Max Baucus
Max Sieben Baucus (né Enke; born December 11, 1941) is a retired American politician and diplomat who served as a United States Senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a U.S. Senator for nearly 36 years, making him the longest-serving Senator in Montana history. President Barack Obama appointed Baucus to replace Gary Locke as the 11th United States Ambassador to China, a position that he held from 2014 until 2017.
History of Montana
Though historically a swing state politically, beginning with the 1988 election, the state tended toward Republican party domination until 2004, when the election of a Democratic governor and a return of the legislature to divided party rule temporarily moved the state back into the swing status, solidified by the election of Senator Jon Tester in 2006. In the 2008 and 2010 elections, a Republican majority again gained full control of the legislature, but all five statewide offices remained in Democratic hands. When the 2012 election moved Steve Bullock, a Democrat who had been Attorney general to the office of governor, the Attorney General's office moved to Republican hands for the first time since 1992. In 2014 Governor Bullock later appointed Lieutenant Governor John Walsh to become the new senator to replace Max Baucus, the incoming Ambassador to China. Baucus had served 1979–2014, and played a major role in writing the nation's health care and tax laws. The 2014 Senate election became a contest between Walsh and Republican Congressman Steve Daines.