Matthew Brown/AP
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, a third-generation farmer from Montana, is one of Republicans’ top political targets this year as they try to win back control of the Senate.
Tester is the last Democrat holding statewide office as Republicans have dominated recent elections in Montana. He’s campaigning for a fourth term in one of just four U.S. Senate races identified as toss-ups by The Cook Political Report.
In a political career that’s spanned more than two decades, first in the state legislator then in the U.S. Senate, Tester has carved out an identity as a moderate – focusing on agriculture, education and veterans’ issues.
At a fundraiser last month in Helena, Mont., Tester described what it’s like being a Democrat in an increasingly Republican state.
“The progress we make as Democrats in this state are hard fought,” Tester said. “We have to earn them inch by inch.”
With the Senate in the balance, Tester walks a tightrope
The stakes, both in Montana and nationally, have outside groups pouring money into the race. More than $32 million has been spent so far in ads this cycle on the race. According to an NPR analysis of data from the tracking firm Ad Impact, just over $12 million of that is coming from GOP groups and more than $19 million is from Democratic spending. Tester’s campaign is the biggest ad spender so far with more than $10 million spent.
Republican ads in this year’s race have described the senator as “two-face Tester,” claiming he’s beholden to special interests instead of Montana voters.
Tester is a top recipient of lobbyist cash among members of Congress. according to Open Secrets, which tracks campaign-finance spending. He’s raised about $33 million so far in his reelection campaign, according to recent FEC filings. That’s four times the amount his top GOP opponent, Tim Sheehy, has raised and more than Tester raised in total for his 2018 campaign.
In an interview with NPR in February, Tester rejected criticism that money influences his politics.
“This is part of the Republican strategy that they’ve always had to try to make me into something I’m not so they can run against that person, because they can’t beat the dirt farmer from Big Sandy, Montana, who looks out for rural America,” Tester said.
That identity has been central to his staying power as Montana’s senior senator.
But when it comes to actual votes – his staying power is won by slim margins. In all three of his bids for Senate, Tester has never won more than 51% of the vote.
He tries to appeal to voters by highlighting what he sees as a record of working across the aisle.
An example he often cites is his work as chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee to gain bipartisan support of the PACT Act. Signed into law in 2022, with bipartisan support, it expanded health benefits for millions of veterans who were exposed to toxins while on active duty.
“Montanans understand that you need to work together. They understand the division is bad,” Tester said when discussing his approach to reaching across…
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