That quote isn’t something you read everyday when perusing the political headlines. Yet, it happened today.
Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) is running for re-election. He made Democrats very happy when he announced his decision to run again. Democrats are desperate to hang on to their razor slim majority in the Senate, especially while Biden is in office. Tester had been holding off on saying if he would or wouldn’t run again.
The down side for Tester is that his seat is a prime target for Republicans to take over in 2024. The Senate electoral map for Democrats is bad news in 2024. Of the 100 Senate seats, 33 are up for regular election. Special elections may be held to fill vacancies that occur in the 118th Congress. 10 seats are held by Republicans and 20 are held by Democrats. Three seats are held by independents who caucus with Democrats. There will be one special election to fill the last two years of the six-year term of Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican who resigned in January to become president of the University of Florida.
I’m feeling pretty optimistic about Republicans taking back the Senate in 2024 but I don’t want to get my hopes up too high because recent predictions of red waves have been so very wrong. Republicans have a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. It’s Lucy and the football. Montana can be one spot where Republicans can flip a seat in the Senate. So, when I saw an unfortunate quote tacked on to his name, it was full speed ahead.
The timing of this story about Tester is not the greatest for him. A Republican challenger announced his candidacy this month. Tim Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, a businessman, and firefighting pilot is off to a good start. Sheehy announced his candidacy Tuesday on Fox News Digital, calling for “a new generation of leadership.” That sounds familiar.
Tester is a wealthy farmer. He is 66-years-old and running for his fourth term. He’s a darling of the teachers unions, so there’s that. He’s a Democrat, after all. He really doesn’t have anything of note to run on. He usually blends into the woodwork. During the Trump years, there was a kerfuffle he created for attention when Tester tossed around accusations against White House Physician Ronny Jackson when Trump nominated him to run the Department of Veteran Affairs. That nomination was derailed. Jackson went on to run for Congress from his home district in Texas and won.
In a new book, a journalist was asked by Tester’s staff not to include he senator’s private parts in his reporting. The journalist was spending time with Tester on his farm and Tester decided to answer nature’s call by peeing in his field. He didn’t bother to cover himself up to be a little discreet about what he was doing in front of the journalist, so his staff asked that the anecdote be off the record. You can’t make this stuff up.
In journalist Ben Terris’ new book, “The Big Break: The Gamblers, Party Animals, and True Believers Trying to Win in Washington While America Loses Its Mind,” the author recounted spending time with Tester on his Montana farm.
During that trip, Tester, a farmer, answered nature’s call in an organic pea field next to his tractor while Terris was with him, the author recounted.
“A couple years later I was on assignment in Montana writing a profile of Jon Tester when the flat-topped, seven-fingered senator (who was also a working farmer) suddenly started relieving himself in an organic pea field next to his tractor without covering himself up,” Terris wrote.
“Later, a press aide (who, coincidentally, also only had seven fingers) popped out of a Subaru and posed to me a question as old as the federal government itself: ‘Can the senator’s penis please be off the record?’” the journalist wrote in a book released earlier this month.
Welp.
So far there has been no comment by Tester’s campaign.
Compare and contrast the 66-year-old Democrat exposing himself as he is peeing in his field to his Republican challenger.
Shifting the focus away from political parties, Sheehy said that “one thing I learned in a foxhole in Afghanistan or the belly of a submarine, is when the chips are down there is really only one political party — and that’s American.”
Before entering the political scene, Sheehy served in Iraq, Afghanistan, South America and the Pacific region, receiving the Bronze Star with Valor for Heroism in Combat and the Purple Heart Medal. On top of also owning several businesses, the veteran recipient shares four kids with his Marine veteran wife, Carmen Sheehy.
It sounds like Sheehy is ready to run for Montana.
Sheehy, the millionaire founder and CEO of aerial firefighting company Bridger Aerospace, said in a statement Tuesday he would “fight to bring real leadership to Washington to save our country and protect our Montana way of life.”
“I think Americans are feeling underrepresented,” he told Fox News Digital. “They’re tired of a government that they don’t feel is working for them.”
He named inflation, border security and the federal budget deficit as top issues.
There is a potential primary battle brewing between Sheehy and Rep. Matt Rosendale. Rosendale is a member of the House Freedom Caucus and planning to run for the Senate seat. Sheehy was recruited by the NRSC chair, Senator Steve Daines of Montana. So, that’s a little awkward. Rosendale ran in 2018 against Tester and lost by four points. Rosendale has not announced but he has begun to take shots at Sheehy. Tuesday, on Twitter he wrote that Sheehy was chosen by McConnell and the “party bosses.”
I’m Tim Sheehy, former Navy SEAL, businessman, husband, and father of four. I fought to protect our nation—I’m answering the call to serve again.
I’m running for U.S. Senate to bring leadership back to Washington and protect Montana.
It starts today: https://t.co/4Is8HaVAIc pic.twitter.com/j3pk8m30mt
— Tim Sheehy (@SheehyforMT) June 27, 2023
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