When you are out canvassing and ask voters what issues are important to them, you may occasionally hear Sheehy-MAGA voters parroting attack ad claims that Senator Tester is no longer independent enough from the Democratic Party to be trusted to represent Montana in the US Senate. That’s just not true. Here are the facts:
Senator Tester’s Record of Being an Independent Voice for Montana
The following examples of Senator Tester’s independence show that he doesn’t toe the party line or fall in line behind ANY party bosses.
Senator Tester fought tirelessly to build the Keystone XL pipeline and bring its job and tax benefits to Eastern Montana for more than a decade. He urged the Biden Administration to reverse its decision to cancel the permit and come back to the table to sit down with stakeholders—including TC Energy and Montana’s Tribes—to chart a path forward on the job-creating project together, and he cosponsored bipartisan legislation to override President Biden’s decision to cancel the Keystone XL permit and allow the project the move forward. Tester also broke with his party to approve the pipeline’s construction in 2015, and when former President Obama vetoed the bill, Tester voted to override the veto.
Senator Tester repeatedly reminded Senate leadership that President Biden’s American Families Plan must be fully paid for (so as not to increase US debt) to earn his support. Tester also played a leading role in ensuring that changes to “stepped-up basis” tax laws were not included in a compromise between the House and the Senate. Tester had consistently heard from Montana producers and small businesses owners that the proposed tax law changes would put the continued operations of family farms, ranches, and small businesses in jeopardy, and helped put a stop to the law changes proposed by the Biden administration.
Senator Tester strongly encouraged President Biden to keep Trump-era border security policies like COVID-related expulsions and “Remain in Mexico” expulsions of undocumented immigrants in place at the US-Mexico border, because that decision would be best for Montanans. The Biden administration did resume “Remain in Mexico” expulsions.
Senator Tester successfully amended the Senate Military Construction, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill to prohibit federal funds from being used to report a veteran’s information to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) without an order from a judge finding that the individual is a danger to themselves or others.
The amendment was praised by The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), The American Legion, and Mission Roll Call because “A negative consequence of VA’s current practice is that veterans tell the VFW that they refuse to seek mental health care at the VA because they fear their firearms will be taken away.”
Senator Tester championed a bipartisan law that requires the US Department of Education to reverse a decision that prevented school districts from using federal resources for school archery, gun safety, and hunter education programs. Tester stated that “When the Department of Education came out with this decision, folks in Billings and across Montana spoke up, and together we were able to get my bipartisan bill swiftly signed into law that will protect hunter safety courses and our Second Amendment rights for generations to come. Montanans sent me to the Senate to stand up for our rural way of life, and I won’t let any unelected D.C. bureaucrat threaten our outdoor traditions.”
Senator Tester’s seniority in the Senate and expertise in lawmaking give him lots of independence from Democratic party bosses. As evidence, Tester worked with former President Trump to get more than 20 of his bills signed into law. Tester will work with anyone, regardless of party, to pass good public policy. His only bosses are the people of Montana.
National politics are a mess, but we volunteer for Jon Tester because he understands our state and delivers real results for Montana. We can count on him to fight for us.
Tim Sheehy is Not Independent Enough Because of His Financial Ties
The best way to figure out how independent Tim Sheehy would be as a US Senator is to “follow the money.”
At the end of 2023 “the executive officers of Bridger [Aerospace] and Mr. Matthew Sheehy (a co-founder and director of Bridger and the brother of Mr. Timothy Sheehy, the Bridger CEO), collectively beneficially [directly or indirectly] owned 53.3% of the outstanding Common Stock. . . . As a result, Bridger has a small number of significant stockholders who could significantly influence its business and operations [and the value of the Sheehy brothers’ Bridger stock]. In addition, the BTO [Blackstone Technical Opportunities] Stockholders collectively beneficially owned 19.7% . . . of the outstanding Common Stock. . . .” Thus, if Tim were to become a Montana US senator, he would face significant conflicts of interest as a major stockholder in a company that is reliant both on receiving most of its revenue from the Federal government and cooperation from Blackstone Inc., a firm that has $1 trillion of assets under management. Sheehy will always be beholden to the people who fund his money-losing aerial firefighting business and could never be independent of their influence.
A recent article by a Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street reporter shows that Sheehy is still very much beholden to the billionaire class: “For a contest far from Wall Street, Sheehy’s campaign has attracted the attention of some of finance’s biggest names, including Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder of Citadel LLC, the hedge fund and trading powerhouse. Last fall, Griffin donated $5 million to a Super PAC called “More Jobs, Less Government” that has spent almost $11 million this year, or 96% of its receipts, supporting Sheehy, Federal Election Commission records show. They also show that Stephen Schwarzman, the billionaire co-founder of The Blackstone Group, a New York City-based private-equity giant that invested in Bridger, has given $5 million to the “More Jobs” Super PAC over the past year.”
As another example among many, the Executive Chairman of Bridger Aerospace is also on the Board of Directors of Invitation Homes (NYSE: INVH) which owns about 84,000 rental homes in 16 markets. “Wall Street companies in the rent industry, especially Invitation Homes, have garnered strong backlash from real estate experts and affordable-housing activists for taking advantage of tenants to fill investors’ pockets; the primary argument is that the corporations are incentivized to keep repair costs low and fees and rent prices high in order to increase bond sales that determine their scale.” How could Sheehy act independently from Bridger Aerospace Chairman’s financial interests?
Sheehy was selected to run against Jon Tester by Montana’s other current US Senator, Republican Party boss Steve Daines, who is head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Senate Majority Leader McConnell proudly praises Daines’s accomplishments. Sheehy will be forever in debt to both party bosses for the money he has accepted to finance his campaign, highlighting Sheehy’s lack of independence from Republican party bosses.
Donald Trump has endorsed Sheehy’s campaign to take Jon Tester’s job and has already rallied once for Sheehy in Montana. (Trump rallied for Tester’s opponent three times during the 2018 election because Tester called out Trump’s VA Secretary nominee as an incompetent lawbreaker.) While Trump is primarily motivated by staying out of jail (as a convicted felon and sexual abuser), enriching himself, and taking revenge against those who have crossed him, we also know that Trump requires absolute loyalty from those he works with.
Can we really expect that self-serving approach to change if Sheehy becomes Montana’s junior US senator? Under another Trump presidency, Sheehy would find himself out of power the instant he thwarted Trump in any way. So much for independence.
Actually, Sheehy has a perfect opportunity to show his independence from Trump, who he has endorsed for president. As a combat veteran, all Sheehy would have to do is to publicly condemn the statement by former President Donald Trump who said on August 15, 2024 that the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which honors civilians, “is actually much better” than the Medal of Honor, because service members who receive the nation’s highest military decoration are often wounded or awarded it posthumously. In any event, a man is known by the company he keeps.
Clearly, Jon Tester is and will be an independent voice for Montana who doesn’t toe the party line or fall in line behind any party bosses.