While the overwhelming focus remains on the presidential race, it's hard to overstate just how important Republicans winning the Senate back is for the country. Nearly every damaging far-left policy Democrats want to implement will need to go through the upper chamber. 

The path to gaining victory is relatively simple for the GOP. They need to pick up West Virginia, which is a certainty with Jim Justice running. They then need to pick off one more seat, with Montana and Ohio being the most likely flips. Lastly, there can be no surprises in Texas and Florida, which seem to be the only Republican seats with any possibility of an upset. 

For now, things seem to be going as planned. Tim Sheehy is running ahead of incumbent Democrat Jon Tester in Montana, and the former may have put things away during Monday night's debate.

RELATED: Big Trouble for Jon Tester in Montana

BOOM: @SheehyforMT: While I was fighting in Afghanistan Jon Tester was eating lobbyist steak in DC. pic.twitter.com/z7l1QH19Ib

— Mike Berg (@MikeKBerg) October 1, 2024

SHEEHY: Well, Sen. Tester knows all of the about backroom meetings. He's been taking them for 20 years. He's the number one recipient of lobbyist cash. 

(crosstalk)

TESTER: That's totally false. I'm the most transparent senator in the United States Senate.

(crosstalk)

SHEEHY: The number one recipient of lobbyist cash in the whole country, of all countries, number one. So if you want to talk about backroom meetings, while I was fighting in Afghanistan, he was eating lobbyist steak in D.C. 

There won't be another moment from the debate that gets more views than that one. Sheehy perfectly contrasted his military service with Tester's two-faced persona. The current Montana senator has long pretended to be a "moderate," separated from the broader Democratic Party. Behind his flannel shirts and folksy accent, though, Tester has been a rubber stamp for the Biden administration enjoying the D.C. high life. 

Sheehy wasn't just making a general attack, either. According to campaign disclosures, as of mid-2023, Tester had spent over a million dollars eating at steak houses in the nation's capital.

In case you are wondering what Tim Sheehy is referring to. Campaign finance records show that #MTSen Jon Tester (D) has spent more than $1.2 million eating at upscale steak houses in Washington, DC. Tester spent more than $31K at Morton's Steakhouse alone!https://t.co/lrk0Tlq7AR https://t.co/XendyrXMIs

— Izengabe (@Izengabe_) October 1, 2024

Does that sound like an "everyman" from Montana to you or someone who's enjoying the lavish lifestyle of being a senator a bit too much? Tester is a phony of the highest order. That Montanans seem to be finally waking up to that is a welcome change.

In another exchange, Sheehy hit Tester on the border crisis. 

WATCH: @SheehyforMT slams Jon Tester for backing the Biden-Harris open border. pic.twitter.com/CXJoWjzUjG

— Mike Berg (@MikeKBerg) October 1, 2024

SHEEHY: Well, Senate Democrats and White House Democrats created this border crisis. We had a secure border four years ago. Donald Trump handed a sealed border to the Biden-Harris administration, and Kamala Harris, the border czar, with support from her friends on the Hill like Sen. Tester and Chuck Schumer opened the border wide open for three years, left it open. She refused to even go there. Democrats on the Hill refused to hold the administration accountable for the largest mass migration in the history of this country. We've never seen that many people come in in such a short period of time.

The only counter Democrats can come up with for that completely accurate charge is that Republicans didn't go along with a border bill that would have done essentially nothing to fix the problem while creating long-term incentives for more illegal immigration. But as Sheehy says, there were three years before that bill was shot down when the border was left wide open. Did Tester speak out forcefully about the crisis and demand Biden and Harris use the vested power of the executive to bring back effective Trump-era policies? No, he didn't.

Sheehy went on to slam Tester for worrying more about Trump's impeachment than standing up to his own party's radical agenda. 

WATCH: @SheehyforMT slams @JonTester for voting to impeach Trump twice, saying people should punch Trump in the face, and backing the radical Biden-Harris agenda. #VoteHimOut #MTSen pic.twitter.com/KEI58TjtAb

— Mike Berg (@MikeKBerg) October 1, 2024

SHEEHY: Sen. Tester has been in office many years. I thank him for his service, but he also voted to impeach Donald Trump twice. He said on CNN we should punch him in the face. He voted with Biden and Harris every single time it mattered, voted against all Supreme Court judge nominees that came from the Trump administration, and has advocated to end the filibuster and expand the Supreme Court

That is Tester in a nutshell. He's a typical Beltway-loving Democrat who has been a reliable party man at every opportunity. He's not a Montana-first moderate who stood up to the radicals in his midst. Sheehy came prepared and dressed him down, and it may have sealed the election for him.