Control of the Senate could come down to the race in which native Montanan Jon Tester is in a death line dance with GOP carpetbagger Tim Sheehy.
How native is Senator Tester? He’s a third generation Montana farmer:
The Tester Family Farm has stood on 1,800 acres of land in beautiful wheat country for a little more than 100 years. A 100% organic farm raising barley, red lentils, kamut, alfalfa, hay, and safflower also raised the very man who both runs the operation and a little piece of our country, today. United States Senator Jon Tester is a man juggling two different jobs: one as a family farmer back home in Big Sandy, Montana, and one representing the people of his home state in the US Senate. Armed with the values, ethics, and heart of a family farmer (and some of his own freshly cut meat from his Big Sandy butcher shop), Senator Jon Tester is proud to always bring a little agriculture to Capitol Hill.
The farm, started by Tester’s grandparents back in 1912 and passed down to his parents in 1943, has always succeeded under a strong, equal partnership between husband and wife.”
How much of a carpetbagger is Tim Sheehy? He’s from Minnesota and his first residence in Montana was a vacation home/hunting lodge type affair.
Montana used to be a purple state, but its become redder and redder over the years. It was home to longtime Senate Democratic leader Mike Mansfield, but that liberal academic wouldn’t recognize the Montana of 2024. That’s why Jon Tester has to keep the national Democratic party at arm’s length. Just win, baby.
Tester is running a hyper local campaign, which can be analogized to Runaround Sue Collins’ 2020 reelection shocker. Collins is a native Mainer who ran against Democrat Sara Gideon who seemed to be a strong candidate in a state that has become bluer and bluer over the years. Gideon, however, was a transplant and Collins hammered that home during the campaign. That was how one of the most vulnerable candidates of that cycle won.
I wouldn’t advise Senator Tester to be like Susan Collins in any other way, but her campaign provides a roadmap to victory in the state that Lonesome Dove’s Gus McCrae insisted on calling Montany.
Good luck, Senator Tester.
The last word goes to Frank Zappa and the Mothers:
Is Tim Sheehy the real life dental floss tycoon in the song? Discuss amongst yourselves.