Incumbent Senator Jon Tester faced off against Republican challenger Tim Sheehy on Monday night in what could be the final debate of the Montana Senate race this election cycle.
With Democrats fighting to maintain their narrow Senate majority, this race could be pivotal in determining which party controls the upper chamber next year.
Republicans need to secure only two seats in November to gain a Senate majority when the new Congress convenes next year. They are generally expected to win one seat in West Virginia, which means Montana could be the key to their success.
Polls have shown mixed results. Most, including a recent AARP poll conducted from August 25 to 26, have placed Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and business owner backed by Donald Trump, in the lead by six points and a Republican-backed poll from Public Opinion Strategies, conducted between August 18 and 20, showed Sheehy ahead by seven points.
However, some polls have favored Tester, the last remaining Democrat to hold high office in Montana, or shown the race as tied. An RMG Research poll from August 6 to 14 gave Tester a five-point lead, while a Public Opinion Strategies poll from June 11 to 13 showed the candidates evenly matched. A June poll by Fabrizio, Lee & Associates also had both candidates tied.
Ben Allan Smith/AP
The Cook Political Report labels the race “lean Republican.” Meanwhile, RealClearPolitics’ polling tracker gives Sheehy a 5.2-point advantage.
As the race tightens, here are the key takeaways from the most recent debate between Tester and Sheehy leading up to election day.
Native Americans
During the debate, Tester called on Sheehy to apologize for derogatory remarks he made last year, which were reported by Char-Koosta News, the official publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation. In the comments, Sheehy told a group of laughing supporters about “bonding with all the Indians … while they’re drunk at 8 a.m.,” and claimed they threw beer cans at him while he was working cattle on a ranch on the Crow Reservation.
“Yeah, insensitive,” Sheehy said of his comments on Monday night after Tester urged him to apologize. “I come from the military as many of our tribal members do. You know, we make insensitive jokes and probably off-color jokes sometimes and, you know, I’m an adult. I’ll take accountability for that.”
Sheehy then tried to shift the discussion to the immigration crisis but Tester slammed his rival for his comment.
“Tim, the statement you made degrades Native Americans across this country,” Tester said. “You’re a big guy, just apologize.”
“Will you apologize for opening the border?” Sheehy retorted.
Montana is home to seven Indian reservations and nearly 70,000 Native Americans, making up about 7 percent of the state’s population, according to U.S. Census data. This voting bloc has traditionally leaned Democratic, but in recent years, Montana Republicans have actively sought to court tribal leaders in hopes of winning their support in elections.
The Border
Sheehy consistently pointed the finger at Tester and the Biden administration for the surge in illegal immigration at the southern border, arguing that the border crisis has contributed to rising housing prices, increased consumer costs and other economic issues.
“Senate Democrats and White House Democrats created this border crisis. We had a secure border four years ago, Donald Trump handed a sealed border to the Biden-Harris Administration,” Sheehy said. “Kamala Harris, the border czar, with support from her friends on the Hill, like Senator Tester and Chuck Schumer, opened the border wide open for three years.”
However, Tester sought to distance himself from the Biden administration’s immigration policy. “I’ll be the first to tell you President Biden has not done a good job on the southern border,” he hit back.
“We had a solution—it was there, it could still be passed,” Tester added, referencing the bipartisan compromise bill, which died in the Senate due to lack of Republican support after pressure from Trump. The bill would have included a series of provisions aimed at reducing record high crossings at the southern border and tightening the asylum system.
Tester said: “It could have been passed six or eight months ago, but the bottom line is, Tim, before it was even released to read, said ‘Nope, not going to support that’ because his party bosses told him that’s what he needed to do.”
Tester Distances Himself from Democrats on Israel
Tester also distanced himself from calls for a ceasefire in Gaza by members of his party, stating during the debate that Israel should be able to protect itself, and also referenced the Russia-Ukraine war.
“They were attacked on October 7, coming right up for no reason whatsoever, and so they’re responding,” Tester said. “Do I agree with everything Bibi Netanyahu has done? Absolutely not. But the truth is Israel has to be able to protect themselves while the United States looks and helps the world look for a political solution for both of those conflicts.”
Sheehy highlighted his military background and criticized the Biden-Harris administration, asserting that the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan had sparked other global conflicts.
“That set off a domino chain of weakness that led us to the path of chaos we are on today, from Israel to Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific, where we’re seeing China make moves that were unthinkable just 20 years ago,” Sheehy said.
Tester Unloads on Sheehy on Protecting Federal Lands
Tester criticized Sheehy for his record on protecting federal lands, which has been a huge issue in Montana.
“What they say in back rooms, when they don’t think the recorder is going or the camera is running, is usually what they think,” Tester said. “And Tim said we need to turn our lands over to either his rich buddies or county government. That’s not protecting public lands.”
Tester also referenced previous reporting by HuffPost last year which revealed that Sheehy had called for federal lands to be “turned over” to states or counties and had failed to disclose his post on the board of the Property and Environment Research Center, a property rights and environmental research nonprofit with a history of advocating for privatizing federal lands.
Sheehy defended himself during the debate, saying: “No one, including myself, in that organization has ever advocated for selling our public lands―never have, never will.”
In a 1999 policy paper titled “How and Why to Privatize Federal Lands,” PERC’s then-director, Terry Anderson, along with others, outlined a plan they referred to as “a blueprint for auctioning off all public lands within 20 to 40 years.”
About 30 percent of Montana is federal land.
Abortion
Abortion rights was one of the main issues discussed during the debate. It comes as voters in Montana are set to vote on a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution after Roe vs. Wade was repealed by the Supreme Court.
During the debate, Tester said he supports the initiative.
“I want to see Roe reinstated. And I think this initiative, this ballot initiative that’s going to be on the ballot, will do exactly that. It will enshrine it into the constitution so that women can make their own health care decisions,” Tester said. “My opponent, on the other hand, feels exactly the opposite. He feels he’s more entitled to make that decision than the women are.”
Sheehy stated that he would back the ballot initiative if Montana voters chose to implement it and expressed his support for certain “exceptions.”
“If this particular initiative should pass, it’s the law of the land and certainly I’ll respect it. But the reality is, at some point we have to protect the life of the child. He could be the next Albert Einstein, the next Michael Jordan, the next Jon Tester for all we know,” Sheehy said.
The former Navy SEAL went on to claim that his opponent supports “abortion up to and including in a moment of birth.” There is no evidence to support this claim.
Tester responded: “That born alive statement that Tim Sheehy just made was total bunk—it’s a lie, doesn’t happen, those lives are already protected. You know it, Tim. You’re just saying it to try to politicize this issue more than it already is.”
The senator added: “Women should be able to make their own health care decisions. It shouldn’t be the federal government, a bureaucrat or a judge. Women should. That’s what Montanans like.”
