Democratic Senator. Jon Tester and Republican challenger Tim Sheehy faced off Sunday in the first Senate debate in Montana — an early showdown in one of the key races to determine control of the Senate next year.
The debate, sponsored by the Montana Broadcasters Association, offered a preview of how Democratic candidates campaigning in largely Republican states, like Tester, navigate the task of splitting the vote with President Joe Bidenwhich Montana lost by more than 16 points in 2020. While Tester sought distance from the Democratic president, Sheehy tried to tie him and Biden together.
“Some of the energy regulations that have come out of the Biden administration are completely unacceptable,” Tester said Sunday morning, criticizing the Biden administration’s environmental regulations. “I pushed back on those regulations, and I’m currently pushing back on regulations that the EPA has put out that wants to shut down a coal-fired power plant.”
“The bottom line is he doesn’t listen to me enough,” Tester said of his relationship with Biden.
Asked about Biden’s new executive action aimed at curbing migrant border crossings, Tester again found fault with Biden.
“The president has issued a number of executive orders [that] Frankly, it should have been done years ago,” Tester said of the Biden administration’s recent moves at the border.
Sheehy said Tester had spent most of the time voting with Biden and delving into specific issues. On the issue of border security, Sheehy said, “Time and time again, Joe Biden and the Democrats in the Senate, including Jon Tester, have had the opportunity to close that border and pass legislation to do so.” Sheehy later dismissed Biden’s recent executive action as “political theater.”
Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL and entrepreneur, also tied Tester to Biden on military issues.
“Jon Tester’s chairmanship of the Defense Appropriations Committee and Joe Biden’s stewardship in the White House have led to the lowest military readiness in a generation,” Sheehy said.
“We focused on DEI and ESG in our military instead of ensuring we are training warfighters,” Sheehy added. The Republican previously said that facing the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 was a motivating factor for his Senate bid.
Republicans need a net gain of two Senate seats to guarantee a majority next year, or one seat plus the groundbreaking vice presidency. And Democrats are defending three seats in states that Trump comfortably won in 2020.
The retirement of Democratic Senator Joe Manchin in West Virginia has left the Republican window of opportunity wide open, and Tester’s race and that of Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio are two more major targets for Republicans. Brown faces similar red state dynamics in his state against Trump-backed Republican Bernie Moreno. In addition to trying to convince voters to cross party lines, he is also trying to keep the Democratic president’s low favorability ratings in check in his state.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
