Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy struggles to explain the gunshot story while being harassed by Megyn Kelly

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Trouble for Tim Sheehy is mounting ahead of Election Day in Montana, where the Republican Senate candidate hopes to defeat incumbent Democrat Jon Tester and secure a crucial seat in the upper chamber of Congress.

Sheehy sat down for an interview with conservative journalist Megyn Kelly on Saturday in which he struggled to explain the checkered story behind an injury he claims was a gunshot wound he sustained in Afghanistan a possible “friendly fire” incident – ​​an injury he allegedly covered up to avoid getting Afghan allies into trouble.

Kelly pressed the former SEAL to explain where the injury actually occurred and whether he was injured in 2015 while going to Glacier National Park with his family. Sheehy, in response to his reporting on his explanation for the gunshot woundThe Washington Postclaimed in a statement that he injured himself in a fall in the park in 2015 and then used that injury as cover for the gunshot wound.

“It looks like you spoke to him Washington Post“And you said you lied when you told the park ranger (you shot yourself in the park),” Kelly said.

Sheehy then gave a complicated response in which he claimed that medical officials who treated him for a wound he sustained at the park informed him that they were obligated to report the wound to law enforcement, as Sheehy claimed , the bullet was thrown out by her fall and subsequent renewed injury.

But it wasn't clear why Sheehy had to lie at the time – a report Sheehy made to a park ranger in Montana about being shot years earlier in Afghanistan by a member of the Afghan security forces would have no merit thousands of miles away triggered.

He told Kelly that no hospital records were available to verify his claims. If he had been treated at a hospital, doctors likely would have been able to tell the difference between a fresh gunshot wound and an injury sustained from a fall.

The Senate candidate also did not explain why the park ranger who came forward to discuss her side of the story, Kim Peach, said this post that she had confirmed that Sheehy's firearm had been fired on the day of the accident at the park in 2015. He also did not explain why other park guests had reported a gunshot.

Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is widely seen as the Republican Party's best hope for unseating an incumbent this cycle.

His victory in Montana, coupled with the presumed loss of the West Virginia seat due to Joe Manchin's departure, would give Republicans a majority in the Senate – assuming no Republican incumbent loses their seats this cycle.

But the Democratic Party's focus on his unclear answers about his military service and the wound he suffered in either Afghanistan or Montana has thrown a wrench into the race and suddenly put the prospect of Republican Senate control in real jeopardy brought.

Polls have shown Sheehy's lead shrinking in recent weeks; one conducted by Montana State University – Billings had a tie in early October.

If Tester wins re-election on Tuesday, Sheehy's failure to provide a clear explanation in response to questions about whether he lied about the origin of his gunshot wound is likely to play a large role.

The race is the third most expensive congressional race of the 2024 cycle, behind only Texas and Ohio; Democrats poured millions into attacking Sheehy to curb poll numbers, and may have succeeded on that issue.

Sheehy himself remains a decorated veteran; he was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.