After Rick Berg, I am unsure of first term Representatives running for Senate.
What is Daines like? Is he a better candidate quality wise?
I'm not really sure of this, but one reason I thought of was that Berg could have been seen as inexperienced. He had only just won his first statewide election two years earlier, wheras Heitkamp had 14 years of statewide experience as State Tax Commissioner and State Attorney General.
If this had a part, then this could also apply to Daines, but I'm still not sure about that being the case.