Op-Ed: The Montana We Love Is At Stake. I'm Fighting to Defend It.

U.S. Senator Jon Tester

I’m Jon Tester. I’ve lived down a long dirt road outside of Big Sandy all my life, where I still farm the same land my grandparents homesteaded more than 100 years ago.

Out here, your word is your bond, and you look out for your neighbors. A handshake still means something. And that’s why Montana is the greatest state in the greatest country on earth.

But that Montana that we know and love is changing, and the Last Best Place is at risk of being lost forever. I want to make sure Montana remains the place that we grew up in or made you want to move here, where you don’t need to be a millionaire to hunt, fish, or afford to live here. That’s why after talking with my wife Sharla, I decided to run for reelection — because the state we love is worth defending.

This is our last shot to protect Montana for all of us, not just multimillionaires, hedge funds, and big corporations. Wealthy outsiders are coming into our state, jacking up prices and trying to change our way of life. I won’t let them.

My opponent Tim Sheehy is one of them. Here is a guy that moved here recently from the big city suburbs, bought up a bunch of properties across Montana, and then started charging folks $12,500 to hunt on his land. Sheehy is part of the problem, not the solution.

If anyone thinks Tim Sheehy will stand up to the out-of-state interests buying up our housing, I’ve got beachfront property in North Central Montana to sell them. If anyone thinks Tim Sheehy is going to protect our public lands, I’ve got an audio tape of him pledging to transfer them off so wealthy outsiders can buy them up for themselves. If anyone thinks Tim Sheehy would send the government packing when they try to interfere in our personal lives, just look at how he wants politicians to make health care decisions for Montana women, robbing them of their freedoms.

Those aren’t the Montana values we grew up with.

Here, we work hard for what we’ve got. We know that nothing is given, and everything is earned.

So every day, I wake up and go to bat to keep Montana the Last Best Place. And I’ll work with Republicans, Democrats, and Independents to do it. That’s why former President Trump signed more than 20 of my bills into law to help veterans, crack down on government waste and abuse, and support our first responders. It’s why I’m working hard to lower costs like housing, hire more Border Patrol agents to secure the border and shut off the deadly flow of fentanyl, keep our public lands in public hands, and push back against one-size-fits all regulations from the Biden administration that just don’t make sense for rural America.

The truth is that Montana’s way of life is on the line, and we have a choice. We can fight to protect our state and hold on to the freedoms that make it great, or we can let Tim Sheehy and his out-of-state, special interest backers turn it into a playground for the rich.

If you want Montana to stay a place where you can afford to raise your family, where you don’t have to be a millionaire to hunt or fish or buy a home, and where our freedoms are protected, then this election is your last best chance to choose someone who will defend that Montana way of life.

For me, this has always been about Montana – and always will be.

Paid for by Montanans for Tester