Democrat Jon Tester makes closing pitch to win over conservative voters in Montana

Sen. Jon Tester made a last-ditch plea Thursday to Montana’s conservative voters, a voting bloc the Democrat will need support from to hang onto his Senate.

Mr. Tester warned that “Montana’s way of life is on the line” in his race against Republican Tim Sheehy, a retired Navy SEAL and aerospace millionaire.

“The truth is that Montana’s way of life is on the line, and we have a choice,” Mr. Tester wrote in an op/ed published on Fox News. “We can fight to protect our state and hold on to the freedoms that make it great, or we can let Tim Sheehy and his out-of-state, special interest backers turn it into a playground for the rich.”

The pair have been locked in a highest profile race likely to determine which party controls the Senate. Mr. Tester has won tight elections in the Treasure State, which has morphed from purple to red during his three terms in office.

He has consistently trailed Mr. Sheehy, a political novice who was handpicked by Montana’s Republican Sen. Steve Daines to take on Mr. Tester. Mr. Sheehy leads by roughly 4 points in the polls.

In the opinion article, Mr. Tester touted his bipartisan record in his latest pitch to conservative voters, including 20 bills he was involved in that Mr. Trump signed into law and his criticisms of the Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the border.

He also accused Mr. Sheehy, a native of Minnesota, of being “one of them.” That’s one of the wealthy outsiders who the senator said was spoiling Montana.

“Here is a guy that moved here recently from the big city suburbs, bought up a bunch of properties across Montana, and then started charging folks $12,500 to hunt on his land,” he said. “Sheehy is part of the problem, not the solution.”

A day earlier, Mr. Sheehy similarly made his closing pitch to voters in an op/ed published on Fox News. 

He touted his support of Mr. Trump’s agenda, military service and founding of aerial firefighting company Bridger Aerospace in Belgrade, Montana, a small town just outside of one of the state’s few blue dots of Bozeman, Montana. 

Mr. Sheehy said that Montanans want political outsiders, like himself, to boot career politicians who “run for office after office, go to D.C. to get rich, and lecture us about ‘fighting for you’ while our problems only get worse.”

He accused Mr. Tester of being a “radical pro-Kamala liberal” who has voted in lockstep with the Biden-Harris administration — though Mr. Tester has so far kept Vice President Kamala Harris at arm’s length since she entered the race and has not endorsed her. 

“Why is Tester so desperate? Because on border security, inflation, the Second Amendment and keeping America strong, Tester’s with Kamala, and I’m with you,” he said. “Tester is focused on smearing me. I’m focused on fighting for you and solving our serious problems.”