Steven David Daines is an American politician and former corporate executive serving as the junior United States senator from Montana since 2015.
55 Facts About Steve Daines
2.
Steve Daines was Roy Brown's running mate in the 2008 Montana gubernatorial election, losing in the general election to incumbent governor Brian Schweitzer and lieutenant governor John Bohlinger.
3.
Steve Daines ran again for public office in 2012 for Montana's at-large congressional district; he won the general election, defeating Democratic nominee Kim Gillan.
4.
Steve Daines was reelected in 2020, defeating the Democratic nominee, incumbent governor Steve Bullock.
5.
Steve Daines was raised in Bozeman, where he attended school from kindergarten through college.
6.
Steve Daines graduated from Bozeman High School, where he served as student body president.
7.
Steve Daines earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from Montana State University.
8.
Steve Daines was one of the youngest delegates at the 1984 Republican National Convention.
9.
Steve Daines stated that he created hundreds of jobs in Montana when he worked for RightNow Technologies.
10.
Steve Daines went on to become vice president of North America Sales and vice president of the Asia-Pacific division.
11.
Steve Daines remained with the company until March 2012, when he left to campaign for Congress full-time.
12.
Steve Daines ran for lieutenant governor of Montana in 2008 with Roy Brown, the Republican nominee for governor.
13.
On November 13,2010, Steve Daines announced he would run for the US Senate seat held by Jon Tester in 2012.
14.
When US Representative Denny Rehberg announced his intention to challenge Tester, Steve Daines dropped out of the Senate race and announced his candidacy for the House seat Rehberg was vacating.
15.
On June 5,2013, Steve Daines introduced the North Fork Watershed Protection Act of 2013, which would withdraw 430,000 acres of federal lands in Montana from programs to develop geothermal and mineral resources.
16.
Steve Daines emphasized his desire "to rise above partisan politics, preserve the pristine landscape, and 'protect this critical watershed'" when he announced that he would be introducing the bill, and said that both conservationists and energy companies supported it.
17.
In July 2013, Steve Daines attended a NRSC fundraiser in Washington, prompting speculation that he would run for Max Baucus's soon to be vacant US Senate seat.
18.
In January 2017, Steve Daines announced his support of Executive Order 13769, ordered by President Trump, which imposed a temporary ban on entry to the US to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.
19.
In May 2018, Steve Daines announced his support for the so-called nuclear option "to speed up consideration of President Trump's judicial nominees".
20.
Steve Daines has argued that changing the Senate's rules to a simple majority vote would "ensure a quicker pace on Trump's court picks".
21.
In January 2019, Steve Daines was one of 11 Republican senators to vote to advance legislation intended to block Trump's lifting of sanctions against three Russian companies.
22.
Steve Daines said Trump had not committed a crime, that Democrats had "not done their complete homework", and that it was the most partisan impeachment trial in history.
23.
Steve Daines said the purpose of the impeachment was to "[overturn] the election of 2016 and [try] to define the election of 2020".
24.
Steve Daines was participating in the certification when Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.
25.
The Billings Gazette electoral board called for Steve Daines to apologize to Joe Biden for his role in opposing the certification.
26.
Steve Daines rejected calls for Trump to resign or be impeached in the wake of the attack.
27.
Steve Daines opposes legalized abortion except to protect the life of the mother.
28.
Steve Daines introduced his first bill, the Balanced Budget Accountability Act in February 2013.
29.
Steve Daines supported the No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013, which would put members of Congress's salaries in an escrow account unless they passed a budget by April 15,2013.
30.
Steve Daines has opposed an internet sales tax, which would allow states to collect taxes on online sales.
31.
Steve Daines has called legislation to provide the authority "a job-killing tax hike that hurts American small businesses".
32.
Steve Daines was supportive of Trump's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
33.
In October 2020, during the lead-up to his reelection bid, Steve Daines began to shift his rhetoric about Trump.
34.
On January 2,2021, Steve Daines joined 11 other Republican senators in an attempt to overturn the presidential election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
35.
Steve Daines later withdrew his objection to counting the two states' electoral votes.
36.
On May 28,2021, Steve Daines voted against creating an independent commission to investigate the 2021 United States Capitol attack.
37.
Steve Daines has proposed abolishing the United States Department of Education and in 2019 co-authored the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success Act, to allow state and local governments to withdraw from federal education requirements.
38.
Steve Daines criticized President Barack Obama for his administration's positions on natural resource development, calling Obama's 2013 climate change proposal a "job killer" and a "war on American energy".
39.
Steve Daines co-sponsored the Northern Route Approval Act, which would allow for congressional approval of the Keystone pipeline.
40.
Steve Daines expressed strong support of Montana's coal industry and oil production in eastern Montana and the Bakken formation.
41.
Steve Daines has called for litigation reforms to allow more logging in Montana's forests.
42.
In July 2019, Steve Daines co-founded the Roosevelt Conservation Caucus, a group of Republican members of Congress meant to focus on environmental issues with specific priorities including reducing water and ocean plastic pollution, and heightening access to public lands and waters in the United States for outdoor recreation, hunting and fishing.
43.
In November 2021, Steve Daines criticized the Biden administration for stricter regulations of methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector.
44.
Steve Daines was a supporter of strong China-US relations, but became more critical of China during the COVID-19 pandemic.
45.
In January 2020, Steve Daines expressed support for the US military's assassination of Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani by drone strike at the Baghdad International Airport.
46.
Steve Daines has signaled opposition to proposals for expanded background checks and red flag laws, saying he does not believe such legislation would reduce gun violence.
47.
In 2017, Steve Daines voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
48.
Steve Daines opposes allowing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients to apply for temporary protection to stay in the United States; he believes the program is an executive overreach.
49.
Steve Daines supported Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the US to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.
50.
Steve Daines opposes net neutrality and praised its 2017 repeal by the Federal Communications Commission.
51.
In September 2020, after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death, Steve Daines supported moving forward with Trump's nominee to fill the vacancy on the court before the November presidential election.
52.
Steve Daines tweeted that he wanted to "protect our Montana way of life".
53.
In March 2016, after Justice Antonin Scalia's death, Steve Daines said Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court should not be considered, as the "American people have already begun voting on who the next president will be" and Americans should "have their voices heard" via the 2016 election.
54.
Steve Daines opposes same-sex marriage and said he was "disappointed" in the Supreme Court's decision that same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional.
55.
Steve Daines enjoys mountain-climbing and has scaled Granite Peak and Grand Teton.