Aides to Republican Denny Rehberg tell NBC Montana he is spending the rest of this week with his family, after losing his bid for one of Montana's U.S. Senate seats.

Rehberg never joined his supporters on Election Night, but a campaign spokesman says he will personally thank many of them in the days to come.  

NBC Montana was with Rehberg's supporters at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. Aides told us the candidate was staying in a room at the hotel. He was tentatively expected to join the party after President Obama's victory speech, but he never appeared.

When the Associated Press called the race in favor of Democrat Jon Tester the next morning, Rehberg's campaign sent out a press release on his behalf. He congratulated Tester and thanked his supporters.

NBC Montana talked to Chris Bond, the Rehberg campaign's communications director. "We've got a lot to be proud of," he said. "Denny's been very thankful to all the staff and volunteers over the last several days. So of course there is disappointment in losing, but people know we've worked as hard as we can, we've put up as good a fight as we can, and that's all you can do at the end of the day."