On Monday, September 30, Senator Jon Tester and Republican candidate Tim Sheehy debated in an event hosted by Montana PBS and the University of Montana.
Before the debate, Tim Sheehy and conservative activist Charlie Kirk held a “Save the Big Sky” rally at the university, which was attended by several hundred students and observers.
In the aftermath of some more explosive presidential debates, this one seemed rather milquetoast outside of a few interruptions from Senator Tester.
At the start of the debate, Tim Sheehy thanked Senator Tester for his years of service to the state and country as a senator, an action he repeated at the end of the debate as well. Notably, Tester did not once thank Sheehy or his wife for their service as combat veterans.
So far, the most viral exchange of the night was a quip from Sheehy in which he pointed out that Senator Tester has received more money from lobbyists than any other member of Congress, and said, “While I was fighting in Afghanistan, Jon Tester was eating lobbyist steak in D.C.” Tester has in fact been the member of Congress to receive the most lobbying cash in 2024, 2018, and 2012. He has also received more Super-PAC support than any other candidate this cycle.
The first topic of the night was the economy and home ownership. Both candidates admitted that homes were too expensive for working class families. Sheehy started by saying he would address the border. The increased demand for housing caused by an influx of 12+ million migrants in the last 3.5 years is one of many root reasons for increased housing costs. Sheehy also said he would work to lower rising insurance costs for those looking to purchase a home. Sheehy’s third way to address the increasing costs of homes was to incentivize trade jobs. Firstly, more tradesmen should result in more homes being built and thus lowering the cost, and these types of jobs often pay fairly well without the debt of attending a traditional four-year college, meaning those workers would be better able to afford a home. Tester blamed the rising cost of homes mostly on rich out of staters. He said he has proposed a bill to give first-time home buyers a $15,000 tax credit. It is debatable whether this would work, as the market often adjusts to tax credits like this, resulting in a comparable price increase.
The second topic of the night was abortion. Tester toed the Democratic party line, saying, “We need to have Roe reinstated.” This line is quite timely, with Kamala Harris recently saying she would eliminate the Senate filibuster to do this, while Jon Tester has stood with her and not joined the moderate Democrats of the Senate in opposing this. Tester also espoused support for CI-128, which would enshrine the right to an abortion in the Montana constitution. When Sheehy called Tester out for not supporting a bill that would protect born alive babies, Tester falsely claimed that didn’t happen. Reporting on this is uncommon, but in Minnesota, one of few states to require reporting on abortions that resulted in the live birth of a baby, five babies in 2021 were born alive and left to die, all of which would have been protected under the bill Tester voted against. Tester also falsely claimed that abortion restrictions in Georgia resulted in the deaths of two women; however, Georgia’s legislation specifically allows for abortion in cases in which the mother’s life is at risk, and in this case, the mothers both died from complications from abortion pills and did not seek medical care that they were explicitly allowed to receive. Tim Sheehy called himself a “law and order candidate” who would respect the result of the referendum on CI-128. He also contended that “What the Democrats have been pushing is the most extreme abortion legislation in the world, and I will not apologize for wanting to protect the life of an unborn child.” He said he would advocate for “common sense” legislation that includes exceptions and that “we have an obligation to protect the most vulnerable people in our society.” He called out Tester’s apparent appeal to medical liberty, citing his support for the federal government’s mandates around the COVID vaccine that forced many service members to be discharged, and mockingly called him “Libertarian Jon Tester”.
The third topic was public lands. Sheehy said that public lands “must stay public” but also that locals “should have more input than bureaucrats 3,000 miles away.” He pointed to his day-job as an aerial firefighter, risking his life for public lands, as evidence to his commitment to them. Tester said he would protect public lands as well, and that he has been a “fighter” for them his whole career. He tried to goad Sheehy for “backroom meetings” before Sheehy turned it on him calling him out for receiving more lobbying money than any other member of Congress.
The fourth topic was healthcare and seniors. Both candidates said they would support making sure Medicare and Medicaid stayed funded. Senator Tester flexed his vote for the controversial Inflation Reduction Act, as it capped the price of insulin for seniors. Tester then said, “Tim wants to purely privatize healthcare” and made the accusation that Sheehy would eliminate the VA and IHS. Politifact rated this statement as “mostly false”. Sheehy flaunted his multi-million-dollar donations to support trauma centers and other healthcare facilities in the state. He admitted the government has a role to play, but said that in general, the private sector has proved it can do things better and faster than the government. He called out Tester for supporting a single-payer healthcare system. Sheehy also said that he is “tired of politicians using veterans as political props,” especially with Tester serving as chair of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, but Montana being the worst state in the country for veteran suicides.
The fifth topic of the debate was fentanyl and the U.S. border. Tester and Sheehy agreed that border security was paramount. Sheehy called Tester out for the Democrat-controlled White House and Senate’s inability to seal the border, asking why in four years of control they did not act. Tester touted a border security bill that he claims would have solved the problem, but was shot down by “Republican party bosses”, and called out Sheehy for saying he would not have voted for it. Sheehy then argued that bill would not have solved the problems at the border. The bill would have codified catch and release, would have let in 1.8 million illegal migrants, would have provided publicly funded lawyers to illegal immigrants, and would not have funded a border wall or deportations. Sheehy cited recent statistics from ICE that over 13,000 convicted murderers along with around 450,000 convicted criminals in general have crossed our border in the last four years as cause for concern for Tester and the Democrat controlled Senate’s inability to act.
The sixth topic was foreign policy, specifically how involved the U.S. should be in foreign conflicts. Tester said that we need to defend democracy and ensure our allies can count on us. He called Israel “one of our best friends in the world”, and said he was proud of the support we have given Ukraine. He flexed his role as Chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in passing the largest Defense Authorization bill ever. Sheehy applauded the scale of the defense spending, but also said it needs to be more focused on lethality, not DEI and ESG initiatives. Sheehy said he was proud of the role the U.S. plays in the world, but that our reputation was decaying. He was embarrassed by the Biden-Harris administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, abandoning the sacrifice of thousands of American soldiers and handing the country right back to the Taliban. He argued that this display of weakness resulted in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the attacks of Hamas and Hezbollah on Israel, and heightened Chinese aggression in the Pacific. He pointed out that all advances made by Russia were under Democrat administrations, with Putin taking Crimea and Chechnya under the Obama administration, and now attempting to invade Ukraine under Biden-Harris. He said he was proud that the U.S. offered support to the Ukrainians at the beginning of the war, but now that it’s time for European countries “to step up.” He said that we should not “enter wars which we don’t intend to win”, as our own defense capabilities are falling behind while we give other nations our equipment.
The seventh topic of the debate was Native American health. Sheehy first praised Native Americans for enlisting in the military at a rate of five times the national average. Because of this, one of his solutions is improvements to the VA. Another way he would address Native American health is by increasing law enforcement presence on reservations, as unsolved murders are a large problem in Native American communities. Tester argued for more funding for the FBI.
From glancing at social media, it would appear most viewers thought Tim Sheehy won the debate. In the beginning, he was more reserved, using his time to defend his records against the record-breaking spending on attack ads against him, but as the debate continued he played more offense, going after Tester for his inaction on key issues for Montanans. With polls indicating that people feel less well off than four years ago, Sheehy was able to tie Tester to those sentiments. Sheehy was also able to appeal to people’s desire for younger candidates that are not a part of the political establishment, while Senator Tester looked very much like how you would expect a nearly 70-year-old who has been a part of the federal government for 18 years.
