Nasty new scandal for Jon Tester’s Republican opponent Tim Sheehy
Sen. Jon Tester is someone who’s always outlasted expectations every time he’s run for reelection in the Senate. After he won his seat during the 2006 “six year itch” midterms under President Bush, one of the strongest memorable years on record for rural Democrats, his win was regarded as something of a fluke and no one thought he’d possibly win reelection in 2012, the same year of a presidential election in what has always been considered a solidly red state. With President Obama winning re-election, Democrats defied expectations and kept the Senate with a thin majority. In 2018, Tester yet again managed to defy expectations as Democrats faced a fairly difficult Senate map, and won his third consecutive election in Montana, where Donald Trump still enjoyed high approval ratings.
You’ve probably already noticed a pattern – that Jon Tester has been through tight spots before and managed to come out on top. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s a shoe-in this year, particularly when ticket splitting for voters isn’t as common as it was even back in 2012. There are, however, reasons to be optimistic – as we’re seeing Democrats defy expectations in rural areas, Montana having a ballot initiative on abortion that will appear on the ballot and should drive Democratic-leaning independents to favor Tester.
His opponent, Tim Sheehy, is also no stranger to scandal and now Sheehy’s got a sizable new scandal: A vile racist tirade caught on tape – remarks that he made last year at a fundraiser about Native Americans. It’s not the kind of think you want to have on record when you’re running for Senate in a state with the fifth largest population of Native Americans – and roping them in with some pretty abhorrent stereotypes. It’s also happening at a bad time for the GOP, that’s trying to fight off being branded as racist, as well as misogynistic and just plain weird. It’s clearer than ever that Sen. Jon Tester can absolutely win again in Montana – let’s do what we can to put him over the top and get him elected on Nov 5.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making