Republicans have retaliated against critics of Montana Republican Senate Candidate Tim Sheehy, pointing out that they had previously supported Democrats and made partisan remarks.

Dave Madden – the former Navy SEAL, who claimed Sheehy had lied about an injury sustained during wartime – expressed his delight when Sheehy published a mediocre fundraising report earlier this year.

Kim Peach – the park ranger, who said Sheehy accidentally shot himself in a parking garage in 2015, contradicting Sheehy’s claim that he had been shot in combat – once mocked President Trump, posing in a photo wearing a hat with the words “Make Lying Right Again.”

They are now under scrutiny because Democratic ads that rely on their claims have targeted Sheehy’s military record.

Sheehy is leading Democratic Sen. Jon Tester by a narrow margin in the polls. This race could decide which party controls control of the Senate for next year.

A survey by Emerson College Polling and The Hill of Montana voters showed Sheehy ahead of Tester, 50 to 46 percent.

Sheehy is being called out by the National Park Service for reporting in 2015 that he accidentally shot himself in his arm. He was a decorated ex-Navy SEAL with a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Sheehy’s military record has been the subject of attack ads by Tester and the Senate Majority PAC. This is the largest super PAC for the Senate Democrats.

Sheehy says that he made up the story about shooting himself at the Glacier National Park parking lot to avoid initiating an investigation into a SEAL teammate, who may have accidentally shot him. He claimed that he had reaggravated his bullet injury by slipping and falling at Glacier.

Sheehy’s story has been disputed by Madden a former SEAL, who trained with Sheehy, and Peach the park ranger, who filed the incident report at Glacier.

Madden, who served with Sheehy in Afghanistan but trained separately, said in an interview published by The New York Times that Sheehy had told his comrades he was shot on the battlefield.

“Tim and i had as close of a relationship as was possible in our platoon. We all know that he is lying when he claims he was shot in the arm. He told the Times, “We would have seen or heard about it.”

Madden disputes Sheehy’s claim that Sheehy’s SEAL teammates were investigated for an incident of friendly fire.

Republicans claim that Madden is enraged by Sheehy’s personal behavior and has never been close to him.

“This new relationship Dave Madden invented in his mind with Tim Sheehy, is a work of pure fiction. Stop. Dave Madden, on social media, has made false, disparaging and defamatory comments about Tim and President Trump. Dave Madden’s radicalized political views led him to make false statements about a SEAL who was a close friend. However, this wasn’t terribly surprising to the SEALs he served with. “He lacked integrity, character and was unfit for the job”, said a spokesperson from the Sheehy campaign for Montana.

Madden, in a post on social media from April that was later deleted by the author, expressed his delight at Sheehy’s lackluster fundraising report.

“Seeing Tim fumble warmed my cockles,” the poster wrote.

On the social media platform X, he also urged his fans not to vote in favor of former Navy SEALs like Rep. Dan Crenshaw(R-Texas).

Stop voting for SEALs. Madden wrote, “Signed, a SEAL that worked with each of these idiots.” He posted the screenshot of Crenshaw’s argument at an hearing against solar energy, because, “at night, they just don’t work.”

Madden is a registered Democrat who has donated money to liberals like Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt. ) and Elizabeth Warren(D-Mass. ) In 2016 and 2020 respectively.

He also donated money to Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

Peach, a park ranger, who told The Times that he was “100% sure” Sheehy had shot himself in 2015 has also a partisan motivation to malign Sheehy.

According to the Associated Press, Peach is now retired and lives in a small village near Glacier. He once posted a picture of himself wearing a hat that read “Make Lying Wrong Again”. In it, he acknowledged that he votes Democrat.

Peach told AP he came forward publicly to speak about his encounter with Sheehy in Glacier, 2015 because he couldn’t “let him get away without the truth.”

He repeated his claim that Sheehy accidentally shot himself in 2015.

He was clearly embarrassed at the time. He told the AP that he had admitted what he was there for, the gun going off at the park. “He knows that the truth is simple and straightforward. When you start to lie, things become complicated.

Republicans claim that the accusations against Sheehy, who lied about having been shot in Afghanistan, come from “a well-worn political playbook.”

“By smearing Tim Sheehy’s military record, Democrats are dusting off an old political playbook that they developed in the Trump era. They ignore the facts and bring out left-wing partisans to make wild, last-minute accusations to smear Sheehy. Tim Sheehy’s tactics are similar to those used against Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh. Montanans must reject these left-wing tactics that are disgusting,” said Mike Berg of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

When interviewed by The Times, Berg said that two SEALs with Sheehy did not question his integrity.

Justin Sheehan, a Times reporter, said: “He’s 100 percent credible and does the right thing.”

The NRSC spokesperson said that these former colleagues were more credible than Sheehy’s Democratic-leaning opponents.

Berg, who was referring to Schumer as the Senate Democratic Leader, said: “I will take the word from SEALs that were with Tim when he was shot any day over Chuck Schumer’s lackeys.”

Sheehy’s campaign revealed, in a television ad released Friday, that he was awarded the Purple Heart for being injured by a homemade explosive device.

Sheehy was reportedly referred to as a SEAL by a former SEAL colleague who told The Times, under the condition of anonymity, that Sheehy had spoken about an IED explosion and mentioned he’d been hit in a friendly-fire incident.

A service member who spoke anonymously to The Times said that he remembered Sheehy mentioning a firefight where he believed he had “caught a bounce.”

Sheehy did not show any signs of injury or indicate whether a bullet had lodged itself in his arm, according to the source.

Sheehan, along with Paul Zohorsky (another former SEAL of Sheehy), said that they do not remember a discussion about a gunshot.