Rehberg was the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in 1996 and 2012, losing to Democratic incumbents Max Baucus 49% to 44% and Jon Tester 48% to 44%, respectively.
As lieutenant governor, Rehberg sought to bring government back to the local level by traveling to all 56 counties every year.
He chaired the Drought Advisory Committee and the Task Force credited with reforming Worker's Compensation, the Montana Rural Development Council, and several health care initiatives.
1505,[18] which would waive environmental laws that would otherwise prevent the Department of Homeland Security from constructing roads, fences, and forward operating bases in national parks and wilderness areas within 100 miles of the international border.
The Department of Homeland Security called the bill "unnecessary and bad policy" since DHS already has a memorandum of understanding allowing them to enter these lands without prior approval.
[23][24] Rehberg served on the Military Quality of Life and Foreign Operations Subcommittees of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations.
In his position statement on Economic Development, he said "Our [Montana's] coal and natural gas reserves stretch for hundreds of years into the future, and we can turn them into much needed energy."
Dennis Rehberg states opposition to the Shays-Meehan bill from 1998, of which he says it "stripped freedom of speech rights from Montana citizens."
Rehberg was criticized by foreign policy experts and human rights activists over the fact that he previously lobbied as a registered foreign agent at the firm Mercury Public Affairs for Hikvision, a Chinese state-owned video surveillance company that was sanctioned by the U.S. government for aiding China's government in the detainment and surveillance of Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in China [38][39][40] Rehberg lobbied for Hikvision against U.S. sanctions while working at Mercury, though claimed to the Washington Examiner in May 2024 that he "has no knowledge or idea of what happened” in China with Hikvision, seeking to distance himself from the company's activities.
"[41][42] “Unless he denounces or publicly apologizes for what he did, he should not be elected to represent the American people,” Rushan Abbas told the Washington Examiner.
[38][43] Rehberg married his high school sweetheart, Jan, a water attorney who represents farmers and ranchers.
[45] In an April 2011 town hall meeting video released by the Montana Democratic Party, he told an audience member that he was "land-rich and cash-poor" and "struggling like everyone else.
"[46] On the night of Thursday, August 27, 2009, while in the area for a series of town hall forums on healthcare, Rehberg was a passenger in a boating accident near Bigfork, Montana on Flathead Lake.
[48] Law enforcement agents investigated the cause of the accident, including "how fast the boat was going, who was driving, and 'whether alcohol and drugs were involved.'"
Despite the fact that, according to a witness quoted in the criminal complaint, Barkus had been drinking scotch and wine at a lakeside restaurant that night, Rehberg later said he 'was surprised to learn the results of Greg's blood alcohol test'.
[49] Barkus, who had other driving violations and previously had plea bargained a DUI case down, ultimately pleaded no contest to a felony criminal endangerment charge.
[50] In July 2010, Rehberg's corporation that has developed a subdivision on his former ranch land sued the City of Billings for calling back firefighters from protecting trees and some scrub brush.
[51] While the suit was filed in July, Rehberg and his wife did not push forward with litigation, given the political pressures of the 2010 Congressional campaign.