Former Navy SEAL Officer Announces He's Gunning for Vulnerable Dem Senate Seat, Immediately Nets Key Endorsement
The people of the great state of Montana soon will have an opportunity to elect a second person who actually represents them in the U.S. Senate next fall.
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester officially has a Republican challenger in businessman and former Navy SEAL officer Tim Sheehy, who entered the race on Tuesday morning.
“Our campaign is about service, God and country,” Sheehy said in a video announcing his run.
I’m Tim Sheehy, former Navy SEAL, businessman, husband, and father of four. I fought to protect our nation—I’m answering the call to serve again.
I’m running for U.S. Senate to bring leadership back to Washington and protect Montana.
It starts today: https://t.co/4Is8HaVAIc pic.twitter.com/j3pk8m30mt
— Tim Sheehy (@SheehyforMT) June 27, 2023
Tester is viewed by many as extremely vulnerable as he seeks yet another six-year term, and the race could decide the balance of power in the Senate after next year.
Sheehy quickly earned a key endorsement from Republican Sen. Steve Daines of Montana.
“Tim Sheehy is a decorated veteran, successful businessman, and a great Montanan,” Daines told Missoula’s KTMF-TV. “I could not be happier that he has decided to enter the Montana Senate race.”
Sheehy vowed to take on Tester, who crawls out of the Washington swamp every few years to play the role of an affable and moderate farmer. After he secures another term, he returns to Washington to help advance his party’s agenda.
He is now facing someone who is ready to call him out.
Sheehy, a decorated war veteran, explained why he is running in a lengthy statement to KTMF.
BREAKING: Tim Sheehy has formally announce his run for Senate against Jon Tester in Montana @SheehyforMT.
Sheehy is a Navy SEAL and the C.E.O of Bridger Aerospace. According to a press release from him, he’s created over 200 Montana jobs.#Mtpol #Mtnews pic.twitter.com/u2x2VGQp32
— Bradley Warren (@bradmwarren) June 27, 2023
“Tim believes it’s the career politicians and their failure to run our government like a business and act with accountability that has dug America into this mess,” Sheehy’s campaign said.
It added, “Tim will stand strong against Jon Tester and the Democratic Party’s agenda of inflation, open borders, criminals over cops, drugs and violence in our communities, and a woke culture impacting our classrooms and military bases.”
In his own statement, Sheehy wasted no time taking the fight to Tester, who was elected to the Montana state Senate in 1998 and the U.S. Senate in 2006.
“Jon Tester has been in office for nearly a quarter of a century and he’s lost sight of our Montana values,” he said, according to KTMF.
The candidate added that Tester is “supporting [President Joe] Biden and [Senate Democratic Leader Chuck] Schumer’s liberal agenda 91% of the time and that has brought us record high inflation, a disastrous deficit, skyrocketing energy prices, open borders, and drag queen story time on our military bases.”
“Like any good politician, Jon talks one way but votes another,” Sheehy said. “Montanans have had enough of these career politicians who are full of empty promises and are not representing our Montana values. It’s time for a new generation of leadership to rebuild America.”
Fact check: True. Tester indeed backs Biden’s agenda and has agreed with the president 91 percent of the time throughout the last two-and-a-half years, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Since late 2021, the senator has voted against Biden’s agenda only a handful of times, with most of those instances being disagreements on COVID-19 policy.
Tester is a rubber stamp for the White House and its radical agenda.
Sheehy said his candidacy is not just about putting Tester out to pasture.
He said he is running because he feels a duty to Montana, and he reminded voters he has a background of service.
“Whether it was in war or business, I see problems and solve them,” Sheehy said. “America needs conservative leaders who love our country. I’m running for the U.S. Senate because our campaign is about service, duty, and country — not politics as usual.”
“I am a firm believer in the power of conservative values and the strength of the American individual,” he added. “I’ve proudly fought for our country to defend our freedoms, and I’m once again answering the call to serve.”
Sheehy owns an aerial firefighting company called Bridger Aerospace that has created jobs in Montana.
He started the business in 2014 after he was wounded in combat. During his military career, he earned a purple heart, a Bronze Star and other commendations.
Sheehy’s record is impressive, to say the least.
He soon might have company in the GOP primary: Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale is expected to enter the race, according to Politico.
Thank you to the @MTGOP and all the central committees across the state for organizing and inviting me to the Officers’ Convention.
One thing is for sure, Jon Tester has taken too many bad votes to hide with a Carhartt jacket, and Montana will retire him in 2024! pic.twitter.com/a6eGygpcUQ
— Matt Rosendale (@MattForMontana) June 10, 2023
Rosendale challenged Tester in 2018 and lost by fewer than 18,000 votes.
That was two years before Biden’s policies began pricing Montana families out of basic necessities and before the president killed jobs when he canceled the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
But the winds were shifting before Joe Biden secured the Oval Office.
In 2020 — two years after Tester’s close call with Rosendale — then-President Donald Trump defeated Biden in Montana, 56.9 percent to 40.5 percent.
Sheehy, Rosendale or another GOP candidate will ultimately face Tester in the general election next year.
The winner of the Republican primary will face a career politician with a record of failure in a state where the political winds have been shifting for years.
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