost roughly $150 million. That includes more than $20 million in the first quarter of 2024 alone, and $77.4 million of losses in 2023. NBC reported that Bridger's stock price is at a paltry $3.60 per share, which is a 64% decline from when it launched its initial public offering in 2023.

The network further reported that an independent auditor estimated that Sheehy's company may not survive another 12 months given its rate of losses. And while the conditions of the bond issue don't leave Gallatin County on the hook, its credit rating could still take a dive if Bridger goes bankrupt.

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Despite his company's poor performance, Sheehy was still well-compensated as its CEO. In 2023, while his company was losing tens of millions of dollars, he was paid a base salary of $149,000 and got a $2.3 million bonus. In 2022, when Bridger lost $42.1 million, the company paid Sheehy a $450,000 base salary and gave him a bonus of $4.4 million.

Sheehy is currently polling ahead of Tester by as many as eight percentage points, according to FiveThirtyEight. If he wins, it will make Democrats' chances of keeping the Senate majority that much more difficult. Republicans would regain control of the chamber by flipping either Montana or Ohio, assuming West Virginia's open Senate seat also flips Republican in the deep-red state. However, Democrats could still keep a slim majority by flipping either Florida, Nebraska, or Texas, which have all polled within the margin of error in the last month.

Click here to read NBC's report in full.

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