Montana U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, a Republican, ripped his opponent, incumbent Democrat Sen. Jon Tester, for his ties to lobbyists during a debate on Monday.

Tester is seeking to hold onto his Senate seat to continue representing the red state of Montana in a race that could determine which party controls the upper chamber of Congress, and recent polling shows that Sheehy is leading just weeks before Election Day.

During the debate on Monday, Sheehy knocked his Democrat opponent for his relationship with lobbyists in Washington, D.C.

"Sen. Tester knows all about backroom meetings, he's been taking them for 20 years … While I was fighting in Afghanistan, he was eating lobbyist steak in D.C.," said Sheehy, a former U.S. Navy SEAL.

'WHOEVER GETS ELECTED': VULNERABLE DEM TESTER DIGS IN HEELS ON NOT ENDORSING HARRIS

Lobbyists have donated more heavily to Tester during this election cycle than to any other member of Congress, according to the non-partisan group OpenSecrets.

Tester is the last remaining Democrat to hold high office in Montana, where Republicans, including former President Trump, supported Sheehy's campaign with the hope that he could defeat the vulnerable Democrat and help the GOP win back control of the Senate.

Republicans need to gain only two seats in next month's election to win the Senate majority. GOP West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice is considered a lock in his state's Senate race against Democrat Glenn Elliott, meaning the Senate majority could run through Montana.

Trump won Montana by about 17 percentage points in 2020 and, given that the state is overwhelmingly Republican, Sheehy has often sought to tie Tester to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as the Republican candidate looks to take advantage of public dissatisfaction over the administration's struggles to address the influx of illegal immigration at the Southern Border.

JON TESTER CASTS DOUBT ON UNFAVORABLE POLL IN MONTANA SENATE RACE: 'GIVE ME A BREAK'

"Democrats on the Hill refused to hold the administration accountable for the largest mass migration in the history of this country," Sheehy said.

Tester, however, has declined to endorse Harris and has attempted to distance himself from her on the campaign trail, and he skipped the Democratic National Convention in August, when she was named the party's nominee for president after Biden dropped out.

The Democrat has also criticized some of the administration's policy decisions. This includes his opposition to the move for tighter pollution rules for coal plants and his calls for more to be done on immigration.

"Look, I'll be the first person to tell you that President Biden has not done a good job on the southern border," Tester said Monday.

Sheehy and Tester also addressed abortion, in which the Democrat said he wants to reinstate Roe v. Wade after the landmark ruling was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago, returning the power to make laws regarding abortion back to the states.

The Republican acknowledged that remarks he made last year about Native Americans were "insensitive," but refused his opponent's request to apologize. Sheehy had told a group of laughing supporters about bonding "with all the Indians ... while they're drunk at 8 a.m.," while working cattle at a ranch on the Crow Indian Reservation.

"Yeah, insensitive," Sheehy said. "I come from the military as many of our tribal members do. You know, we make insensitive jokes and probably off-color jokes sometimes."

Tester pressed his opponent, "Tim, the statement you made degrades Native Americans across this country. You're a big guy, just apologize."

"Will you apologize for opening the border?" Sheehy shot back.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

A group of New Hampshire parents and a grandparent filed a lawsuit against a school district on Monday over their removal from a girls soccer game for holding a protest against a transgender player.

Kyle Fellers, Anthony Foote, Nicole Foote and Eldon Rash filed the federal lawsuit against the Bow School District, Superintendent of Schools Marcy Kelley, Principal Matt Fisk, Athletic Director Mike Desilets, Bow Police Lieutenant Phil Lamy and soccer referee Steve Rossetti.

The lawsuit says Fellers and Anthony Foote were banned from a Sept. 17 girls soccer game between Bow High School and Plymouth Regional High School in which they were wearing pink wristbands with "XX" displayed to symbolize the female chromosome structure and express their support for biological female athletes.

The "silent protest" at Bow High School, the lawsuit says, intended to "show solidarity" with the Bow team and oppose a policy that allowed a transgender girl to play on Plymouth's team.

NEW HAMPSHIRE PARENT BANNED FOR WEARING ARMBANDS IN SUPPORT OF WOMEN'S SPORTS TO DAUGHTER'S SOCCER GAME

Bow school officials and a police officer confronted the plaintiffs during the game and instructed them to remove the wristbands, the lawsuit says. But when the plaintiffs refused to remove them, a referee allegedly paused the game and said Bow would be forced to forfeit the game if the wristbands were not removed.

Fellers and Anthony Foote were given "No Trespass Orders" banning them from school grounds and events after the incident, which included barring them picking their children up from after-school practices. Anthony Foote was banned until September 23, while Fellers was prohibited from returning for the remainder of the fall term.

"Parents don’t shed their First Amendment rights at the entrance to a school’s soccer field," Fellers said in a statement. "We wore pink wristbands to silently support our daughters and their right to fair competition. Instead of fostering open dialogue, school officials responded with threats and bans that have a direct impact on our lives and our children’s lives. And this fight isn’t just about sports—it’s about protecting our fundamental right to free speech."

The lawsuit seeks to prevent the "unconstitutional application" of several school policies, including those that require "mutual respect, civility, and orderly conduct" and that prohibit actions that "injure, threaten, harass, or intimidate" or "impede, delay, disrupt, or otherwise interfere with any school activity or function."

The plaintiffs asked the court to enjoin the school from using these policies to restrict non-disruptive expression of political or social views at school events, including silently wearing wristbands or displaying signs in the parking lot in opposition to allowing transgender girls to compete on girls' sports teams.

"The idea that I would be censored and threatened with removal from a public event for standing by my convictions is not just a personal affront—it is an infringement on the very rights I swore to defend," Anthony Foote said. "I spent 31 years in the United States Army, including three combat tours, and the school district in the town I was born in—the one my family has seven generations of history in—took away those rights. I sometimes wonder if I should have been here, fighting for our rights, rather than overseas."

GOP GOVERNOR REVEALS WHY HE ORDERED SCHOOLS TO BAR TRANSGENDER ATHLETES FROM GIRLS SPORTS

Earlier this month, a federal judge temporarily blocked a New Hampshire law prohibiting transgender females from playing on sports teams based on their preferred gender identity.