Control of the US Senate in play as Montana’s Tester debates GOP opponent

29 September 2024 – 21:12

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Jon Tester of Montana is fighting to keep his seat and prevent Republicans from taking over the Senate as the three-term lawmaker faces GOP challenger Tim Sheehy in a debate Monday night.

Tester is the last Democrat to hold high office in Montana, and the race is on track to become the most expensive race in the state’s history. Including former Republican party leaders President Donald Trump The 68-year-old farmer hand-picked Sheehy in hopes of unseating Tester.

Republicans need to pick up just two seats to take the Senate majority and are widely thought to be locked in one seat. West Virginia.

Sheehy, 38, is a former U.S. Navy SEAL and wealthy businessman. He sought to erode Testci’s long-standing support among moderates by highlighting the MP’s stance. He has connections to lobbyists. It’s a tactic Tester used successfully in his first Senate win in 2006, also against a three-term incumbent.

The tester tried to make the race a referendum on women’s reproductive rights. ties his campaign Roe vs. to a ballot initiative in November that would enshrine abortion rights in the Montana constitution following the overturning of the Wade case.

He labeled Sheehy an undesirable outsider who was “part of the problem” of rising taxes after home prices soared in many parts of the state due to a housing shortage.

Sheehy said the reason for his escape was the disastrous withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan. The political rookie’s campaign stumbled at times: He admitted to lying about the source of a gunshot wound to his arm and faced prolonged backlash. derogatory comments gave his supporters information about Native Americans obtained through a tool. tribal newspaper.

But Republicans are confident that Tester is finally taking the reins, 18 years after he entered the Senate. Recent polls show Sheehy making gains in a state that Trump won by 17 percentage points in 2020.

The state has moved further to the right with each subsequent election cycle, partly due to the influence of newcomers like Sheehy, who came to Montana in 2014 to start an aerial firefighting business.

Sheehy embraced his outsider status and said he would speak on behalf of both newcomers and longtime residents. He has repeatedly sought to lump Tester in with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, highlighting public dissatisfaction with the administration’s struggles to stop illegal immigration at the southern border.

Trying to blunt the attacks, Tester skipped the Democratic National Convention last month, refused to endorse Harris and avoided mentioning her on the campaign trail. He has challenged the administration on tougher pollution rules for coal plants and pressed for more action on immigration.

Sheehy doesn’t have a political record that warrants criticism, but Tester and Democrats pointed out his past comments supporting abortion restrictions. They claim Sheehy will help “make abortion illegal” in Montana.