Montana’s first debate in U.S. Senate race

From the vantage point of the land his grandparents homesteaded, incumbent Democrat Tester said he’s seen out-of-staters try to reshape Montana into a playground for the wealthy and that he’s the candidate with the skills and experience to fight back.

Republican challenger Tim Sheehy, who founded an aerial firefighting company in Belgrade, told viewers he’s a military warrior who has fought for America and that a new generation of leaders like him are what will keep the country from falling apart.

The two men in one of the nation’s most consequential Senate races debated in an hour-long exchange hosted by the Montana Broadcasters Association before a closed studio audience at Fairmont Hot Springs. Tester is one of two Democrats seeking re-election, in this case to his fourth term, in a state won by former President Donald Trump in 2020. He’s being targeted by Republicans nationally who see the seat as critical to taking back control of the chamber.

On some, but definitely not all, of the issues they were asked about, the candidates found agreement on their assessment of the problems facing Montana. But the two men pressed hard to show voters the Grand Canyon-sized difference in their biographies.

“The bottom line is, Montana is changing. We’re seeing a lot of folks come into the state rich folks who want to try to buy our state to try to change it into something that’s not. Montana’s always been a state where your word is your bond, and a handshake means something and that the truth matters. Unfortunately, many of these folks are coming in, they’re buying big ranches, they’re locking people off of not only that ranch, but the public lands around it, and that’s not what Montana is about,” Tester said.

Though he didn’t directly say it until later in the debate, that critique echoed ads Tester is running against Sheehy critical of his purchase of a ranch, charging people to hunt his land and in general the wealthy challenger who moved to the state a decade ago.